How often have you thought about how businesses like hardware stores market their products? Many products sold by hardware stores are not looked at as things people want, but more so as what people need in their daily lives as they take care of their homes, cars, and yards.
Are you a hardware store owner? If you are, you know firsthand that it can be challenging to market your store. Don’t fret! There may be a tactic that you haven’t even thought about using yet: blogging. A hardware store blog is a great way to gain attention and traffic to your business. This is because blogging employs the use of search engine optimization, also known as SEO. SEO utilizes keywords to group together search results and make certain ones appear more relevant to the web user. In this article, we will discuss how hardware stores get more clients by blogging!
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Hardware Store Websites
Before we can really dig into what a blog is, we should discuss your website. After all, a blog will be just a part of the website that you have for your hardware store. A good website should be comprehensive and easy to navigate. For hardware stores, it is especially important that your websites have information about your location and contact information. This way, people will easily be able to get in touch with you to find out about the services and products you provide. All of this will help you gain traffic to your store!
Another part of a good website is a solid design. Hardware store websites should be organized, have a cohesive flow by using a theme and color scheme and have diverse content. A logo is also a great thing to create for your hardware store. This will help with brand awareness just like a blog does!
Your blog should have its own tab on your website, and it should be easy for users to find it. In fact, you can even market your blog on other parts of your website! Since hardware stores get more clients by blogging, it is essential to make sure your blog is accessible and well marketed.
Blogging for Hardware Stores
Now, you may be wondering what hardware store blogs look like. After all, people don’t normally associate hardware stores with blogging. Blogging for hardware stores, however, is a very lucrative strategy to market your business. Writing a blog shows that you are dedicated to what you do, so much so that you’re choosing to spend extra time and resources to create content about hardware. With that being said, your blog posts can be about a wide breadth of topics related to hardware.
For example, you could write blog posts about yard work or home improvement. These topics make for great blog posts, as people are constantly looking for ways to work on these things. But blogging for hardware stores isn’t just limited to these topics. Your hardware store blog could be about anything related to hardware – and that includes the business of hardware stores, too.
Overall, there are many topics you can discuss in your hardware store blog. No matter what topics you decide to cover, the most important thing is that you create consistent and comprehensive content. Writing blog posts about many different topics will diversify your website, covering more ground and gaining traction for your business.
A blog is also a great way to increase brand awareness. Brand awareness is especially important for hardware stores, as these are overwhelmingly in-person businesses. Hardware stores should aim to become the local hardware store for everything a person in the area needs. In this way, a blog can help increase your online presence along with your in-person presence in your community.
Hardware Keywords
Whenever you are writing a blog post, you should be thinking mindfully of what keywords you can include in it. You may be wondering, just what are hardware keywords? Hardware keywords are any words that revolve around hardware, even if they seem only vaguely connected. For instance, hardware keywords can include words having to do with home improvement, lighting, or yard work. Examples include “lightbulbs,” “paint,” or “lawnmowers.” Using keywords like these will ensure that your store appears in peoples’ searches regarding these topics.
Combining these hardware keywords with words or phrases related to the area you are located in is essential. For example, hardware stores in Seattle, Washington can use both location titles as keywords. Hardware store owners can also use phrases like “near me,” or “in my area” so that their stores appear in users’ searches for local hardware stores.
Social Media for Hardware Stores
Much like blogging about hardware stores, people may not equate this industry with the use of social media. Social media for hardware stores, however, is a great way to build your blog content and market your hardware store.
So, which social media platforms should hardware stores use? And what should they post? These are great questions! The answers are really infinite, as hardware stores can post about anything related even vaguely to hardware. There are some sites that should definitely be used, though. For example, Instagram has the highest engagement out of all social media platforms, so using this app is a must when it comes to building your online presence. On Instagram, hardware stores can post pictures and videos of products, how-tos, and more! Instagram works as a visual blog, whereas a regular blog focuses on writing. In this way, using Instagram is an extension of your blog, and it will help with increasing sales just like a regular blog does.
There are many other apps hardware stores can use to boost their business. For instance, TikTok and YouTube are great platforms to use, as they allow you to share videos as Instagram does. Again, these sites can act as visual-based blogs.
Marketing for Hardware Stores
Blogging and social media are just two examples of marketing tactics for hardware stores. Blogging is an especially important aspect of marketing for hardware stores, as it improves your public image, and makes people feel comfortable relying on your services and products. There are many other ways hardware stores can market their businesses, too.
Something that can help improve marketing for hardware stores is keeping track of what products are sold, and building sales on those best-selling products. On the other hand, hardware stores can also identify customers’ needs by tracking what they don’t buy. By finding gaps in sales, hardware stores can better understand the sales they make, and how to make more.
Hardware Store Advertising
Hardware store advertising is similar in many ways to marketing. For example, hardware stores can use social media to their advantage both by creating content like blogs on these sites, but also by including advertisements. For instance, on websites like Instagram, businesses can take out advertisements so that users simply see them in their feeds like any other content. By advertising in this way, you can smoothly incorporate advertisements for your store into the everyday lives of many social media users.
Of course, hardware stores are in-person businesses, so they should also employ the use of in-person and physical advertisements for marketing purposes. Hardware stores can take out advertisements in magazines, newspapers, buses, and more! These will build your presence in your community, and help people start to see you as the most reliable hardware store in your area. Hardware store advertising can also be made up of advertisements on television or the radio. This is a great way to reach a wider audience of customers in addition to those who use social media.
SEO Design Chicago Helps Hardware Stores With Their Blogs
In short, blogging is an excellent way to advertise and market your hardware store. This is the case for many reasons! But if you’re feeling overwhelmed with everything you need to do to create and manage a blog, you are not alone. The team of digital marketing experts at SEO Design Chicago is here to help you make your blog ideas a reality. Outside of helping with blogging, SEO Design Chicago can help with many other digital marketing activities, including social media posts, web design, pay-per-click advertisements, and more. Check us out today to learn how we can help your hardware store get more clients.
FAQ:
- Why do hardware stores need a website?
- What are good keywords to use for hardware stores?
- What social media platforms should my hardware store be on?
- How can I build my business’s presence locally?
- What should be included on my hardware store’s website?
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