Big Cartel should be familiar to anyone looking for a way to sell their original creations online. Similar to Shopify, artists and entrepreneurs can build their own e-commerce websites and list products they have for sale.
Whether you have a home-grown business of one or a burgeoning startup with employees in the double digits, Big Cartel will be there to provide the necessary infrastructure for your business to succeed.
Table of Contents
Why Do I Need a Blog?
A blog acts like the top of a funnel. It attracts people to your website, gets them familiar with you and your business, and eventually gets them to trust you enough to buy from you. Once your site visitors see how great your products are, they'll start recommending you to people they think might like your style.
A blog has many benefits – it keeps your readers coming back for more as long as you publish content that interests them. With a blog, you become an authority in your niche. Not only will readers be more likely to buy from you, but they'll also recommend you to their friends.
Sure, your designs might be good enough to do that on their own, but only if potential customers are specifically looking for art online. In order to attract fresh interest, you want people to effectively stumble across your products while looking for something else.
For instance, imagine you make a really cool Witcher necklace and upload it for sale on your Big Cartel website. To promote it and get your creative thoughts behind it out there, you can write a blog post. Now when other raging Witcher fans search for Witcher fan fiction or reviews, your blog post may pop up. Their curiosity will draw them in further, and before you know it, they’ve landed on your products.
That’s just one very basic example of how blogging can accelerate your business, but there you have it – a new customer is born. What’s even better is that you’ve managed to expand your customer network rather than focusing solely on your existing customer base.
What Are My Blogging Options?
Big Cartel was built for promoting and selling your creations, and this is where they excel. Unfortunately, they haven’t managed to capitalize on the potential of blogging, and they don't have the option to add a blog to your store. Instead, they suggest you simply create a myriad of custom pages and pretend that it is a blog. As you can imagine, this isn't an ideal solution. 🤣
Adding WordPress to Big Cartel
WordPress is one of the most popular and well-known blogging platforms on the market. There's a plugin for every feature imaginable, the theme selection is wider than the ocean, and it's compatible with almost every platform. It's so well-known that the words “blog” and “WordPress” are almost interchangeable in the minds of many.
In fact, WordPress powers a third of all the websites on the internet. Unfortunately, WordPress is not without its flaws – especially when it comes to connecting it with Big Cartel.
While adding a WordPress blog to a Big Cartel site has been streamlined significantly, there are still some issues. You’ll need to set up a subdomain, configure a hosting plan, download and install WordPress, and link the backend to your Big Cartel store. This can be daunting to someone with limited experience in website management.
Since you can only connect WordPress to your Big Cartel store through a subdomain, you essentially put your WordPress blog and your Big Cartel website in two different locations. Search engines, therefore, view them as separate entities, which splits your SEO and content marketing efforts in half.
So, all the work you put into growing your blog won't help boost the visibility of your online store and vice versa. It’s a pretty big downside.
When it comes to the design of your blog, WordPress won't acquire your site's theme automatically. You'll have to tinker with the look of the WordPress blog to match your website, or you'll need to pay someone to do it for you. Depending on how different the theme styles are, this could require anything from a quick fix to a complete redesign of your website. It’s definitely something you want to avoid.
Remember all those nifty extra WordPress features I mentioned earlier? The majority of them come from plugins. WordPress' array of plugins is both a blessing and a curse! You'll most likely be able to find a plugin for every little thing your heart desires, but many of the good plugins cost money. Then there are the updates to consider. One missed update, and your blog's security could become compromised.
There Is a Better Option
We’re pretty sure you’ve lost all interest in WordPress right now. With everything that could go wrong by adding a WordPress blog to your Big Cartel site, it’s no wonder. Luckily, there is a better option – something that’s simpler, easier to use, and ready to go straight out of the box.
This is where we introduce you to DropInBlog. DropInBlog is a specialized blogging platform that you can integrate with a whole host of websites, many of which lack blogging functionality. It’s super easy to integrate, and there are plenty more benefits where that comes from.
Creating a Blog With DropInBlog
DropInBlog is super easy to integrate with Big Cartel. All you have to do is copy and paste a few little lines of code into any page on your store. Save, refresh, and voila! A gorgeous new blog is up and running right on your Big Cartel website (no subdomains needed). We even have a handy little step-by-step guide to walk you through the process.
The default DropInBlog layout seamlessly fits like a glove into any Big Cartel theme you have. It automatically takes on the look and feel of your Big Cartel site without you having to make any adjustments.
If you do want to make some style changes, like maybe a different background color or a unique heading font, it’s easily done. DropInBlog's CSS editor makes changing things around a snap. Plus, if you run into any trouble, our dedicated support staff is here 24/7 to help you out.
Best of all, the most important features that a blog needs are included from the get-go:
- Post categories
- Media storage and organization
- Post scheduling
- Multiple authors
- Assigning access privileges to different users
- SEO Analyzer tool
Taking all of that into account, the SEO Analyzer is the real star of the show and a very sought-after feature. Most platforms don't have one or charge extra for it, but not DropInBlog. The SEO analyzer is included with every account for free!
What's That About Search Engine Optimization?
As a business owner and entrepreneur, I'm sure you already know how important search engine optimization is to the success of your online business. Well, DropInBlog knows this too! DropInBlog wanted to make it as simple as possible for you to optimize your blog posts as you write.
The built-in SEO analyzer scans your post as you type and tells you how easy it is for search engines to find your content based on your specified keywords. The analyzer gives you tips to implement certain things in your post that will help boost your ranking and get your blog noticed.
FAQs
What are the benefits of adding a blog to my Big Cartel store?
Blogging offers numerous benefits to e-commerce stores. In order for your store to build traffic and gain customers, it needs to be found.
To gain visibility online, your site needs to be active and valid to search engines. By publishing a search engine-optimized blog, you can increase your store’s visibility, develop your reputation as a credible authority in that niche, and use it to promote new products.
How can I set up DropInBlog on my Big Cartel site?
The process is very simple. You only have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code, set the URL, and you’re done. This will then automatically drop the content onto the desired page of your Big Cartel site. The blog content will immediately adopt your site's existing theme and style. Check out this short video tutorial running you through the process of integration.
Get Started Now!
Adding a blog to your Big Cartel website using DropInBlog is a snap! And the 14-day free trial means there's no reason not to try it out.
To get started, all you have to do is follow these steps:
- Start a free DropInBlog trial.
- Follow the step-by-step guide for Big Cartel.
- Start blogging!
That's it! The DropInBlog team is standing by to answer any questions you have about adding a new blog to your Big Cartel site, or about blogging in general! Feel free to contact us anytime – we're here to help. 🤓
