15 Top Internet Retailers Who Blog
Blog Characteristics of Some of the Largest Ecommerce Companies
When done well, blogging can be a great way to develop a stronger rapport with your customers. Many retailers also start blogging with intentions to bolster their search engine rankings and gather links from other blogs or websites. Good blogs will lure readers back again and again with worthy content and may turn a browser into a buyer or a one-time customer into a lifetime fan.
I recently spent a little time checking out the blogging efforts of some of the largest online retailers to see how they approached the design and layout of their company’s blog (or network of blogs). While blogging can help build a company’s credibility and might spread information about products to a wider audience, blogging isn’t for everyone and some of the biggest ecommerce businesses don’t run their own blogs. This is a look at a few of the blogs from those who do.
Amazon Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank of 1 for 2009)
Omnivoracious’ Amazon Blog
Omnivoracious is a blog about books written by a handful of people who love to read.
Platform: Custom / Typepad (blogs on separate domain are Typepad, blogs within Amazon are not)
Domain: Separate Domain and a duplicate copy sits within the Amazon domain.
First Post: 2007
Columns: 2
Layout: Content in the middle, information on the right
Features: The right column includes a link to the RSS feed, an “about” section, a blog roll, and a looong list of topics covered in the blog. Confusingly, the blog exists in two locations (at omnivoracious.com and at amazon.com) with slightly different information in the right hand column between the two. The version within the main Amazon site is more difficult to navigate through archives.
Amazon Daily
Amazon Daily aggregates the other Amazon blogs. It sits within the Amazon domain.
Platform: Custom
Columns: 2
Layout: Content in the middle, information on the right
Features: The right column includes a link to the RSS feed, a link to sign in, a calendar of posts by date, and a list of topics. Missing is a search of blog articles.
Amazon also maintains a number of other blogs following the above formats. Blogs on separate domains include Chordstrike, Al Dente Blog, Car Lust Blog, End User Blog, Armchair Commentary, Wag Reflex, and Toy Whimsey. Blogs within the Amazon main domain include Baby Babble Blog, Green Scene, and Amazon Game Room.
Dell Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 3 for 2009)
Direct2Dell – Dell Community
The community of Dell blogs pulls together articles and posts about Dell products, technology, and aspects of Dell as a company.
Platform: CommunityServer 2008.5 SP2
Domain: Subdomain
First Post: July 2006
Columns: 3
Layout: Unlike most of the blogs seen here, this design places the components and blog features in a left column with the main article content in the middle.
Features: List of blogs, languages, and post categories in the left column. RSS and email notifications, blog roll, and archives are in the right column.
Apple Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 5 for 2009)
Apple Hot News
Though hard to call a real blog, the Apple Hot News page aggregates articles and recent pages, and offers subscription via RSS.
Platform: Custom
Domain: Within main site
Columns: 2
Layout: Content in the middle, components in the right column.
Features: The page holds the typical Apple store top nav, presents snippets of content articles down the middle, and offers links to top TV shows, tunes, trailers, widgets, and more down the right.
Sears Holdings Corp.
(Internet Retailer Rank 7 for 2009)
My Sears Blogs
The blog posts about all things Sears: corporate news, local store events, and the latest sales and specials.
Platform: Typepad
Domain: Subdomain
First Post: March 2009
Columns: 2
Layout: Content in the middles, information on the right.
Features: Among the blog features of the right column are categories, archives, polls, and a Twitter stream. Links to reviews and community discussions are also present at the top.
Newegg Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 7 for 2009)
EggXpert Community Blogs
The EggXpert community blog space brings together blog posts related to technology, gadgets, deals, and topics of interest to the Newegg family of sites.
Platform: CommunityServer 2.1 SP2
Domain: Separate Domain
First Post: April 2007
Columns: 2
Layout: Article content fills the middle, information is on the right.
Features: The right hand column includes links to FAQs, forums, shopping sites, social media sites, most viewed content, most comments, and RSS syndication. Missing is an easy archive or category breakdown, although the content has sorting options.
Best Buy Co.
(Internet Retailer Rank of 10 for 2009)
Geeksquad Intelligence Geek Blog
The Geeksquad blog focuses on geeky news and tech information.
Platform: WordPress
Domain: Within Main Site (geeksquad.com)
First Post: January 2009
Columns: 2
Layout: Content in the middle, information on the right.
Layout: The sharp looking GeekSquad blog includes categories, a blog roll, archives, recent posts, and a tag cloud in the right column. The top navigation includes a site search, social media links, and links to other BestBuy/GeekSquad pages.
QVC Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 11 for 2009)
Blogs in QVC Community
The QVC blog community brings together a whole network of blogs from various QVC employees.
Platform: Custom/LiveWorld
Domain: Subdomain
First Post: April 2009
Columns: 2 (primarily)
Layout: Main blog information is in the middle.
Features: The somewhat feature-sparse layout has several links on the left for navigating back to forums and the blog community main page.
SonyStyle.com
(Internet Retailer Rank 12 for 2009)
Sony Electronics Blog
The Sony electronics blog brings updates on Sony technology and new happenings from the digital world.
Platform: Custom
Domain: Separate Domain
First Post: April 2009
Columns: 2
Layout: Blog content in the middle, information on the right.
Features: The electronics blog is easy to navigate and has links to comments and social bookmarking tools below posts. The right column includes links to the RSS of the blog, an about section, and ways to subscribe, along with an archive, links to other social networking pages, featured posts, recent posts, recent comments, and podcasts.
SonyStyle USA Blog
Even more news and info from Sony.
Platform: Custom
Domain: Subdomain
First Post: May 2009
Columns: 2
Layout: Blog content in the middle, information on the right.
Features: While I’m confused by Sony’s need for two separate blogs, this blog is similarly organized: some links are at the top of the right column, and the right also displays the archive, popular posts, categories, favorites, and links to other Sony sites.
WalMart
(Internet Retailer Rank 13 for 2009)
CheckOut Blog
A blog about written by the “team of experts at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club who have really cool jobs working with gadgets, games, sustainability and more.”
Platform: Custom
Domain: Separate Domain
First Post: August 2007
Columns: 3
Layout: Main content in the middle; two split columns on the right.
Features: Blog articles fill the left-center section of the layout, while the first right column includes categories, the blog roll, a brief “about” blurb, and links to Flickr and YouTube feeds. The second right column includes an RSS subscription, a blog search, a Twitter link, and recent posts, most commented posts, archives, and an author list.
HP Home & Home Office Store
(Internet Retailer Rank 16 for 2009)
HP Blogs
A large collection of blogs from the HP community.
Platform: CommunityServer 2008.5 SP1
Domain: Subdomain
Columns: 2
Layout: Content in the middle, information on the right.
Features: The blogging community uses a layout with blog content in the center and a right column navigation that includes a search, syndication links, blog tags, and blog categories.
Netflix Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 18 for 2009)
The Official Netflix Blog
Blogging about Netflix and the movie experience.
Platform: Blogger
Domain: Subdomain
First Post: May 2007
Columns: 2
Layout: Blog content in the middle, information on the right.
Features: On the right are relevant Netflix links, information about the blog, an archive, labels, and a Ning community badge.
Gap Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 25 for 2009)
Athleta Chi
Th blog of the Athleta brand brings together inspiring stories of female athletes and informative sports articles.
Platform: WordPress
Domain: Separate Domain
Columns: 2
Layout: Article content in the middle, blog information on the right.
Layout: On the right, the Chi blog includes options to subscribe via email and RSS, new articles, featured articles, recent comments, events, a blog search, and a link to article archives.
HSN Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 26 for 2009)
HSN Blogs
Industry experts offer advice to the HSN community.
Platform: Custom
Domain: On Main Site
Columns: 2
Layout: Main blog information in the middle.
Layout: Actual blog pages are mainly comprised of article content with links to other blog articles by the same author on the left. The main blog page includes a blog roll on the left and an aggregate of recent posts in the center of the page.
Zappos.com Inc.
(Internet Retailer Rank 27 for 2009)
Zappos Blogs
The Zappos blog is actually a collection of frequently cited blogs focusing on various aspects of Zappos culture.
Platform: Custom
Domain: Subdomain
Columns: 2/3
Layout: Blog content in the middle, information on the right.
Layout: The main article content is in the middle, links to other Zappos blogs fill the top nav, and the right column is divided into two columns in places. The right space houses an RSS link, popular posts, active blogs, and blog tags.
Blog Design Tips to Remember
If you’re setting up your own blog or re-evaluating your existing blogging efforts, you may want to take note of these recommendations: Include a link to your blog’s RSS subscription and/or email subscription in the upper right portion of the page. You should also include a search for your blog, but don’t default to using your product catalog search field from the ecommerce portion of your site. The search should pull up articles from the blog itself. If you have an email signup and a search bar at the top of your page, make sure to clearly indicate which is which. Customers won’t be amused if they enter their search terms into your email box because they couldn’t determine the function of the text field.
If you’ve gathered more than a handful of posts, include an easy way for visitors to browse through your blog’s history, whether it’s a calendar, an archive, or a list by month. Few will spend the time hitting your posts’ “more” links looking for that article they saw two months ago.
Use some of the right column space to highlight featured posts that may interest new readers. This could be a section of links to the most popular posts, the most commented on posts, or just the stories that you believe were special.
For a look at more on blogs from ecommerce companies, check out a list of blogs from the top 100 online retailers, a slightly older post from Get Elastic on the same subject, and some recommendations on doing blogging right.
