Content Strategies for eCommerce

Post articles in subdirectory, subdomain, or blog on separate domain

[pdivi]

Many of my competitors have started publishing articles with the intent of attracting links, which in-turn (presumably) improves their store's search engine rankings. I have seen them use 3 different structures.
1. articles right on main domain, under a directory like "widgetshop.com/news/"
2. articles under a subdomain, like news.widgetshop.com
3. articles under a totally separate domain, like widgetblog.com, with ample links back to widgetshop.com

#3 seems a little odd to me. Perhaps the idea is that a "pure" content site will achieve a high PR, which will then get passed to the store via links.

I am interested in testing article content as a means of improving my position in the search engines, and I was wondering which structure has the best chance of success. Thoughts?

[lorax]

IMHO - don't use a sub-domain nor separate website. You're giving up the keyword value. Focus more on relevant content with links to your products. Don't go overboard on them 1-2 per page at most depending on how long the article is. Make sure you include outbound links to authority sites (mfrs, industry trade sites, etc).

[pdivi]

lorax, thanks for the good input...that's the direction in which I was leaning. This piece is brand new to me:

Make sure you include outbound links to authority sites (mfrs, industry trade sites, etc).

I thought outbound links always leak pagerank. Is that not the case?

[lorax]

They can but SEs also gauge your place in the community - eg islands that collect inbound links and give nothing in return aren't very community oriented. It's also a way to establish some credibility for your own site by association.