A website without great content is like a bird without wings. It is the content that makes your website an asset. What you write, post, and publish can help you build credibility and drive more business.
Here’s a brief look at a few of the fundamental pillars of creating content that matters:
Value – If your website isn’t informing, teaching, supporting, explaining, and yes, even a little entertaining, don’t publish it.
Know your reader – Before you start writing you must know who you are writing for. Your content will be very different in language and style if you write for professionals than if you are writing for teenagers. Use language and words that are appropriate.
What keeps them up at night? – If you are a web designer, your visitors are concerned about their websites, marketing, promoting, maintaining, hosting, and anything related. Only create content that is relevant to them.
No fluff, please – Don’t post about your dogs or your kids, I am sorry, but people don’t care. They have their own kids and their own dogs. People come to your website because they need help and they want to know how you can help them. The sooner you get to the point the more likely they stick around.
Tell stories – Stories make reading fun. You can get your story across if you can write a story around it. Stories give you a powerful way to connect, explain, teach, and inspire your readers.
Use images – Great writing is key, but images can make it even more effective. Use photos, illustrations, and images to get across your message. The appropriate images help you get your message across from multiple angles.
Ease of read – Keep your content easy to read. The language you use is important, but the formatting is also key. Use font size and style that is easy to read. It may be tempting to use some unusual font, but if it makes reading your website difficult, it could really hurt your conversions. Use bold text, different text size, and different colors to make your writing more scannable.
Rewrite – The great thing about website content is that it is not set in stone. You can rewrite it to improve it or to make it more up-to-date. The search engines also reward website for frequently updated content. Think of your website content writing as a work in progress as opposed to something with a beginning and an end.
Calls to action – Tell your visitors what you want them to do next. Do you want them to call you? Then, include your phone number in you writing. Do you want them to complete a form? Include the form or a link to the form in your writing. Whatever it is you want them to do, tell them.
ABW – Always Be Writing – New content keeps your website interesting. When you add new valuable content you tell the world that you have important information. Websites with old outdated content will put doubt in the visitors’ mind. Is this company still in business? Why is the latest press release from two years ago? You might have to hire a professional content writer to keep up with the demand for new material.
Good content can increase your sales. Your content can establish you as a trusted advisor, differentiating you from the competition. When you are providing information that is valuable through your website or blog you are helping instead of selling. People would rather buy from someone that is there to help than someone that is there to sell only.