Why Good Content Will Help Your Website’s Performance
Everyone wants a great website – and West Norfolk Web Design can certainly build you one of those. A smart looking site that’s easy to navigate will go a long way towards making your business look professional on the web – first impressions are important after all. However, the written content must also be good, or your site will never perform to its maximum capability.
The written content on your website speaks to your target market. It engages with them, and shows them they’re in the right place – that you’re the person or business that can give them what they want. Good content also helps you get ranked by the search engines – it’s how they know what your website is about. So, the more relevant your content, the more likely it is you’ll achieve a higher ranking which makes your site visible to more people. It should also include keywords – the search terms your target market is using when they browse the web looking for solutions to their problems.
How to Write Quality Content
The quality of your written content is important, as is the quantity. Typing out a one-hundred-word description of what your business does and hoping for the best, just won’t cut it these days. You should be looking at 300+ words per page of well-written, relevant content, and longer is fine too. Blog posts like this one, used to engage your customers and provide them with news and useful information, can be much longer.
Write in your brand voice, whether that’s friendly and easy going, technical, or authoritative, and write to your target market. Speak to them, and let them know what you can do for them. Too many business owners, when writing their own content, talk about themselves too much. If you check over what you’ve written and the words ‘I’ and ‘We’ are in there more than a couple of times, you’re probably writing for you, not for your customers. Don’t make your website content an ego-trip.
Truth is, your customers are coming to you because they want something. They have a problem, and they want to know if you can solve it for them. If they land on your site and all they see is you saying how wonderful you are, they’ll click off and go somewhere else and you’ll have a higher bounce rate than a ten-year-old with a new trampoline. Instead, make your pages customer centric. Focus on what you can do for them, and let them know that you’re the solution to their problems.
Let’s take a look at what we mean by looking at a well thought out and nicely structured page that speaks to the customer in the right way…
Perfect Landing Page Setup
If you look at the landing page for this business you’ll see a box asking the visitor whether they need a website, or whether they want to get more from the one they already have. Chances are that’s exactly why someone has visited this website, so right away we’ve caught their attention. It then goes on to say ‘we can help’, and offers a choice of ‘Call to Actions’ (CTA’s) – they can either get in touch, or take a look at our portfolio. This is great because some people require more information than others – it’s just the way they’re wired.
Social proof is also a must these days, and you’ll notice there are also testimonials from happy clients, and links to 5-star Google and Yell reviews. These go a long way in establishing credibility and building trust with your potential new customer, so make them visible and easy to read.
Below the Fold
Scroll down now to below the fold, and you’ll be able to read what we do (affordable web design services), who we do it for (small to medium sized businesses), and where (Norfolk). There’s a picture of the company director so the customer can see who they’ll be doing business with, and a little more about the company that covers some of the objections and worries someone may have when dealing with a tech business – honesty, transparency, hidden fees, no jargon – and at the end there’s another CTA.
Below this there’s another credibility grabber – you can read that West Norfolk Web Design is a long-established business with a vast client list – and a CTA, this time another opportunity to take a look at our portfolio. You’ll then see some more clients and another CTA, before a more text-heavy couple of paragraphs that explain even more about how we can help businesses – with free consultations, online goal setting, SEO and tracking tools, and some other services we provide that take pressure away from the business owner and allow them to focus on the things they do best. Also included are several of the keywords people searching Google may be using to find a company like ours, such as Web Design, Web Development, Search Engine Optimisation, Email Marketing, PPC Management, and Content Writing.
And, of course, there are a couple more CTA’s – one for those who have now seen enough to want to take some action and get a quote – and another for those analytical people who require even more information.
Tips for quality content
By following the formula above you can write the perfect landing page – one that converts visitors into customers. And the format will be similar for your other web pages too.
Here are 6 tips that will help you write better content every time.
- Avoid clichés – half the business websites in the UK state ‘we pride ourselves on our customer service/quality products/workmanship’. Well of course you do or you shouldn’t be in business. Leave this sort of cliché out of your copy and you’ll stand out from the masses.
- Make it about the customer, not about you – ‘Our websites will make your business stand out from your competition’ is better than ‘We build beautiful websites and have won awards for design’.
- Keep it simple – don’t overcomplicate things. People scan copy so explain simply how you can solve people’s problems and cut jargon to a minimum.
- Pay attention to keywords – They may not be as vital as they once were, but specific keywords are still important. If you’re looking for a web designer in Norfolk UK for example, you might search Google for Web Design Norwich, or Web Designer Norfolk. If you wanted someone to help with your content you may search for Content Writer Norfolk, or Copywriter in Norwich. Use the keyword tool to find relevant search terms for your business.
- Don’t forget the CTA’s – Remember what I mentioned earlier about different people and the different amounts of information they require? By putting just one CTA at the bottom of the page you may well miss out on sales from those instant decision makers who just can’t be bothered to read/scroll that far.
- Edit, then edit again – Take out unnecessary words. Avoid sentences that are too word heavy wherever possible, and break things up – mixing longer sentences with shorter, punchy sentences. Sometimes even a one-word sentence is enough. It is. Honestly.
How you can have quality content
If you’re like the majority of business owners, content writing probably isn’t your strong point. It may also be that you’re perfectly capable of writing great copy, but you lack the time. If that’s the case, contracting the services of a professional copywriter will be a better use of your time and resources than trying to do it all yourself. A good copywriter will ask you what they need to know and compile a brief to work from, then they’ll write your content while you concentrate on your business.
If you’re in the market for a business website and you’d like your content to be professionally written, West Norfolk Web Design can help. Our web design and content creation teams can take on the entire project, building you a site that not only looks ‘the business’, but converts too.
SEO & Blog Writing in Norfolk
We can also assist with Search Engine Optimisation, including Blog Writing Services that will add regular, relevant, and informative content to your site. Search engines love this updated content, and of course it will encourage your customers to keep coming back for more.
To learn more about how our services will help your business grow online, call us on 01553 790 733 or fill in our online form to Get a Quote.