When it comes to the content on your website, delivering the right message to your consumers is paramount in winning them over to your products or services. Boasting great content on your website determines the success you will have online—design, visuals, videos all come secondary to selling your brand to your web users.
People are looking for substance. They want to know that the company they choose to conduct business with can not only walk the walk but, more importantly, talk the talk.
It’s not all about the glitz and glam of great design, but great content.
In order to ensure you are creating the right content for your users, you must determine who your users are and what they are looking for on your site. If you haven’t figured out your buyer personas, I highly suggest you read this article to visualize who your target clients and audience are and why they are coming to your site for products or solutions.
Centering your taglines, slogans, and messaging around these specific buyers is essential to capturing their attention and converting them into loyal customers.
After you’ve determined your target audience, it’s time to start creating content! Be mindful that successful websites have clear, relevant, and keyword-rich content that delivers the right message. Focus your content creation on targeting your audience, engaging them, and then persuading them to take action with a clear, consistent CTA.
The best way to start creating content is through the use of this nifty content core worksheet. This worksheet is designed to be used on the main pages of your website and for each buyer persona you created earlier. Download the full version here.
On the upper left-hand side, write in what your business goal is in reference to this specific page and on the opposite side, fill-in what your user’s goals are in viewing this page. Keep these two goals in mind when you write the copy for your website. Answer the questions and address the needs of your users first but steer them towards fulfilling your business goals.
In the bottom half of the worksheet, determine what has brought that user to this specific page—are they trying to answer a question, figure out a solution to their problems, or simply because you led them there from a previous page? When you determine what brought them to this specific page, you can then better determine what content they need in order to want to continue along this journey with your company.
Next, determine where the user will want to go next. Maybe they have viewed your products or services and are ready to contact your sales team. Maybe they just viewed an article written on your site and the next steps could be to read the next post or subscribe to your blog. Maybe they spent time reading about the culture at your company and are ready to apply for a job in one of your departments. It’s okay if that next step is to leave your website. No one will spend eternity on your site, they have to leave at some point.
Whatever the next logical step is, use that information to mold your content, tell your story, inform your user, and then set them up to be ready for that next step. Create a Call-to-Action (see example below) that helps your visitor continue to the next logical step. The more steps they complete (pages they view), the further down your funnel they become. Logically setting up your funnel better qualifies those leads for your sales team.
Web design may not be as important as the words written within your design, but it is the first thing your web visitors will see. Think of your design as your first impression. If you had an interview with someone and they showed up dressed in ripped jeans (not the fashionable kind) and a stained t-shirt, would you hire that person? I wager to bet you wouldn’t.
Statistics show that your web visitors will decide within 15 seconds whether to stay and read your site or move on to the next option. Capturing the attention of your audience within those 15 seconds is crucial to getting them to stay and read what your company is about.
Without greatly executed design, your copy will go unread and your website will be working against you in drawing in new business.
We are visual creatures by nature. Your web design should be an extension of your brand and help your audience get a sense of your company culture and values within seconds. Effective web design goes beyond what is visually appealing. The psychology of color, screen resolution, accessibility requirements, and typography are just a few elements of your content that can engage, excite, and inspire your readers.
Effective web design works in tandem with your copy. It should support your brand, values, and messaging while strengthening your content and delivering it to your web visitors in a visual, easy-to-process manner. Your design should be able to connect your customers with your website and company on a deeper level.
Now that your website and content are working to better your brand and convert visitors to clients, let’s talk about marketing your content to reach more visitors and convert more clients!
Content marketing focuses on creating and sharing content in order to acquire new customers. The importance of content marketing is simple: it allows your voice, brand, and products to reach more and more potential customers and draws them in to looking around your website to determine if you are someone they want to do business with in the future.
Posting relevant and valuable information to your site will boost your SEO, position you as an industry thought leader, and allow you to build relationships with your audience.
Content comes in my forms like white papers, blogs, videos, infographics, case studies, how-to guides, photos and pillar pages. The list goes on and on, but you get the gist. So let’s look at how some of the main content types can help you and your brand stand out!
My favorite tidbit about video is: Video killed the radio star 40 years ago, and is still king on the screen today.
Video allows your audience to quickly and concisely understand who you are, what your product is and how to use it, and why you are the premier company in the industry to do business with. Your message can be delivered with little to no effort on the part of your web visitor. It takes a few minutes of your visitor’s time, but they walk away with a better understanding than they did before.
Stock images may be beautiful and less burdensome on your budget, but nothing complements and represents your business more effectively than professional and original photographs of your products, customers, team, and facilities.
Custom photography makes your website stand out among the rest, and they lend credibility and connect with the visitor on a personal level. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to incorporate your marketing message and brand into photographs as compared to stock images.
Visual elements like infographics or charts allows you to better represent complex statics or ideas in a more manageable, visually appealing way. We all want the same thing when viewing websites: easy access to the information we desire. Make your graphics standout and complement your brand by incorporating your brand colors, logo, and specific design elements present across your website.
Use your branded platform to inform your online following that new content is up on your website and invite them to check it out. You can increase your web traffic simply by letting your audience know there is something there for them. Syndicate, distribute and promote your content on social media platforms that make sense to your target audience.
Your website is your best sales and marketing ally. Creating and distributing new content will increase your SEO ranking and make you a thought leader in the industry which makes you more credible to search engines. It is wise to post relevant and useful information on your website in the form of blog posts, articles or whitepapers. This provides prospective customers to see you as an expert in your industry and be more inclined to conduct business with you.
When you use content marketing, you establish trusted lines of communication with your customers, and build credibility in the process.
We know staying on brand can be difficult, especially if you don’t have a brand strategy. Brand strategies allow you to formalize your company’s brand identity and create content that increases your page views but stays true to your core values.
Luckily, our team at Sauce Agency has many years of experience creating brand strategies, style guides, and creating compelling content that converts visitors to clients. Schedule a call today to discuss your marketing and content needs. We will be more than happy to help your business #GrowSmarter!