Make Your Website Content More Effective

When setting up a new website, most business owners will focus on the design and the look of the new website.

So when their web designer asks them for the text they often see it as a task to get done and out of the way as quickly as possible - the idea being that if the website looks good, you will get enquiries. Having now seen many professional looking websites that get lots of hits but few new customers, however, it is important to understand what a difference writing effective web copy makes.

Many small business owners are experienced in their trade or profession but have little formal marketing experience, and as such most websites are filled with text that has been rushed by business owners so busy in the day to day activities of their businesses that they don’t get much time to sit down and really plan their content.

So if you’re reading this, you have either written your text for your website already, or are about to start, this is a simple guide which if you implement the ideas here, will improve your websites results.

Firstly, some questions to ask yourself before you start:

1. What kind of people do you want to attract through this website – who are your ideal customers (e.g. general public, small business owners, men, women, teenagers, the older generation)?

2. How can you tailor the content to those people? (For example should the language be formal or informal, should you use lots of technical detail or make it easy for the ‘layperson’ to understand, etc)

3. What are the BENEFITS of your product/service? (Most people talk about the features of their product or service but not enough about why those features are important and why they will benefit the person/organisation that uses that product or service). For example ‘Our wooden furniture is made from the finest quality hardwood timber (feature), which means that they not only look great now but will still look great in 20 years time (benefit)’.

4. Why should they buy from YOUR business, i.e. what is different about your business? Why do your existing customers use you rather than anyone else they could buy from? If you can list 3-5 good strong reasons then include these in your copy – your existing customers already know you’re a great company to work with but potential ones don’t and you needto show them exactly why you are good and what they can expect.

5. What action do you want them to take once they’ve read your website – do you want them to call you, fill out an online form, buy something online with their credit card?

Now you have answered these questions you can start to put together the content for the different pages.

Websites Derby

See our latest YouTube presentation video



 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBksdXAGb1w

Getting The Most From Your Website Part 2

Now your website is up and running, maximise every opportunity to drive traffic to your website. Here are a few simple offline ways you can do this:



- Add your website address to your stationery – business cards, letterheads, complement slips and email signatures

- Include your website address in all your advertising and direct marketing

- Add your website address to invoices, receipts, bags and any other customer communication

- Add your website to your signage – vehicle decals, premises and uniforms

- Give people the website address verbally – over the phone or face-to-face

- Give your address to all potential customers you come into contact with



Keep your website up to date:



Check your website at a minimum every three months to review the content and ask yourself:



- What else can be added?

- What content or images needs removing?

- How can the existing content be improved?



By keeping your content fresh and up to date, will keep clients coming back to see what is new on your website. Because the search engines like to see new and relevant content present on your site, this will help your ranking position in the search engines. From a cost saving side, refreshing your content regularly will prevent a complete overhaul two or three years down the line.



Monitor your results:



Once your website is up and running, don’t fall into the trap many site owners make in neglecting to keep track of your results. Often just a few simple tweaks can make a huge difference on your overall results. By keeping track of your performance, you will spot and correct any potential problems or issues early. How can I do this?



- Set yourself up with a stat counter. Check your website statistics regularly.

- Ask every new enquiry how they found you

- Ask current customers for feedback on your website – what they like and what they don’t like

- Set your website up on Google Analytics

Getting the Most from Your Website through Online Advertising

Once your web designer has completed the web design on your site, you are ready to go live. New websites can take as long as two to three months to be picked up, or indexed, by the search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing). Your website position on the search engine rankings will, however, improve over time and how well websites positions rank, partly depends on your phrases or keywords you have chosen to optimise. However, there are several other ways you can promote your site online.

Add your website to Google Local. The map section you see at the top of any local search eg. ‘Plumbers Leicester’, and following their easy set of instructions.

Add your website to directories. Some online directories will charge you for a link to your website, however, there are many online directories that will list your business free of charge.

Pay Per Click advertising is offered by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. This is a flexible way of advertising, where you only pay for the visitors who actually see your website. Costs per click can vary anywhere between 4p to £5, depending on the popularity of the keyword. You choose a budget per day, a budget per click and choose the keywords you wish to be found by.

Create links to your website. Get in touch with suppliers and friends in business, and any other organisations you are affiliated with eg. FSB, trade organisations, regulatory bodies, and ask if you can place a link to your website on their websites. It may help to offer a reciprocal link to their website on yours too.

Search engine optimisation (SEO). A SEO programme will ensure your website enjoys natural high rankings and consistent positions in all the major search engines and directories.

There are other ways of updating your content too, like writing articles and submitting them to various online magazines with links back to your website. Create social media accounts and a YouTube account so you can post updates about your business and content (used from your articles) to these accounts. The search engines will see this as a form of keeping fresh content flowing and will help your website, and sub pages through the rankings. I will be covering more on these last mediums in following articles as they justify more time in explanation.