What website strategy would improve website performance? Help grow your business, further a sale and save you money?
Without content you don’t have a website. Unfortunately, content is the last thing you worry about in the push to launch your new website. The idea is always to go back later and fill something in. But what often happens is a few months after the launch of the new website a panic occurs. The new site was not the boost to their business they expected. They come looking for advice on how to fix it. But when the proposed solution is to fix the content, website owners resist taking the next step.
Website owners like to come to Cybervise saying we only need an online brochure for a website. Answer truthfully. How many brochures did you read this week? I know you visited many company websites recently. Did they read like brochures? If all you want is a brochure you have low expectations. And that is the level of expectations you are setting for your visitors.
Your website content has value. Or it could have if you prioritized it. Here are some reasons why.
The Benefits of Investing in your Website Content
- Generates Traffic (Free Traffic!) – Good content is what attracts search traffic. That’s free traffic, that you didn’t have to spend money to get. One good article or web page can make a big difference to get new users to your site.
- Reputation Benefits – People do business with people they know. The easier your company is to find online, the more familiar you become. Use your website to keep your name in front of potential customers. Quality content is a primary ranking factor in Google. Businesses that rank number one have implied credibility. They must be good if they are number one.
- Promote Your Expertise – Good content makes your business look smart. Like an expert. Everybody wants to do business with the best. Use your website content to show leadership in your field. Become a hub of information for potential customers. Provide timely articles and useful downloads relevant to your audience.
- Boosts all other Marketing Strategies – Good website content makes all marketing easier. It gives people a reason to visit your website. It gives your sales team a place to send prospects that can actually help close the sale. It gives you something to talk about in your emails and your social media accounts.
- Landing Referrals – Use your website content to help follow-up on word-of-mouth referrals. Provide plenty of detailed content about your product and services. Allow prospects to further research your company using your own content and expertise. Not to mention if visitors find something useful on your website. They will ask for more. They will request a download, or sign up for your event or call for pricing. Don’t forget to provide information for prospects at all stages of your sales process.
You can look and act a lot bigger than you are.
When a user visits your site for the first time, they have no idea how big your company is. A great website can make a small company look big. When your website wins the comparison to other competitors sites. That is why you need to provide a fresh and polished website. A site that is easy to use and provides valuable content. A professional first impression, will be a big site to any user.
Small businesses have a serious advantage in online marketing. When you have an idea you want to try, you do it. If something doesn’t work, you pull it. There are fewer levels of decision makers to run things by. No management teams or boards to impress. Just you and your customers. Right now there is an emphasis on fresh content. Visitors are looking for something new. Search engines are looking for updates. Since you are small you can get content approved and posted faster. Use this to your advantage and get that great website content out there.
Don’t forget to plan how you will respond to inquiries off your website. This is another place where small businesses go big. Expectiations are high these days. When someone sends a request through your website they expect immediate response. As a small business you have the ability to give this a personal touch. Customers don’t have to wait 24 hours to wait to make their way through a large support queue. Respond quickly and plan for the large volume of success.
Why Do We Resist Working on Website Content?
Resistance to working on website content is a common problem. I know websites can be a big investment for businesses. When things start going wrong with the company website you want to turn things around fast. The idea of writing new content may not seem like a quick solution. But the quality of your website is your content. Performance improvement depends on it.
The other issue is website owners often feel out of their element. Many believe their website is too “techie” to understand and they need to find a expert. This does not apply to the content. You are the expert in your business. Know one can describe what you do better than you. If writing things down is not your thing, use an app where you can talk and convert the recording to text.
The next protest I will hear is that people are not sure what they should be writing about. They worry about not using the correct phrases. What is good for SEO. But a website with no or low amounts of content is not good for SEO either. Writing something is better than empty pages. Use the phrases you use with your customers. Once the content is live you will real-time data that tells you whether its the right way to say things or not.
Long-Lasting Value
There are lots of things about a website that need on-going attention. Projects you know you will finish and after a period time have to go back and do it again. The cool thing about a quality piece of content on your website is that once its done, you are done. We have blog posts written years ago that still generate traffic. Dont’ worry if you don’t have the time to create content for your website every week. If done right, one quality piece can benefit your website long term. As you continue to add more quality pieces you will build a quality website. And that provides value to your business too.
Looking at your competitors websites? Just Stop!
I have client’s that watch their competitors websites like they are watching the stock market. Yes, there is some value to reviewing competitor data. But doing this often creates tunnel vision.
There are two problems with using your competitors sites to build a content strategy.
- You have no idea how well your competitors site is working. Yes you may see them ranking in Google, but you don’t know if their site makes money. You don’t know if they get leads off their site. Don’t assume they know what they are doing. Just because they are your competitors does not make them a shining example of best practices.
- If you are looking to your competitor for content ideas, all you are doing is making a copy of their site. What if propects view both of your sites and find they are saying the same thing? How does that differentiate you during a sale? Your content should be about what your customers need and why they should get it from you. Not a knee jerk reaction to something your competitor posted.
Having Trouble Getting Started? Here is a great place to look for content.
Do you struggle with website content because you don’t know what to say? Chances are you are saying it already, but its not making it to the website. One place to look for content is your sales proposals. Granted there will be a lot of details about specific projects you can’t use. But I bet you also spend a lot of time in your proposals talking about why the prospect should choose you. Don’t let that great content hide in your proposals. See if you can use proposal content to help beef-up content on your existing web pages or give you ideas to add more.
Still not sure what to do?
Check out our Cybervise 2020 Website Strategic Plan. Its a free download. We include worksheets to help you start planning website projects for next year. Questions? Sign-up for a free consult and we can talk you through it.
Learn More About Content Strategy
Need a little more help to get you past the hump of starting on your content? Check out our webinar recording, “Monetize Website Content – Lose the Brochure, Maximize Value.”
Also check out our 2023 Website Strategic Strategy.
