Creating Compelling Content For Your New Website
Posted on 31st August 2023
So you're embarking on the journey of getting your shiny new website from it'seeze, custom-designed just for you. We'll take care of graphics, fonts, colours, user experience... all perfectly optimised for your business and its brand. But what about content?
A lot of our clients find writing great content challenging. But if you follow a few simple principles, it doesn’t have to be hard at all. Let’s take a look, page by page.
Home Page Content
This is actually the biggest challenge of all. Your home page is the first thing most of your visitors will see. It’s the “umbrella” page that guides them to all the other, more specific information on your site – but it’s also your chance to make a strong first impression. So what do you write? “Welcome to my website”? Or simply “Hello”?
While it’s true that short and sweet is best, we’d advise you to steer away from anything too generic. It’s worth spending the time to come up with an elevator pitch for your business: a short mission statement or customer promise you can put front and centre. That’s the way to impress!
Tips for writing great home page content:
Tip 1: Write for your customer
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and ask yourself what they really want to know when they visit your website. What are their pain points? What are their wants, needs and desires? Your home page should answer these core questions and clearly communicate what your business does and how it can provide a solution.
Tip 2: Highlight your value proposition
This is all about what makes your business unique, i.e., your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and other key benefits. Focus on what you have to offer that your competitors don't and what makes you different / better. Be sure to highlight your value proposition clearly and concisely on the home page. You could include your mission / vision statement or company ethos as part of this section.
Tip 3: Use relevant keywords
Use keywords and phrases sensibly throughout the page content (without ‘keyword stuffing’), to help people find you on Google. If you don’t have keywords in place yet, tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs and answerthepublic.com are great places to research suitable search terms. In particular, look out for keywords that are relevant but not too difficult to rank for (Keyword Difficulty, or KD, is often indicated by a traffic light system: red for difficult, amber for medium and green for easier). There's more info in our blog on keyword planning.
Tip 4: Cut out unnecessary information
It’s tempting to over-egg the omelette with home page copy, but this can put people off. Make each section of copy short and easy to scan by using headings and sub-headings to signpost the reader. Focus on the most important things you want visitors to know – you can go into more detail on the other pages.
Tip 5: Tell visitors what to do next
Once you've captured people’s attention, you need to signpost them to other sections of your website in line with your goals. This could be to learn more about your products or services, contact you for more information, or make a purchase. So, include clear calls to action on your home page as appropriate.
Tip 7: Write your main (H1) headline last
Your headline is the most important part of your home page. It's what will get people's attention and make them want to read more. So, take your time writing it and make sure it's attention-grabbing. If possible, try to encapsulate what your business does and convey a key benefit within the headline. You could add a sub-heading or introductory sentence underneath with a bit more detail, if you like. Here's some more info on planning your page names and headings.
About Us Content
There’s a school of thought that says you shouldn’t have an “About Us” page at all. After all, your site shouldn't really be about you. It’s all about your customers and what you can do for them. So why would you waste words talking about yourself?
We think there’s another way to look at it. An important part of meeting your clients’ needs is figuring out what they need to know before they decide to work with you. It’s essential to supply that information in a way that’s clear and easy to understand. So use this page to showcase what’s important: your values and experience, your team, your expertise. It’s not “About Us”, but “Who We Are”.
Services Content
Whatever you’re offering, it’s likely that many of your competitors are offering exactly the same range of things. So while it’s tempting to write out a long list of services, a more strategic approach will benefit your business – and your clients, too.
We recommend having a separate page for each key service. This makes it easier for visitors to navigate your site, and it also helps Google drive traffic directly to you. Each service page should include all the crucial information your client needs to know. What does the service involve? Why is it valuable? What problem are you solving? How are you different from the competition?
At the bottom of the page, include a “Call to Action”. Whether that’s filling out an enquiry form, calling or emailing you, downloading a guide, scheduling a meeting or buying a product, make sure your visitors have an easy, clearly visible way to do it.
Here's a much more in-depth explanationof what to include on your Products and Services pages.
Contact Us Content
If you want to convert website visitors into customers, you need to make sure they can get hold of you. But a general contact page serves a different purpose to the call to action at the bottom of each service page. If someone’s clicking on “Contact Us”, it’s likely that they want to ask a few questions, get some additional information, or simply speak to you personally before they decide to work with you. It’s in your interest to ensure that they feel motivated to get in touch.
You might want provide an email address or phone number(s), a calendar link, the classic contact form – or a combination of these. But you should also make sure your visitors know that you’ll be happy to hear from them. An encouraging message can go a long way in prompting them to seal the deal.
If you decide to use a contact form, think about what happens after your visitor hits “submit”. In one of our other blog posts, you’ll find some great ideas for using a “thank you” page to drive conversion.
Voice and style
Once you’ve settled on the content of each page, think about how you want to speak to your visitors. What’s your business’s voice? Do you want to sound friendly and conversational, or are you in a sector that values a more formal, traditional approach? Are you speaking to industry experts or the general public?
A clear, consistent brand voice is a great asset when it comes to building relationships, even before you speak to your potential client for the first time. This applies to all the content on your site, including page titles. “Contact Us” has a very different feel to “Get in Touch” or “Give Us a Call”. “Our Services” makes a different impression to “What We Do” or “How We Help”.
It goes without saying that all the content on your site should be grammatically correct, without any spelling mistakes. Typos don’t just undermine the professional appearance of your site. They also get in the way of your SEO strategy, preventing your new customers from finding their way to you easily.
There's more about Voice and Style in our blog on tone of voice.
Content Means Craft
Writing is just like any other craft. Whether it’s a novel, a poem, a blog post or a site page, writing clean, compelling text requires skill and experience. There are good and bad bricklayers, and there are good and bad copywriters, too. Anyone can learn how to lay a row of bricks or write a paragraph, but real ability comes with time and practice. So what do you do if you’re not already a confident writer and don’t have time to work on your command of the craft?
This is where the professionals come in. A dedicated copywriter can produce a steady supply of engaging content, freshly updated and perfectly adapted to your brand’s voice and style guidelines. That’s why we offer copywriting alongside our other web design services.
So talk to us!
If you’re thinking about hiring a website designer for your business, written content is an important part of the overall package. At it’seeze Nottingham, we’re here to support you with every aspect of your new website. Just get in touch today for a chat about your needs. We’ll be delighted to help!
Tagged as: Content
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