What content should go on my website?

Deciding on content for your site can be a real headache. How much should I write? Is that too much? What do I need to tell people? What’s the most important content to let people know?

Check out these handy tips that will help you wrap your head round just how to populate your site meaningfully, with content that’s going to help your site flourish and answer the question “what sort of content should I be putting on my website?”

List your priority’s

When creating the content for your website, as with most things its best to have a clear plan in place. Compile a check list of the services you need to tell people about. Prioritise the list with the main service listed number one. Ideally you should have this service with its own designated page; in fact if you can embellish what all your services are, then each should have their own page with in your website.

As a rule of thumb most people will not read all your websites content , or at least they won’t want to read through everything to find what they are looking for. So in order to feed your info it makes sense to section your site to make this easier for the end user.

Bullet point to get your message across

• Service 1
• Service 2
• etc…
• Making use of bullet marks quickly outlines what message you are trying to get across, and some people will only need this information before they take the next step

Have a nosey at your competitors

Never be afraid to take ideas that you like from competitors. I’m not saying copy, which would be really counter intuitive. But you can get great inspiration from how others have formed their websites. If you put your own twist on things, you will end up with something unique. Remember be aware it only makes sense to take ideas from sites that are performing well on the search engines.

The “must do’s” when you’re planning your website.

• Social Media – Always incorporate your social pages into your site, every time you publish content on your site, why not feature it on the social side too. You could and I would advise this, have a live feed to your social pages on your website
• About Us Info – This is really important. People really want to connect with the human element of your business and this area of your site is a great opportunity to get this across. You could go one step further and have a promotional video on this page where the visitors get an opportunity to hear and see you. This is fantastic for search engines and gives you the perfect chance to kick start a relationship.
• Testimonies or Reviews – If you are selling items or services this is an absolute no brainer. More and more people are looking for reassurance before making the next step and what better way than to have happy customers giving reviews and testimony of how great you are.
• Location or Contact Info – A lot of people will be looking for services with in their location so it’s really important to highlight your contact info and show exactly where you are based.
• Call to Action – Often over looked. This is one of the most important factors when trying to convert business. Make sure there are plenty of opportunities throughout your site for the website user to be able to drop you a line.
• Add a Sitemap – If you want to help search engines find your site and index it in a way that will optimise where it lists you , then make sure you submit an accurate sitemap to your web master tools.
• Share Options – Share, share, and share! With the strength and popularity of social networks, it would be a mistake not to publish your latest updates to them too.

BRANDING

This doesn’t just fall at your logo. This really is the full look and feel of your website. Colours fonts and layout all have to be considered. This is where doing your research and checking out other sites can really help.

GREAT PHOTOS & VIDEOS

All websites need a visual flair, and this is where photos and videos can either make or break your design. If your image is too small or blurry you are immediately going to look amateur. If they are too big it’s going to slow down the opening of your website, which in turn will lose the interest of the person looking and effect how a search engine ranks the site in the first place.

Obviously you can buy stock, which will look fantastic, but be careful using only stock images, as the personality of your site will be lost. A good mix of stock images and well taken genuine images is a winning combo.

Be patient

Don’t rush the content because you feel you need to have a 20 page extravaganza from word go. Start with the essentials, and then grow it from there. This is a great strategy because; not only will you come up with better content, but you will show major search engines that you are keeping your site relevant and fresh. Most importantly your visitor will know you are active and current.