Perhaps, once upon a time, your bare-bones-basic one-page site was a perfectly fine way to represent your company on the Internet. But with just about everybody taking their business online, it’s getting tough for those bare-bones-basic sites to compete.
Maybe you’ve got prospects saying they can’t find you when they run a Google search. Or maybe they’re saying your site doesn’t give them the information they need. Or maybe you’re getting no feedback at all – and in this case, no news is not good news!
Whatever the reason, you’re getting the message loud and clear – it’s time to expand your site, with attractive, actionable content that will bring customers to your door.
I’m talking with increasing numbers of clients in this situation, and they’re facing many of the same questions. So…here are some quick answers to help you get started:
Can I just copy the text from my business brochure onto my site?
Generally this isn’t a good idea, as there’s a distinct difference between copy written for a brochure and that written for a website. While a brochure is read in “slow time” – it may be tossed into a desk drawer, picked up, scanned, filed, pulled out, put down, etc. any number of times before it finally inspires your prospect to call – a website needs to capture a visitors’ attention right now. Research indicates that you have less than seven seconds for your site to make an impression; if your content is compelling, visitors will stay and look around; if not, they’ll click away, and you’ve lost them. Very rarely will someone return to a site that did not grab their attention! So the tone of your website must compel attention from the very first moment.
How do I decide on the information to include in my site?
For most businesses, five pages – Home, About Us, Products (or) Services, Frequently Asked Questions, and Contact – are plenty to start with. If you’re planning to sell your products online, you’ll need an e-store setup, and every business site needs a blog – this is how you provide the fresh content that will keep your visitors coming back.
Some clients ask – what about a membership site, or an online community? Generally, unless you have an existing following, these are web-development expenses that won’t pay for themselves anytime soon. Your best bet is to build up a following first via email, which will keep you in front of your prospects without any effort on their part.
Doesn’t a blog just mean extra, ongoing work?
Yes, having a blog does involve some extra effort (unless you choose to hire a ghost-blogger on an affordable retainer). However, the payback is more than worth it:
Search engine visibility:
Google loves fresh content — the more, and fresher, the better! So posting regularly on your blog will yield a series of benefits:
- First, it improves your site’s authority by showing that it’s active and continually evolving.
- With improved authority come higher search-engine rankings.
- And higher search-engine rankings lead to increased organic (free!) traffic over time.
There are a couple of additional bonuses here:
- If you’re posting content in response to your clients’ questions, you’re also likely to rank for valuable long-tail keywords – for example, are less likely to be used in one-size-fits-all search-engine optimization, but are likely to be used in real searches by your audience.
- Also, if you’re including well-researched, useful information in your blog, your posts are likely to be shared and quoted, leading to valuable backlinks in social media and blogging platforms.
Trust and relationship-building:
Blogging allows you to share your voice, values, and expertise, build a loyal and trusting audience by offering real value, free of charge…and most important, showing you’re a human—not just a product or service. Your blog becomes a go-to resource for people who are looking for what you’re offering: by building a following that knows you, you become the first person they think of when they’re looking for your paid product or service.
Content for Reuse and Repurposing:
This is how you work smarter, not harder—especially helpful when you’re short on time, tech, or energy. You don’t want to reuse your content verbatim, but there is nothing wrong with massaging and repurposing it. Each post can fuel:
- Email newsletters
- Social media snippets
- E-courses or ebooks
Speaking of newsletters — can I just use my Outlook or Gmail accounts?
Absolutely not! Using your personal (or even your business) email account is like asking to be labeled as a spammer…if not by your recipients, then by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or email service. Losing your ISP is an almost certain consequence, and that’s just the beginning of the troubles you could incur, thanks to the CAN SPAM Act.
To send a newsletter safely, you need an autoresponder, provided by an email marketing provider such as AWeber.com, with an opt-in form on your website. You start by setting up the opt-in form on the provider site, which provides you with a code to enter on your website to activate the form. When visitors enter their information, your autoresponder receives the opt-ins and verifies them through a confirmation process to prevent spam complaints. You can then adapt or design a email template on the provider site, add your content and send out your message.
Some people have said I need an information product to help boost my opt-ins. What is that?
Because many companies are offering newsletters, and just about everyone’s In-box is overloaded, you’ll probably need to give your visitors a special reason to want you to stay in touch with them. Of course, you do this partially by the quality of the content on your site. You can also add some further incentive, however, by offering an information product such as a e-course or e-book as an incentive gift. This gift typically answers a frequently-asked question, displaying your expertise, solving a problem for the visitor, and putting a sample of your work directly into their hands. With a tempting opt-in message, your visitors will want your information product for its own sake, and sign up purely to get their hands on it.
Sound like a lot? Let us help!
Yes, setting up content for your website can sound like a complex process…but it doesn’t have to make you crazy. Email us HERE for a free consultation and we’ll help you to identify what you need, how it should be developed, and how to order each step of the project. If you’d like more information, check out our Zero-Headache Content Makeover Package!
