If you’ve ever seen Field of Dreams, you know what the phrase “Build it and they will come.” refers to. The dude in the movie had to build a baseball field in order to attract legendary baseball players. In the marketing industry, we say, “Build a great website, and they will come.” And the “they” in this scenario is the target demographic you want your brand to reach. When you have a great website, you’re able to convey the information you want to communicate, in a more effective form than any other channel before now (yes, we’re saying that your great website is more powerful at communicating with your audience than the employee you have dressed like a mascot with a sandwich sign that commuters see as they drive past). Your great website gives your clients a way to connect with you. And your great web design gives you a powerful platform to manage your reputation and develop the brand that your business needs to be successful.
But what content makes a great website? We’re glad you asked. Stand by for a simple list of actionable ways to make your website appealing to your target audience, and to grow organic traffic.
Five Simple Content Tips to Build a Great Website
- Make your navigation intuitive.
Your visitors are going to give your website less than 15 seconds of their time while looking for the information they need. If your website is cluttered and hard to navigate, they’ll take one look at your page and then skip town.
This is doubly bad because one of the factors that search engines use to rank your website is your bounce rate. In other words, if visitors look at your page and abandon it without clicking any links, Google thinks your page must not be worth recommending, and bumps your page below your competitors.
For the sake of the user experience, and for search engine optimization, ensure that your visitors can figure out exactly where to get the things they need, pronto. To create clear navigate, make your menu plain and obvious. Use easy language, so your visitors don’t have to be an expert in your industry to know how and where to get the info they need. - Don’t make your visitors bring their decipher ring to get information from your website.
While we’re on the subject of using plain English, if you use terms that only other people in your industry understand, your target market will not be able to relate to your content, and this makes them far less likely to get engaged with your business. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize that you’ve gotten too technical, when the terms are second-nature to you. If you worry you might have lost your target market, it’s a good idea to have a non-expert in your field look it over. - Be conversational in the way you convey ideas.
If your content is too stuffy and “proper,” your audience will turn their brain off before they get to your call-to-action. There is a reason that people don’t read encyclopedias for fun. Remember, you aren’t writing a term paper that’s going to be graded by an English professor. You’re writing content that you want your audience to follow and develop interest in. - Provide information.
Over 90% of purchases, whether made online or in-person, are researched online before they are made. This means that your target market is not just visiting your site to make a purchase, they are coming to your website for information. They want to learn about your product, and yes they want to learn how much it costs — don’t shy away from prices. Studies show that the websites that provide the most information are more likely to close the deal than those that only include the information that appeals to the buyer. - Be credible.
Consumers are used to getting the spin. They can smell an unauthentic sales pitch a mile away, and it turns them off. Instead of putting on your “used sales man” hat, be transparent about your product and teach your audience about it. Let them decide why they need it for themselves. This helps you gain customer trust and loyalty.
Do you have any questions or comments? Please share with us in the comment section below!
