What You Need To Know About Website Content August 6 2013 / Posted By: Melissa Priest
The content on your website could not be any more important than it is right now.
Second only to your sites overall design, (in my opinion anyway), your content is the most important thing about your website.
Your content can be the difference between someone staying and reading on, or leaving never to return.
A huge factor in the success of your content is its readability. Defined as the ease in which text can be read and understood. One thing to note here, is knowing your audience, and writing to them in a language they understand. Is your audience the broader community, or a University Masters Alumni? Think about who your visitors are, and adjust your writing style accordingly.
Google (and other search engines) are watching! Everyone wants their website to appear high in Google search results right? Well one of the biggest elements in the top secret Google algorithm, is content. And I don’t mean keyword stuffed, repetitious content written to get a search engines attention. I mean usable, readable, good quality content.
Quality content is of ultimate importance to the ease of use, or usability of your website. Here are some other factors to keep in mind when building content for your website:
- Don’t just migrate your brochures or sales documents straight onto your website. A website shouldn’t be one big sales pitch. Your visitors want information, not marketing speak. Give them the facts and let them make up their own mind. Sure, include a call to action here and there, but there is no need for a load of ‘salesy’ buzz words and promotional speak.
- Keep your content brief and to the point. Another factor in readability is short, concise sentences and paragraphs. People don’t like to read a lot of big chunks of wordy content online (I don’t, do you?).
- Keep it up to date. Your content needs to be relevant and up to date. There’s nothing worse than going to a site, only to find you’re reading information from three years ago. The internet is an information medium, and that information needs to be reliable. If your information is out of date, your visitors will leave in favour of your up to date competitor.
- Don’t be afraid to add visual content. Add (relevant!) images to support your content to make it more interesting. This is a great way to break up content and further communicate your message through examples. This will help reinforce your messages, especially for us visual visitors.
- Consistent and inline with your brand / brand voice. Every piece of communication from your company should be consistent. This means deciding on a voice for your company and using it at all touch-points – all forms of advertising, your website, social media etc. This helps potential customers identify your company and build trust in your company. Is your company’s voice conversational, or more formal? Do you write in the first, second or third person? Your company could benefit from a style guide, describing to all employees your brand voice, company colours, information about your logo, fonts to be used, etc.
- No typos or bad grammar! It doesn’t take much to (spell) check your work. Having typos or gramatical errors on your site can instantly destroy trust and give a bad impression. If you’re particularly bad with spelling / grammar, have your writing checked by someone specialising in this area, it will be worth it!
If you have any questions about content for your business or would like our help creating or updating your content, please contact us.