Great web content is the foundation for every successful website. Without great content, your readers will leave your website for content-rich pages with the material they can learn from and enjoy. Why? Because without content, there’s no reason to stay on your site any longer than it takes to click the back button and find another page with content more suitable to the reader’s needs.
Create Relevant, Audience-Focused Content
Your content needs to be relevant to your readers. Visitors to your website should quickly understand the purpose of the landing page and how it applies to what they’re searching for. Some of the best ways to do this are:
- Start with a buyer persona – Not all content can be relevant to everyone. Marketers and business owners should take the time to research and understand their target audience. Getting to know your customer means that you get a better idea of what they’re looking for, what they like to read, and how they read it. Operating a successful business is about fitting a need and providing customers and clients with solutions to their problems, and understanding them is the first step.
- Create a list of keywords – If relevance is all about the user, then identifying what users are searching for and using that on your own website is imperative. How users phrase their queries when inputting them into Google can give you clues as to how to help your content stand out from the rest and stay relevant.
- Write good meta descriptions – Consider how you decide which search result is the right choice for you. What things do you look for in a result before you click? Your first line of defense in demonstrating your website’s relevance lies in title tags, URLs, and meta descriptions. Writing engaging, attention-grabbing copy often makes the difference between a click and being passed over.
- Solve a problem – The most critical factor in determining whether your content will be relevant to potential customers and clients is if you can solve their problems. The most successful content is that which solves the reader’s pain points.
People Read Web Copy Differently
The content people read online is very different than the content they read in print. Printed content is generally more formal, and as a result, readers expect it to be professional, clean, and clutter-free.
By contrast, online content is often more informal, conversational, and interactive. For example, the web content of an average business will often include viewer comments, testimonials, or reviews.
Online Readers Scan
Online readers are more likely to scan web copy than they are other sources. Nielsen Norman Group found that 79 percent of users always scanned new pages they came across, while just 16 percent read word for word.
Does this mean content doesn’t matter? Absolutely not! If anything, this makes web content even more important (and harder to get right). The natural short-attention-span tendency of people browsing online means that your copy has to be as engaging as possible to hold the reader’s attention. It also means that your content needs to be free of grammatical errors, easily scannable, and written in a natural style suited for your audience.
Demonstrate Your Value Proposition
People search online to find the answers to their problems. By understanding your target audience and the way they search, you can strategically showcase your products and services as the solution.
Over time, accumulating content will help to establish you as the industry expert and a thought leader for your niche.
Build Trust With Customers
When customers are ready to buy, content has been shown to influence up to 50% of their purchase decision. Content helps inform and educate potential clients customers. By building trust with that audience that your site is consistent and reliable, you confirm for them that a real person created it and they’ll be more likely to return.
Content as an Asset
A well-written blog post can become an asset that can be repurposed for multiple platforms. Great copy can be recycled for social media posts, content upgrades, ebooks, and more. Content that holds timeless value, can be re-used again in the future. That means when you write content today, it can drive traffic and leads far into your future.
Great Content Impacts SEO
Well-written content is one of the best ways to contribute to your business’s SEO. That’s because content that focuses on a specific topic is naturally optimized for the keywords you want to rank for in search results.
As Google becomes more sophisticated, it frequently updates to promote content that is more beneficial to user experience. The more intentional and relevant the content on your website is and the authority it garners in the industry, the higher you’ll eventually rank in search results.
Great Content Impacts Lead Generation
Great content is vital to lead generation. When content is consistent with your business goals, you get the opportunity to convert those website visitors into leads and then eventually paying customers.
Why Should You Hire A Marketing Firm?
Managing an effective website that drives traffic, engages readers, and generates leads for your business takes time and effort. An effective content strategy is one that isn’t short-sighted. Great web pages require content updates, regular maintenance, and regular posting. These tasks demonstrate to users and Google alike that your site is active and functional.
All of these things can make attending to your site’s content more of a chore, especially when your passion is operating your business. You should hire a marketing firm to write your content not only because content creation takes time away from running your business but because digital marketing professionals understand what it takes to make your website successful.