3 Tips for High-Performing Website Content

When entrepreneurs start out to build a website (or have one built for them), they tend to focus more on the design than the content. There is no question – design and usability is important. After all, that first impression can make or break your relationship with that prospective customer. However, high-quality optimized content is equally important.

Why is Website Content So Important?

The content on your website is one of the most pivotal elements necessary for search engine optimization. Quality content helps major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing direct qualified users to your website.

It is the job of these search engines to find relevant information for their users. When you have good content on your website, you are making it easier for these search engines to connect the user search to the information on your site. This means higher search engine rankings, which contributes to more leads.

Once the user is on your site, well-developed content will guide them through your brand narrative – which will ultimately drive sales. Quality content puts you in control of the buyer experience.

So, what can you do to make your website content as effective as possible? Here are a few tips.

Website Content Tip #1: Define Your Purpose & Objectives

This seems pretty straightforward, yet this task is often overlooked when designing a new website. Before you do anything, you need to establish your objectives for your website.

For example, are you looking to inform your readers – or are you a more entertaining voice? Is your goal to simply drive sales or leads? You’ll likely have multiple objectives, and that’s great! Take the time to write them out and prioritize them. That way, if you find yourself with conflicting objectives, you know which one takes precedence. This will help to keep you focused in your content development going forward.

Website Content Tip #2: Make Your Content A Path to Action

Your content should have a definitive flow to it. For example, if your goal is to set more appointments through your website, your content should guide the user through the website, engaging them to take action. You need to write your content to guide your audience through the who, what, when, where, and why of your product or service.

You can accomplish this by starting with a pain point. What problem do you solve? Identify this clearly and prominently on your homepage, and invite your users to find out more. Then, clearly define how you solve that problem and explain value – from their perspective. Finally, have a clear call to action.

This “flow” may look different for every website, but the goal should be the same – to walk the user through informative content that gets them excited to do business with you.

Website Content Tip #3: Don’t Skimp on the Word Count

Again, remember that you’re writing for two different audiences: your search engines, and the actual users. The likelihood that your users will cling to every word that you have written is slim to none. People tend to scan website content.

At the same time, long form content has been proven to rank higher in search engine results. Pages with between 1200 to 2000 words have a substantially higher ranking that those with less than 1200 words. In fact, a recent SEO study showed that the average number one-ranked page had about 2400 words.

In order to accommodate the scanner-user, you can break up this content with specially designed sections, and header fonts. Get creative with your placement! This is where design and content marry to create something magical!

For more tips on website content and promoting your website, visit Heeren Content & Strategy.

Contributor: Erika Heeren is the founder of Heeren Content & Strategy. With 14-years of experience marketing and public relations, she has a professional focus on integrated media spanning 16 different industries.

She works with small businesses and non-profit organizations to provide affordable, professional-quality content development, marketing, and public relations services. Her clients include local small business owners, marketing agencies, public universities, media outlets, Huffington Post-published authors, IT firms, and non-profit organizations.

A military spouse herself, Erika is an outspoken advocate for veteran and military spouse education, employment, and entrepreneurship. She also volunteers as a digital marketing instructor with Treasure Valley SCORE.

Heeren has been featured in NextGen Military Spouse, Veteran on the Move, Wright Stuff Radio, and Social Media Week.