Developing Targeted Website Content That Delivers

When it comes to building a website for your small business, flashy intros and trendy designs will only get you so far. Ultimately, it’s your web content that will sell your customers on your product or service and keep them coming back.

Creating targeted web content that delivers the right message is no easy task. It takes careful planning and is most successfully achieved when viewed as an integral part of your overall website design.

Whether you are planning to write your web content yourself, or even if you hire a professional, there are a number of things to consider before you begin the task of writing. By determining your website objectives, defining your audience, and considering their needs before you put pen to paper, you can ensure your website content will be on the mark; that it ensures a user-friendly online experience and it will effectively promote your company in the best light possible.

Define your Objectives and your Audience

Before you begin writing your website’s content, consider your objectives. Is your primary goal to: Illustrate your expertise? Provide general information about your services and encourage clients to contact you for a personal consultation? Encourage customers to conduct their purchase entirely online? Your objectives will determine your website’s content, style and tone.

For example, if your objective is to illustrate your expertise, you may want to: outline your credentials, include links to past work, note any awards you’ve won or memberships in related associations/governing boards, demonstrate a thorough understanding of your topic, back up your claims with quotes from other experts in the field and so on.

Similarly, if your objective is to create an entirely automated purchase process and reduce the need for personal contact, then you’ll definitely want to include FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) to ensure you’ve answered as many questions your customer might ask, up front.

Next, consider who you are talking to. Think back to the market research you collected about your business. Who is your target market? Your target market is your primary audience. Your primary audience will also determine your content, style and tone.

For example, is English your audience’s first language? If not, you will need to write more plainly, and ensure any terminology you use is well explained. Is your audience of a particular culture? Do you know what might be considered offensive to its members? In our multi-cultural e-business environment, cultural expectations – meeting them or not – can be a critical factor in your success online.

And finally, keep in mind any secondary audiences when developing your content. These may include stakeholders such as current or potential investors and partners, and even your competition.

Meet your Audience’s Needs

Of course, not every user is going to have the same needs. One might want contact coordinates, while another wants company background information. The intuitive nature of website structures makes them an ideal information/sales tool; they allow you to balance different users’ needs and still fulfill your purpose of: promoting your expertise, providing information, selling your product or service, etc.

Ask yourself what key questions your clients/customers might ask about your business. Then, develop your website content to allow your audience to find answers to those questions quickly and easily.

Limit unnecessary information; use a ‘drill-down’ informational structure that offers the most important information on the first few pages. This way, users who want ‘just the facts’ can get them fast, and users more interested in the details will be able to collect the particulars from secondary pages.

Activate your Message

Studies show that we read 30% slower from a computer screen than we do from paper, and web users have difficulty accurately reading long blocks of text.

How can you make your website content easier to read? Simplify your sentences. Shorten your paragraphs. Where possible, use active sentences instead of passive ones.

Consider these two sentences - one is in an active voice, the other in a passive voice: