Importance Of Content Creation
Importance Of Content Creation
This is an area that needs some careful consideration as it is critical to the success of your website. When building a new site, it is tempting to dive into the design and technical implementation without giving any thought to what the site will contain and how visitors will find you.
If you have chosen to use the services of a web design company, you may take suggestions from them but don’t relay all your content writing to them. They are technical thinkers, who do their job well, but they are not copywriters, nor do they know your business well enough to adequately relay your message effectively. It pays to hire someone who specializes in wording websites for concise, engaging copy that gets results. Otherwise, you can spend some extra time researching your competitors’ websites to get a feel for what seems good and re-craft it to suit your business.
You want your website to attract visitors, engage them and convert them into customers. We can’t reiterate enough just how important this element is. So let’s look a little closer at things for you to consider.
Content is King
You’ve no doubt heard that over and over again, but do you understand why content is reigning so high on everyone’s subject list?
The content you develop for your site needs to meet specific requirements:
- Attract potential customers to the site
- Allow prospects to compare your offering against that of your competitors
- Enable the visitors to interact with the site and make a transaction
Before any design work can be done, the content needs to be considered. If the site is to attract prospects and convince them to get in touch, then you are going to have to look at the following things:
- Who are your existing customers?
- How would they search for your services?
- What questions can you answer?
Your goal should be to start building a relationship with them that will ultimately lead to a sale and propel business further.
Attracting Customers
Most sites include content that lists products and services, an ‘About Us’ section and a standard contact page. However, if you are going to generate more interest, you want to look at the needs of your potential customers and provide information that will help them choose your product.
In effect, this means you are interacting with your potential customers before they have actively started looking for your products/services. That puts you one step ahead!
There are a lot of different angles that this “content marketing” can take. Blogs, white papers, case studies, testimonials, etc., all help you communicate with your target audience. It is a crucial marketing tool to ensure your site is a success.
Compare Your Offering
Most people create a shortlist of companies to contact. When they find your site, you need to ensure that it provides adequate information and your unique selling points to ensure that the prospects follow through with getting in touch.
Think about how you would close a deal in a sales meeting. It is good to communicate that message on your site. For example, if you compete on price or provide a better service, tailor the message to suit your audience and let your website make this point clear.
Making the Transaction
Once your site visitors have compared your offering, they will look to make the transaction. The type of transaction will vary from business to business, but there’s one thing they all have in common. It should be easy to complete!
Your website should clearly lead customers to do what your call to action is, when they are ready to. If they have to struggle to find your contact form, they won’t try very hard and you will lose the opportunity.
Anything you can do to interact with your prospects and start a relationship prior to them making a transaction, will go a long way to help overcome any hiccups. So be thinking about that as you develop your content with the transaction in mind.
The easier it is to access for customers to access your products and services, the more likely it is that you will sell more.
Customer Acquisition & Retention
This is a good time to bring up Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). When we talk about CLV, what we’re referring to is a prediction of the total profit attributed to the future relationship with a customer. Having a clear sense of CLV might help you make a decision on where to prioritize your resources–be it on retaining customers, or acquiring new ones. It also helps you see your long-term vision, in terms of how valuable a client would be if retained for a set period of time.
Although websites are the most-used resource for attracting new customers, they are also vital tools in helping to retain existing customers. Depending on which study you look at, it’s been said that it costs anywhere from 5-25% more to win a new customer as it does to sell to an existing customer. So your content should focus on developing a long-term relationship with your client, which in turn lends itself to lead to new business through referrals and testimonials. Afterall, word-of-mouth advertising is always the best form of marketing you can get!
So when you are writing content for your website, keep in mind who the target audience is whether it be new customers or existing ones.
It has become a cliche but content really is King. Whether it’s your sales copy, blog posts, white papers, ebooks, case studies, testimonials or something else entirely, you have to consider not just what you want to say, but also how you need to say it. The message you want to communicate should be consistent and clear.
We’ve only scratched the surface on how powerful and important your website content is. Please visit our site for more information and get in touch if you’d like our help in any way.
