Express Your Inside Reality

In July, we explored the purposes of determining your goals and understanding your audience . Once you’re there, you’re ready to begin writing content for the site. You can’t simply take your brochures and use that content. Your audience won’t take the time to read it.

Express Your Inside Reality

Keep in mind, your web presence helps form a perception of who you are. In many cases, it may be the only thing that the reader knows about you. You need a professional quality web site. It simply needs to show that you pursue excellence in all you do. Thankfully, professional quality doesn’t mean that it has to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Ideally, your site will also have a consistent branding with your printed materials, like mailers, advertisements, business cards, and any other printed material. That means using a consistent logo, colors, fonts, and images. A tag line that is used throughout your literature is another item to include for consistency.

Focus Your Website Content On Your Audience’s Needs

Sites also need substance. In pursuit of persuasive content, consider the driving message you want to communicate through the website. Your content should be driven by your target audience. What is important to them? What do they need to know?

“Be a problem-solver for your customers,” says Mary Kay Claus of Blue Shamrock Communications. You should first be sure that your content is customer and prospect focused, not something written for your peers to appreciate. In fact, Mary Kay recommends using actual case studies of customer problems and solutions. This shows your prospective customers what you can do for them!

Keep Your Website Content Focused and Relevant

Show your visitors that your organization is relevant to them and why. Speak to your audience in a way that they can understand. Avoid language to which your visitors may not be able to relate. Keep your content short, to the point, and focused on your audience’s needs. Web attention spans are short. Say exactly what you mean. In other words, the simpler the better.

• Is your desire for new customers? Include customer testimonials. What you offer and what really makes you stand out from the competition has maximum impact with this group of readers.
• Would you like to have existing customers draw new revenue? What are they missing? Maybe there’s something new you have done since they came on board. Don’t forget to include this information and update your content regularly.
• Are you concerned about customer service? Add multiple ways for the customer to reach you. Tell them about your turn around time. Share your successes. Is there a way for them to track the status of their order online? If it’s important, maybe you should consider options that enable your customers to do so.

Remember, the point is to focus your content on meeting your audience’s needs and to help them make informed decisions. Effective copy is generally emotionally driven. Know your audience. Connect with them. Draw them in. Call them to action.

Next month we’ll explore the use of design to increase traffic to your website. In the mean time, if we can help you implement or upgrade your own web presence challenges, please contact us at 703-972-9134 or {contactlink 1}.

Traci Riley contributed to this article.

Donald Cranford has been in Marketing, Product Development and Product Management in the technology industry for 14 years. He founded Katalyst Solutions in 2004 to assist small businesses, non-profits, and churches in succeeding online.

• Prev
• Next