Don’t get us wrong, it’s vital that your website be aesthetically pleasing and easy to use too. However, it is just as important that your website is useful to your audience. Quality content peppered with searchable key words results in higher search engine rankings and more happy customers.

Where to start

I agree with author Mark Silver when he says, “Great salespeople and marketers, the ones you feel good about and look up to instead of feeling slimed by, have this combination of confidence and humility, caring and willingness to deliver on their promises.” How can this be accomplished?

• First and foremost, you have to believe in your product or service.
• You need to respect your customer’s time and intelligence.
• You have to be in tune with your customers’ wants and needs and be ready to deliver on your promises.

Beyond ethics and sound motivation, you need clear objectives and measurable goals. Without them, how will you know your hard work has payed off?

Next steps

• Write and thoroughly edit your copy
• Speak to your audience
• Create meaningful headlines and subheads (not “clever” ones)
• Break up “walls of text” with lists, paragraph breaks, relevant graphics, and headlines
• Create useful links within your text to internal and external pages
• Incorporate a strong call to action on every page
• Summarize your main points

Write and edit your copy

Compile your text (based on a clear outline, of course), then be ruthless with editing.

“Because web users read only 18% of added verbiage,” usability guru Jacob Nielson explains, “cutting words is well worth the accusing squiggles that MS Word will throw at your sentence fragments.”

Be sure to only introduce one idea per paragraph to avoid overwhelming your readers, and use active verbs where possible.

Speak to your audience

Content will be more appealing to your customers if it speaks to them in terms like “you can,” “you will,” “yours,” “your,” and “you’re,” rather than self-centered terms like “ours,” “we’re,” “we will,” “we can,” etc.

Try to write to as specific an audience as possible. For example, imagine you’re trying to sell vitamins. You’d approach grandmothers differently than bodybuilders, right?
Try addressing common challenges your target audience will be able to overcome with your product or service.

Avoid sales-person type language. Be authentic. Reading your text out loud will help you identify any awkward spots.

Don’t just provide dry information and facts either. Make it lively and entertaining whenever possible.

Create meaningful headlines and subheads (not “clever” ones)

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. Try these tactics from Copyblogger contributor Dean Rieck:

• State the big benefit [e.g. Copywrite Your Way to a Million Dollars]
• Announce exciting news [e.g. Earth From Space: Greenland Glacier Shrinks Overnight]
• Appeal to the “how-to” instinct [e.g. Prevent Memory Loss]
• Pose a provocative question [e.g. How do I know which mutual funds may be right for me?]
• Give a direct command [e.g. Call anyone, anywhere, without a phone line for FREE!]

Break up “walls of text” with lists, paragraph breaks, relevant graphics, and headlines.

Creating more white space will not only help users find what they’re looking for easily, but it will help your page look more proffessional.

Create useful links within your text to internal and external pages.

This makes your text easier to scan and your site easier to navigate. Your visitors will appreciate the good resources.

When creating links there are three main rules to remember:

• Use a relevant descriptive or contextual title that clearly illustrates the content of the link’s destination
• If it’s an internal link (one that directs your customer to another page within your site), it’s okay to have the new page open in the same browser window.
• If it’s an external link (one that leads the visitor outside of your site), then make sure it opens in a new browser tab or window.
  

Incorporate a strong call to action on every page.

A call to action is simply telling your customers what they need to do in order to receive whatever you are
offering. For example, “request a quote,” “donate now,” “sign up today,” etc.

To make things easy on your site’s visitors, link this text to your order page or subscription form.

Remember that before a user will complete a call to action, however, they have to recognize the need. Identify a problem and show the benefits of responding. Perhaps create extra incentive to participate by offering a discount or free gift.

Summarize

If an idea is worth saying, then it’s worth saying again. Be sure to summarize your main points so the reader has a “take-home message.”

As they say, content is king. By creating well organized, interesting, and useful content, you will improve your reputation and credibility with your customers and with search engines too. You will effectively remove the barriers to buying (or signing up, or donating, etc.).

Tackle it one paragraph at a time!