Often, your website is a potential customer’s first look at your business. And if your website’s content is unprofessional or sub-par, visitors might be inclined to choose a competitor. If you’re looking to polish your website’s content, here are some good practices to follow.
1. Be Sure You’re Adding Value
Your potential customers won’t always search the web with the intent to buy something. Sometimes, they just want information. If your business has a helpful, informative blog or newsletter, customers will find that your content adds value to their lives. Consequently, they’re likely to keep coming back to your site. And since they already have some trust in your business, they’ll be more likely to look to you when they need to make a purchase.
2. Use The Right Keywords
In order to make sure potential customers can easily find your website, you’ll need to do some basic search engine optimization (SEO). Luckily, there are plenty of free keyword research tools to help you narrow down the most effective keywords to use. The right focus keywords can help customers find your site. Of course, don’t overdo it: if you stuff each page with keywords, your search rankings will likely be lower.
3. Make Navigation Easy
If you’ve ever had trouble finding your way around a website, you know how frustrating website navigation can be. If you’re trying to optimize your conversion rate, it’s crucial that you ensure navigating your website is intuitive and quick.
As soon as a customer reaches your website, they should know where to click to see what products you sell and how to get in touch with you. They also should be able to see the benefits of your product or service. Do your best to make your menus easy to read, as expanding several sub-menus can be confusing and frustrating.
4. Clean Up Copy And Cultivate A Brand Voice
Even if the information on your website is solid, you may want to do a little cleaning and re-organizing to make it more appealing to potential customers. Most people will scan a website rather than read the whole thing. Breaking up each page into short (3-5 sentence) paragraphs with frequent headings can help visitors want to stay on your website.
Similarly, making sure your copy is engaging makes a difference. Be sure that your brand’s unique voice comes through. For instance, don’t have one blog post that’s written formally and then follow it up with a more humorous post. If your brand voice isn’t consistent, customers won’t know what to think.
5. Improve Site Readability
Improving the readability of your site’s copy is one thing. But it’s also vital that your visitors will be able to easily read the actual words on the screen. Make sure that your font contrasts sufficiently with your background. Nobody wants to try to make out a white font on a pale blue background! Similarly, sprinkling visuals in with the content will also make it more engaging and readable.
If you’re looking to improve formatting and readability on your own, online tutorials or advanced WordPress training may help. Some courses are designed with small business owners in mind, while others are tailored toward IT professionals and marketing teams.
6. Have A Great CTA
The call to action, or CTA, is a critical part of any website. Whether your goal is to convince customers to make a purchase or persuade them to make an appointment, you’ll need to make that easy for them. Buttons for actions are a great choice. For example, you might include a “Get a Quote” or “Subscribe” button depending on the type of business you have. In the text of your CTA, make sure you use the first-person voice. This personalizes your business and helps you begin to create a rapport with each customer.
The design of the buttons themselves is important, too. Since you want your CTA button to be noticeable, choose a color that contrasts with the rest of your site. And if you make the text on a button start with a verb, your customers will be more likely to act.
Closing Thoughts
Even if your business already has a solid website, there’s always room for improvement! If you take some time to evaluate your site’s content, you can win over new customers and ensure that the customers you have keep coming back.
