Having a great looking website is not very effective if the content is confusing, poorly written and/or incomplete.  You have two main audiences to keep in mind:Potential Clients and Search EnginesThe former is obvious but the latter is just as important.  These guidelines can help you improve the visitors’ experience:

• Search Engines love fresh, relevant content.  Update your website often with articles, news and anything that pertains to your products and industry.  You’ll improve your traffic and turn visitors into clients.
  
• Products Section - In addition to providing a description of your product or service, highlight the benefits.  Explain why your visitors need it.  If possible, quantify the benefits and provide proof.
  
• Establish your credibility - nobody will buy if they don’t feel comfortable with you. 
  
• Write each section and page with Search Engines in mind (see the section below on Search Engines).  Make it easy for Search Engines to index your website in their databases.

• Consider hiring a professional writer.  A professional writer can make your website much more effective by creating coherent, enticing content.  As well, most will offer to contact your clients in order to create testimonials, case studies, etc.  In addition to having professionally written copy for your website, you can use the material for other marketing purposes (brochures, flyers, etc).

Testimonials: The best way to establish your credibility is to provide third party evidence that your product or service has benefited others. Testimonials from your satisfied customers are a great way to show prospective buyers how they will benefit by dealing with you.  Be sure to include the names of your satisfied customers as well as their company information. If possible, include pictures with the testimonials. This will personalize the message, add credibility and demonstrate that they’re real people who’ve enjoyed tangible benefits from your product.  To create immediate interest, it’s a good idea to have at least one of your best testimonials prominently featured on your homepage.

Action: If you want people to buy your products or services, you have to tell them how to do it. Don’t leave them guessing. You have to explain exactly what you want them to do, and make it easy for them to do it.  Provide your customers with clear, easy-to-understand instructions of the steps involved to make a purchase.  Your goal is to show the prospective customer that they will be well treated and that the sales process will go smoothly when they contact you.

Online Resources:  People expect instant gratification from the Internet – they are used to being able to find what they want at any time online.  You should include documents, technical specs, etc. that can be used for reference purposes.  If you choose, the information can reside in a password-protected section of the website. Your website can provide important, useful information 24/7/365 to employees, customers, distributors, etc.  If having immediate, easy access to certain information is a benefit to any of the above groups, you should include it.  You can publish the information as web pages and/or allow the user to download files such as PDF’s, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc.  Here’s an example:If you have a User Manual, consider publishing it on your website.  The benefits are twofold:· It is readily accessible resulting in improved customer satisfaction and lessening the burden on your customer support.· It can improve the traffic to your website.  Your User Manual will contain many keywords and phrases that are specific to your product and company.  By allowing the Search Engines access to your User Manual, you can increase the likelihood that your website will rank higher in their search results.

Images:A website is the perfect medium to let people visualize your products or services. Include photos of every product you sell. Attractive product shots can pique the interest of your visitors and boost your sales.  If you have a lot of products for sale, consider an online catalog. If you’re selling services, you may want to show photos of your staff providing the service. This makes your service more tangible to your visitors.  If you lack photos and images, you can purchase stock photos online quickly and cheaply.  As well, consider asking clients, suppliers and distributors for photos and/or images.

Attractive Opt-In Offer: Most first-time visitors don’t contact you right away. However, the fact that they’ve come to your website in the first place means they’re at least curious about what you have to offer.In order to foster a relationship with these potential customers, you should collect their e-mail addresses by encouraging them to subscribe to a free newsletter or a free download (such as a product catalog). This will give you the chance to send them updates, develop a relationship and increase their comfort level so they’ll eventually buy from you.Opt-in offers are an excellent way to turn visitors into prospects and prospects into customers.  Gathering a permission-based email list and sending your marketing material to prospects can be almost completely automated.

Weblog (Blog): A blog is a frequently updated online journal. Although blogs started as a fad, many companies now use blogs to connect with clients, employees and the general public. The elements of interactivity, community and collaboration make blogs a great tool for small and medium size businesses.  Many SMB’s are adopting blogs for customer relations, advertising, promotion and even internal communications. A blog can create interest, encourage repeat visits and keep people updated on what’s happening with your products.  Consider including a RSS Feed to encourage repeat visits and wide distribution.

Case Studies: As with Testimonials, case studies are a highly effective means of marketing your product.  A well-written case study will describe the important aspects of your product and how it benefited your customer.

Reprinted from the SnapTech Blog

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

 Transforming A Site From Good To Excellent
Transforming A Site From Good To Excellent by: Richard Lowe, Jr.One of the challenges of moving a web site up from good to excellent is transforming it from just a bunch of web pages and graphics to an interactive experience. Another term for this is community - a place where people can come to communicate with others. The very best web sites have mastered this transformation, thus attracting return visitors again and again. The whole point of a web site is to communicate ideas and concepts to other people. If you are just putting up pages and graphics, then you are....

 PHP On-The-Fly!
PHP On-The-Fly! by: Dennis Pallett Introduction PHP can be used for a lot of different things, and is one of the most powerful scripting languages available on the web. Not to mention it's extremely cheap and widely used. However, one thing that PHP is lacking, and in fact most scripting languages are, is a way to update pages in real-time, without having to reload a page or submit a form. The internet wasn't made for this. The web browser closes the connection with the web server as soon as it has received all the data. This means that after this no more data can....

 Chatting your Way to Increased Website Traffic
Millions of people are drawn to the websites every day just to chat. Chatting is one of the most popular activities done by those using the web. Millions of people are drawn to the websites every day just to chat. Chatting is one of the most popular activities done by those using the web. Many people admit that once they begin chatting, they become almost addicted to it. The average online “chatter” will log on at least once a day for a chat. Although there is no definite reason....

 Make Cash With Your Blog » Three Easy Tips : Video Tutorial
Believe it or not, but it's actually possible to make money from blogging. One teenager has, in fact, earned $5,000 a month just from making posts on his blog! Of course, not every blogger is this lucky. It does take some skill, and some luck to make money from blogging. What it also takes is some knowledge of how exactly to generate income just by posting blogs. In this newsletter, we will go over three specific methods of making money on your blog: adsense, Pay Per Lead, and Affiliate Links. So how exactly do....

 4 Most Common Web Site Template Mistakes
User friendliness and easy navigation should adhere to the two-click rule. This is a simple rule that implies any user should be able to find what they want on any given web site in two clicks. Using a web site template right out of the box is a very common mistake new web designer's make. One of the cool things about the web is that it's so visual. Using a web site design template can save any new web developer a lot of time and effort. But like any tool, you can get into trouble if you don't pay attention. Color....

 Get Your Website To The Top Of Google And Stay There:
Your Website may be the slickest, most jaw-dropping beautiful creation known to man but its nothing if it isn't showing on the first page of google search results for your chosen speciality subject. Our starters for ten... Keywords An obvious first choice but still probably the most importantant element of a websites content. To the uninitiated a website isn't categorised by its graphical content but its words. It's therefore vitally important to make sure....

 10 Web Design Tips For A Professional Looking Niche Web Site
Web site design is a critical element in niche marketing. If you want to build your reputation as a Professional in your niche, you need to project a professional image from the moment your visitors reach your web site. Like it or not, first impressions count and no more so than on the Internet. Your web site is the only way that visitors can judge you and your product. Give them the wrong impression, make it hard for them to find the information they're after and chances are they will....

 Internet home Business - Create A good navigation For Maximum Effect
Ifthe user wants to visit from one page to another, he or she must follow a sequence that is facilitated by the navigation system. Purpose of navigation of website is to allow users an easy access to the content that they are searching for. Purpose of navigation of website is to allow users an easy access to the content that they....

 Earning From Your Website
Before you start building your site, ask yourself "WHY?". Why did you decide to build your own web site. How are you going to earn money? Creating simple homepage will not get you any money at all nor you receive lots of visitors. Your website must be the part of your business. It also must be the part of your business plan. When you are planning your website, ask you the following questions: 1. Who is your audience? Your main goal is to provide information to meet the needs....

 Why is Website Design Important?
A well-conceived and consistent design helps draw attention to what has changed as the visitor moves from page to page. Ideally, what changes is the most important part of the page, the stuff your customer is interested in.  If you get stuck in room with a group of web designers you'll hear a lot of talk about page load times, HTML and XML, color and page sizes, animated graphics, and the latest design gizmos. Designers love to talk about the tools they use and the latest design trends. But hidden in all of this conversation are the real issues that you....

 This blog now has defined niche specific content
After reading a post submitted to my blog... here by Greg Hall, I decided to take his advice and change the focus of my Pro Blog Tips website to blogs and blogging. Have removed over 300 articles that related to other subjects that were not really blog related. Must admit that taking the plung and removing so many posts was a bit scary as I'm sure that for at least the next few months traffic to Pro Blog Tips will be effected. Not long ago I took the same steps with a number of dating blogs. Found that traffic dropped for about....

 Evaluating Web Site Performance
Setting up a website is the very first step of an Internetmarketing campaign, and the success or failure of your sitedepends greatly on how specifically you have defined yourwebsite goals. If you don't know what you want your site toaccomplish, it will most likely fail to accomplishanything. Without goals to guide you in developing andmonitoring your website, all your site will be is an onlineannouncement that you are in business. If you expect....

 The Top 6 Website Sins
They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Your website then is the window to your business. What would a passerby think of your "window"? Would they want to stop and maybe come inside for a few moments? Or would they just pass by without giving it a second glance? The goal of any website is to make the visitor stay. The desired visitor response might be that they make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, enter a competition or simply complete a survey. The end....

 Search Engine Optimization and its Role in Search Engine Marketing
Internet marketing has rapidly grown over the years. Businesses big and small are trying to reap the benefits that an online presence offers. And an online presence for an existing business, regardless of what it may be, does often mean increased return on investment. And given increasing competition, with everyone having logged on, in a manner of speaking, just having a website is not enough. Also known as e-commerce, internet marketing covers everything....

 Selecting a Search Engine Optimization Company
A Search Engine Optimization Company can be an invaluable asset in your Internet marketing campaign. They specialize in knowing how to raise your search engine positions, monitoring those positions on the regular basis, and adjusting their strategies to account for undesirable results in any given month. Since this takes a lot of time, effort, and specialized knowledge, it can be in your best interest to go to an outside source rather than try to maintain high search engine positions on your own. However, like every business, there are good companies and there are lemons. Knowing the right questions to ask and the criteria to look for will help you in choosing....

Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.problogtips.com/tips-for-website-content-perhaps-the-most-important-element-of-your-website/2216/trackback/

Posted by Jaron in the catagory of... General Interest

No Trackbacks »