A new business website is often simply the design and structure and not the actual copy (text content) which needs to be provided by the business owner.
I’ve seen many newly launched websites with nothing more than ‘Welcome to my website’ on the homepage and a number of website design projects left standing for months because the developer is still waiting for content. I’ve also met many perfectly intelligent, business savvy people who develop brain freeze when it comes to anything to do with websites so it’s no surprise then when it comes to being asked for the ‘copy’ they may not easily make the connection that website copy is not much different to those offline marketing materials, promotional leaflets, product brochures, sales pitches and telephone chats with customers, all of which that same person with brain freeze has been doing, quite expertly, for years.
A website is quite simply the online version of your printed company brochure or your high street shop and the site will generally consist of home, about, contact us and product/service pages.
Website Homepage Content
If you have a shop on the high street your shop window needs to grab attention pretty quickly to get the attention of a passer by. You do this by having a nice display, you showcase products, you place signs (promotion/sale), tell them if you give interest free credit, etc. So your website homepage is often your ‘shop window’. It is more often than not the first page people land on from search so it needs to make an impact and grab the attention of that cyber passer by to entice them to open the door (click a link) and browse.
Use a mixture of images and words. Yes, words are better than images for SEO but pictures can tell a story in seconds and make a page look interesting. There is absolutely no point in achieving high rankings if your homepage is dull and uninviting. You don’t want your visitors to feel they need to use up too much energy reading long paragraphs of text about what you do when pictures and bullet points can be used to tell a story in seconds. But you do need to strike a balance between what is good for search engines and what works for humans!
Include:
- What your website does
- A push of your key service/product
- What makes you fabulous
- How to buy your product
- How to contact you
About Us
The about us page is really an extended homepage that explains a bit more about the business and/or people behind the actual service or product. You can go into more detail here about your aims, ethos, mission statement, etc. Someone has clicked here because they want to read the bits that may seem boring. You can hold back on the ‘hard sell’ on this page, the reader is already interested enough to want to check out who they are considering spending money with.
Include:
- How long you have been doing what you do
- If you have any affiliations, sister companies, the background of the CEO
- Your mission statement
- Why you started the company
Products/Services
This section could be anything from one page to multiple categories containing a huge range of products or services. However large or small, don’t skimp on the information.
You describe your product or service everyday on the phone or in your shop and that is what is needed here. Talk about what the service is (clearly and to the point) and include what ‘benefit’ using your product or service would bring. Avoid copying the same manufacturers product descriptions, while it may not be practical to write your own descriptions if you sell thousands of products it IS BETTER to be original and unique so try to take the time.
Include:
- A picture of the product (or image describing the service)
- How it works
- Why it’s great!
- Product dimensions (I’m amazed how many product pages I see that don’t list these attributes – If you don’t tell me how big that rug is I don’t know if it will fit. I really can’t be bothered to ask you because I’m a busy person who has been spoiled by the wonders of the www and there are other websites that do include dimensions. I’ll try them instead, they charge 50p more but at least I know what I’m getting.)
- The cost (if appropriate)
- How to buy
If there is something to be said about the product then say it. A product page is not where you tease people into getting in touch to find out more. Detail, detail detail.
Now you get the idea, think about other pages your visitors may expect to see and find useful:
- FAQs – Quite simply the questions you are asked time again and the common answer you provide.
- Testimonials – Previous messages of thanks you have received via card, email, phone call. Add these to the page word for word.
- Contact Us – Yes, people struggle with this one too. Address, phone number, email, perhaps a map if customers can visit you.
Finally, if you aren’t great with the written word you might consider hiring a copywriter.
Also see I’ve got a business Blog. What now?.
