Marketing & SEO [blog]

All websites need content and that is a fact.

But writing that content can be a daunting or seen as difficult task for even the keenest business owner, but that need not be the case.

Focus on the Message

The thing you need to do is focus on what you want your website visitor to DO on your website. Whether that is to contact you regarding a sales lead, sign up to a newsletter, buy something or just to provide information about the company, all these will help highlight what you will need to write.

Selling Your Service/Products

If you are attempting to get your website traffic to convert to sales or leads, you need to use persuasive copy and know enough about the customers to know what converts them into sales.

Avoid listing the features of the service or products, but simply state the benefits of your service to your customers – if you must list features, list them after the benefits. For example, most customers don’t care that your vacuum cleaner is produces 1,700 watts of power and is only really useful when comparing two models/makes of vacuum cleaner. Indeed, if a customer is looking for a vacuum cleaner, then unless they are looking at several, then the actual suction power is of little value (they just need to know that the vacuum will clean their floors!).

That isn’t to stay listing the technical specs of your products isn’t something you should list somewhere on your site, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you put in your product descriptions (and the actual product specs should be put on a different page where they can be found for those discerning customers).

Generating Leads

If the main purpose of the website is to generate leads, then having a content form on your site is a must and this must be one of the most prominent things on your website page(s).

The copy should be there to compliment the form and not distract from the form. The copy should answer most of the common questions you are likely to be asked (it is always useful to answer actual common questions you’ve gotten). Again, list your benefits and not simply the features of your service.

Informational Sites

These are little more difficult to write for, but obvious content include contact details, a small form for contact and maybe a little about the company (on a separate page preferably so that if the visitor is interested, they can get that information).

Search Engines

The text on your website will invariably be indexed by the search engines (usually within a week), so anything you put up live on a website will be visible for the search engine spiders to see and index. This is a double edged sword as you want to write content for your website in a concise manner but include enough content so that it is useful for your human visitors.

Tips for Writing for the Web

Keep to the Point

Write short, concise sentences. Most people don’t read every single word on the web so keep things short and sweet.

Include headlines

To break up longer pieces and give the user some measure of “scannability”.

Add Emphasis

Using formatting to add emphasis to those things that really matter and to highlight key points.

Use Images

Images are worth a thousand words they say. Use them sparing and to good effect when they are tied into the content.

Spell Check & Proof Read

Get someone else to spell check and proof read your work. If that is not possible, leave it a day or so and re-read it yourself and correct those mistakes.

These days, having a website blog is essential to any modern business, but why is this the case?

The reasons for this are many fold, but the mains are listed below.

Improving Trust

Having great blog posts on areas directly related to your business not only improves your search engine relevance, but also provides you visitors with additional content. If your website widely promotes well written content, then visitors will be impressed with your proven depth of knowledge in the subject matter.

Additional Traffic

Visitors looking for specific content may end up coming to your site from a search engine and having blog posts not only increases which keywords you can target, but also each blog page should be a piece of content in its own right – attracting targeted traffic from search engines which, with careful planning – you can convert to sales.

Having regular updates via a blog also means your website is regularly updated, which is a good signal for search engines that your website is still alive and well and you’ll see increased search engine uptake for your blog.

Increasing Social Media Penetration

If you promote your blog posts on social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter etc, you can increase your readership and hopefully increase your sales.

Interaction

You can actively encourage interaction between your customer base and your company by offering the customers the chance to post comments, “Like” their favourite posts and perhaps have them re-tweet about your posts, helping spread the word about your products or services.

Answer Resource

If you get frequent sales questions, then consider writing a blog post around them – that way you can simply answer the question as comprehensively as you can in your blog post and then send clients a link to the post – this not only saves YOU time but having it on the website in the first place may other customers who are in the process of making a buying decision and may find your blog post which finally solves that question they were thinking about which may have put them of ordering.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to comment below.

Leveraging social network sites such as Facebook & Twitter are important activities for most business wanting to promote themselves to prospective clients.

However, getting the most from them can be tricky and if done incorrectly, may do more harm than good.

Facebook

Set up a business page on Facebook and be sure to post special offers to all those who ‘Like’ your post.

By the same token, make sure you have links on your website which allows customers to Like your content – thereby expanding your customer base.

Ask customers to share pictures of them using your products (if applicable) – this will generate additional leads and spread your word

Twitter

Use Twitter to regularly post tweets from your customers – perhaps even post short success stories from customers who have recently bought from you.

Send out short tips on how to best use your products or services or perhaps post about unusual ways to use your products

Twitter pictures of your latest products or prototypes to build hype prior to release

YouTube

Create a few promotional videos for your website – perhaps offering product reviews of your best sellers as well as including links to buy those products & services. This isn’t as hard as it sounds.

Post a contest with a free prize give away – asking the YouTube community to post video “responses” on how they use your product/service

Ask your customers to post video testimonials of your product/service

LinkedIn

Create a profile and add links to your website, services and products and keep up to date

Join groups and regularly post questions and comments to those groups – this will build your online awareness

Ask your customers, suppliers and partners to provide a recommendation for you on LinkedIn.

Search for the Answer section and post answers. This will eventually lead you to getting an Expert title in your chosen area. This speaks volumes about you.

Google+

Create Circles in your profile that are specifically for vendors, customers and others interested in your brand, allowing you to send out timely but targeting messages.

Post interesting blog posts and information to your circles and encourage comments and questions.

Start a semi-regular Hangout where you invite customers to come and ask questions about your service. Answer them earnestly and help build awareness of your brand & services.