How to Write Effective Content for Your Website

Written by: Advantage IM
August 7, 2015

Many web design companies will ask you to provide your own content for your new website, but not us. We consider writing to be part of a cohesive web marketing plan. Many companies will throw in whatever text they can find, whether it’s 5-year-old copy from your old website, or worse—content stolen from somewhere else on the web.

At Advantage Internet Marketing, we believe that website content should never be an afterthought. It’s a complicated task best left to a professional who understands not just grammar and punctuation, but also what will best fulfill the purpose of your website. Here are just some of the things we consider when writing your website content.

What is the Purpose of Your Website?

For your website to be effective, we must first determine its primary goal or purpose. For instance, the primary goal of your website may be to encourage visitors to contact you to set up an appointment, to visit your store, or to sign up for your newsletter. Or, perhaps, your primary goal is to build a strong reputation based on trust and knowledge. The whole website, including the design, the code used to implement this design and the content must all work together to reach this goal. How do we make this happen?

Anticipate What Your Customer Wants to Know

First, we must decide what pages your site needs and what to say on each page. It’s time to think like the customer. What are they looking for? What questions will they have? What is the minimal information they have to know before they buy or call? For example, if you are a bathroom remodeling company, your website visitors may want to know where you are located, how soon you can finish a project or where they can find examples of your work. It’s crucial to provide just the right amount of information and arrange it in a way that your potential customer is not overwhelmed, yet has a good idea about whether (and how) your business can help them.

Answer Your Customers’ Questions

Use Examples

Using examples is a terrific way for us to demonstrate your expertise while answering questions about the type of service your customers can expect from you. Whenever possible, we use pictures, graphics or statistics to help illustrate our points.

Gain Trust

Testimonials are great for establishing trust with your customers. Whether you have many or just a few, we’ll find good places throughout your website to incorporate them. In addition to testimonials, we also take the time to talk to you about your business and what makes you special. Every business has something note-worthy and does something amazing for its customers, but many don’t realize it. It’s our job as writers to find these gems of information, such as your 20+ years of experience or 24/7 customer support, and highlight them on your website.

Don’t Brag

Although it can feel instinctual to use a lot of superlatives when describing a company’s work (especially when it truly is superior), the honest truth is that your customers will believe it when they see it. Furthermore, they really just want to know what you can do for them, and whether you are believable and trustworthy. You probably even remember a time when hearing someone talk themselves up was a bit of a turn-off, and you were tapping your foot wondering when they’d get to something valuable.

Instead of dropping unsupported claims of excellence in every other sentence, in our copy we focus on explaining what you do and how you can help. We aim to use the same type of language that you use during a face-to-face meeting, which makes your website friendly and approachable.

Not feeling up to the task of writing copy for your own website? You shouldn’t have to, and that is why you need us. We are a full-service internet marketing company and we can help you with everything from design and writing to development, search engine promotion and much more. Contact us today for a free consultation!