Most business owners today recognize the importance and value of having a website. It can present an interesting challenge to a business to create a website, but fortunately, there are numerous professional tools that can be used to help with this. Once the website has been created, however, one faces important new questions, such as “What should a website have?” The easiest answer is content–any website that wants to succeed in communicating to consumers must have content through which to do so.
How to Put Content on a Website
If you find yourself wondering, “What can a website do for my business?” the answer is: a lot. Many consumers today first learn about a business through their website and the content on it. So what happens when the website fails to get their attention, communicate about the business or allow the user to browse and find what they need and want? Quite simply, they walk away. Most users decide within just a few seconds whether they want to stay on a website and browse deeper or leave the website and go looking for something else. This is why it’s absolutely vital to optimize the website, especially the homepage–it makes the website attractive and easy for the user to understand and use so that they are far more likely to form a relationship with the business.
Understanding that a website must be optimized in order to fare well is easy, but understanding how to optimize a website is a little more complex.
Basic Tips on Optimizing
- Create a strong main message. The homepage of any website should have a strong main message. This is a single line of text that should capture the user’s attention and push them to want more. It is important not to simply throw any sentence up as the main message. It shouldn’t be diluted in an attempt to appeal to anyone and everyone, or complicated and difficult to understand. The message should convey in clear, precise language who the business is, what they do and how they can help the consumer. It should be unique and understandable, and it should always be tested before putting into use.
- Make site navigation smooth and easy. Users are looking for answers, and they want to get them as quickly and easily as possible. They have little patience for websites that have huge, complicated navigation bars, and are likely to leave such a website in search of one that’s easier to navigate. It’s therefore important that navigation be easy to identify and follow.
- Focus on one message or priority. Trying to focus on multiple messages and priorities can cause them all to become weak and ineffective. Users cannot take it all in at once, and may, therefore, abandon a website that makes them feel overwhelmed. Instead, focus on one message or priority on your homepage and direct users to content that forwards this. Users who are interested can dig more deeply to learn more.
- Use images freely. Photographic images can make content far more appealing and interesting, they capture attention and encourage one to look more deeply. When they are well-chosen, images can also drive users to share the links and contents with others, which further expands a website’s reach.
- Utilize easily understood call-to-action messages. These messages are incredibly important. They tell an interested user what they need to do next and give them an easy link to click on. It’s important that these messages stand out from the rest of the content on the page. It is essential users understand what is going to happen once they click on the link.
We Are Here to Help
It can take a lot of work just to bring users to your website. The last thing you want to do is drive them away with design or content that is confusing to navigate and understand. Optimizing your website with well-designed content is a necessary part of any successful marketing strategy. Web Content Development is here to help.
