When businesses and organizations invest in quality web development services, it’s unfortunately common for website content to be lower quality. This is because web developers speak the language of code, not marketing copy. Just as graphic design has its own set of standards to deliver a picture worth a thousand words; website content is one of the most important elements of a website, and it should never be produced by the website owner unless they are skilled in the art of website copy writing.
Website content must meet many unique guidelines in order to be effective. What might surprise you is that the guidelines of website content are different from the guidelines for other forms of content, such as print marketing collateral.
If you don’t understand these guidelines, maintaining an effective website can be challenging, and this is where many websites fall short of their expectations. To prove the importance of quality website content, feel free to follow these DIY tips to make changes to the content on your website (where it is needed) and you will also increase the performance of your website.
Quality Website Content Will Lower the Bounce Rate of Your Website
The bounce rate of your website is the rate of visitors, AKA potential customers, who were immediately turned off by the first impression of your website. This number will tell you how effective the landing page (typically the Home page) of your website is, or how ineffective. The lower the bounce rate; the better! (On the other hand, a higher bounce rate means richer competitors!)
Most website owners can expect some “bouncers” to hit the Back button in their browser and leave within the first 30 seconds or less. Some website owners even view this number as a positive thing, assuming that internet users have found the information they were looking for and left… quickly and satisfied. While not all websites are attempting to sell something, it is never a smart idea to think of a bounce rate as a positive thing because it is not.
Feel free to decide on a standard… choose a number that you would like to keep your bounce rate restricted to. A safe number would be 15% to 20%. A bounce rate over 50% is cause for immediate concern, but you can change the bounce rate by changing the first impression that your website projects.
Visual Appeal is mostly graphic arts, naturally, but on a website the content must not be intimidating. Clean white space, shorter paragraphs, and sections broken up by sub headers will make any web page friendlier and more appealing to visitors. Each web page should have a minimum of 300 words for effective search engine indexing and optimization (SEO, more on that soon…) but it should be easy to scan through.
The simplest explanation for the visual demands of website content is that internet users expect immediate and convenient gratification. There should be no ‘hunting’ for important information… instead it should pop right out, clear as day. Within a mere glance, website content will make or break that important first impression.
Believe it or not, Readability Level is yet another key factor to consider and not in the way you might think.
In print marketing collateral, you want the tone of your marketing copy to reflect the language used by your target audience. However, the internet is a different medium where language should be simpler… in most cases. While it does matter who your audience is, the recommended tone for most websites is a 6th grade reading level.
It isn’t just about using shorter words and sentences, but about the ease of reading. To test the readability level, choose a page and read it out loud. Quality website content should flow from the tongue without any “stumbling.” Even better… hand a copy to a teenager (if you have one lying around) and ask him or her to read it out loud. (They may trip over a few words here and there, but not excessively.)
The readability level of website content also contributes to the visual appeal. Remember, an intimidating web page will have a higher bounce rate.
Finally, one of the most important elements of any quality website is the Navigation Path and you’d be a fool to count on the menu buttons to guide traffic. Take note that navigational buttons offer options, and a navigation path is already laid down… guiding visitors from one page to another. You choose where you want visitors to go next, and continue leading traffic down a path to a chosen destination.
In fact, you can offer several Navigation Paths and monitor the effectiveness of each using a handy tool like Google Analytics. In any case, it’s the duty of website content to steer visitors down these paths, and when you use anchor text links you also get a head start on Search Engine Optimization!
Quality Website Content Gives a Higher Traffic Potential through SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is defined elsewhere. If you’re unfamiliar with this term you’ll find a wealth of information to fill you in. Just do what every other internet user does and “Google It”…
For those who already know that search engines can be the leading traffic source to a website, you should also know that SEO relies on website content.
Target Keyword Research is a process which will tell you which keywords to optimize for. Remember to focus on keywords and phrases used by your market to describe your product or service… these are more important than the words and phrases you would use. From there, the quality of website content and the effectiveness of an SEO campaign rely on the Target Keyword Placement & Density.
Contrary to prior belief, keyword density is not as important as placement. Ironically, lower keyword density is more effective when optimizing a website for search engine traffic. SEO copywriting is a skill on its own, and best handled by a dedicated professional.
Quality Website Content Increases Conversion Rate
Quality sales people are amazing at face-to-face situations, while quality sales copy relies on the power of words to persuade readers to become customers. In this day and age, there are no “consumers”… there are shoppers. Rather than using manipulation to achieve a sale, website content should focus on giving readers a solid reason to choose you over the 10+ competitors easily available (by hitting the back button).
To do this, website content must meet all of the above standards while also Proving Value of a product or service. Of course you’d tell me you’re the best, you’re trying to sell something!
Solid evidence can be as simple as a portfolio, testimonials, or case studies. Showcase the proof that your market is most responsive to, and the rest is a piece of cake. Of course, you do have to remain in control of the “conversation” between website visitors and readers. Remember that navigation path mentioned earlier?
Strong Calls to Action are often overlooked by inexperienced copy writers, despite being one of the most critical elements of marketing copy. Don’t expect visitors to “guess” at what he or she should do next… tell them!
For example:
“Call 555-555-5555 to Request a Free Consultation” is a strong call to action that is short, simple, and to-the-point.
Calls to action can be used to steer traffic down a navigation path, using anchor text links for SEO of course, but are most effective when they are attractive, offering true incentive or value. (“Free” isn’t as powerful a word as you might think…)
An example of an attractive call to action is:
“Call 555-555-5555 for a FREE consultation and save $75! Hurry, offer expires {insert date for tomorrow}!!!”
Give Your Website a Complete Transformation With Quality Website Copywriting Services
Whether your website is in the development stage or has already launched – and bombed – Caryn can help! Call (315) 876 – 5925 or email Caryn@CustomCopySolutions.com and request a Complimentary Website Analysis with a rate for website content development or repair services, Because People Judge Your Business By Its Website…
