The importance of great website content

How important is website content?

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That’s an easy one to answer; it’s vitally important if you want your website to perform well and work for you.

Let’s start with the basics, what is website content? Your website content is the name given to the words and pictures that make up a website. It is very important to invest both time and careful thought into your websites content as this is what helps visitors decide if they want to do business with you. Despite the fact website content is essential for any successful website, content is often neglected and becomes very much an after-thought in the excitement of a new website design and build.

Here are a few common mistakes people make with their content:

  • They write far too much
  • They include too much unnecessary detail and waffle
  • They worry about stuff appearing “above the fold.”
  • They don’t have and won’t invest in decent images

Here’s my advice on how to avoid those common mistakes above and write great content for your website.

Keep it relevant and interesting

As a passionate business owner or entrepreneur, you may feel the need to write every thought you’ve ever had down for your website home page. Don’t do this, think about the key aspects of your business and the services you offer and expand on them a little. The primary aim of the website is to entice people into either contacting you directly or purchasing a service/product from your website.

Think about how your text is going to look on your site, a significant block of paragraph copy isn’t that inviting so try to break it up into smaller sentences by using things like bullet points.

Visitors to your site will just want a quick look around; they won’t want to read paragraph after paragraph of text no matter how well written it is. The trick is simple – keep it short and to the point.

Do not waffle on endlessly about the same thing

Don’t assume your visitors know your industry or your business; they might well know nothing about it, and getting all technical and complicated will scare the less knowledgeable away very quickly. Try to view the site from their perspective and imagine that you know nothing about your industry. How would you explain your business to someone passing in the street for example?

Again the key here is to keep it simple – use direct language and tone. This type of website content sinks in without patronising your visitors. Be honest with your copy and tell people exactly what they need to know.

Here is an example of some corporate waffle speak that no one wants to read.

“We’re the best at key-enhanced deliverables in a over dynamic society, our products compete with big-data by allowing you to move forward with business impact. We’re reaching out to new clients.”

Why you shouldn’t worry about the fold

The answer is because all websites should be fluid and resize proportionately to fit the browser window.

The fold was something that both clients and designs alike obsessed about in the 90’s when websites were often fixed width. Then it was vitally important to get all your essential info above that crucial cut-off point on the browser window, know as ‘the fold’.

Now we have so many different devices in circulation it’s almost impossible to get a standard browser or screen size nailed down. Websites and developers have therefore adapted by using responsive website design.

All you need to think about is getting the most important bits of your business higher up the page. Users are fine with scrolling down to see the less important stuff.

Stock image examples

[This is a nice free stock image on the left and this is a horrible free stock image on the right, choose images wisely.]

Images are so important, think about them, pay for them.

As I said at the start, website content is often an after-thought which means images don’t even register. The first thing to note is YOU CAN’T USE GOGGLE IMAGES! They belong to someone else and it’s not ok for you to nick them for your website.

The best approach with images is to either have your own taken by a professional photographer or purchase some stock images. As the creative in this relationship, I will always advise my clients which images to use. It is no longer acceptable to use tiny images stretched and distorted because you just didn’t have a bigger version. Stock images can be found for free or very cheap at around £5-10 each in some cases. Big, beautiful images can make or break a website so don’t be tight and get some decent ones.

For some great free stock images visit this website, it’s one of my favourites.

Do you need help with your content?

CEB Creative can offer many things to help you get the best website content for your site. I offer clients a content writing guide which contains detailed information on how to format your content for optimal SEO results. I can also create content, such as blogs, for you as well as source high-quality stock images.

Get in touch

If you need a website for your business please read my why you should choose WordPress page for more information.