Your website needs to connect and engage with your audience while providing the information they are seeking on your company’s services or products. That’s where a solid website content strategy comes in handy. While creating one can seem intimidating, often it’s as simple as spelling out the why, who, what and how of updating text on your website, adding photos, or publishing new blog posts. If you’re wondering how to get started, try these 4 keys to navigating a content strategy for your website.
1. Identify the why of your content strategy.
Most companies want their websites to promote brand awareness, acquire customers and generate leads. But that’s not the why. Content created only to fulfill those goals will not bring customers to your door.
Instead, think about the true desire or want your company fulfills. If you’re a carpet cleaning company, that desire may be providing more free time for your customers, since they won’t have to clean the carpets themselves. Or it could be fulfilling the desire to present a beautiful home to visitors.
By understanding this, you’ll discover the why of your content and, in turn, meet your company’s main goals more efficiently.
2. Who are you writing for?
Before you put pen to paper, consider who will consume your content. Look at your current customers and who you want as a customer in the future. This process can include digging into demographic data from social media audiences, asking existing customers to fill out a survey or examining data of who is on which social media channels.
Tidbits such as age, gender, occupation and online habits can do wonders in helping you understand how your customers operate. Going the extra step of creating a persona of a prospective customer will help you find the right tone to resonate with your target audience.
3. Narrow your focus.
Customers get lost if your content is without purpose. Create a spreadsheet that lists your company’s goals and the target audience for that goal. Then position laser-focused content to plug the holes in your website’s content while also reaching customers in the specific voice needed to draw them in or seal the deal.
For example, if many of your customers are baby boomers, you could add a popup to a relevant website page that offers a 10% discount on their first purchase. After all, nearly two-thirds of baby boomers search online for the best price of a product! A popup can be a strategic part of your website that fills a gap and addresses a customer’s need.
4. Determine the content creation process.
Once you’ve covered the first three steps, it’s time to streamline how material will be produced. Look at your company’s goals, the content that needs to be created and the target audience. Then assign the person within your company with the right expertise to create the content or to provide a detailed outline to a copywriter.
Next, create a schedule to put fresh content on your website in a way that is manageable and consistent. At the end, your whole team should know what type of content will be produced, who is in charge of producing the content, and when and where it will be published.
When Bill Gates published his iconic essay titled “Content Is King” in 1996, few people could envision how content would change the scope of advertising, marketing and web design. Today, many companies grasp its importance yet still fall short of producing quality, fresh material on their websites. These four steps will help your company get started on navigating a content strategy for your website. But if you have more questions, reach out to us for a website review today.
