Content on your Website

So, you've purchased a custom designed website that promises to set your business apart and create a unique online footprint for your Southwest Florida-based store, restaurant, financial services company, information technology consulting group, etc. Great! Congratulations! You're well on your way to an effective marketing strategy! As you think through the design, branding, set-up, etc. of your website, you will also be responsible for generating the LANGUAGE -- the wording -- of your site. Where does this language come from? What, exactly, are you planning to say about your business?

For some Naples business owners, words about their products or services come very easily. They may already have lots of print materials from which to draw upon. However, for many, figuring out what to say about their businesses on their website is a daunting task. As a full-service web design and online marketing firm, RT Design Group offers content writing services that can help populate your site with content, and support the task of optimizing it to be better found by search engines. If this is not the road you are going, I would be pleased to offer a few suggestions.

1. Less is more. PLEASE don't write too much about your business, particularly on the home page. Keep it short, sweet, and simple. In all likelihood, no one is going to read your site word for word.
2. Include important information on the home page. For example, make sure the exact location of your business is contained within the content of your home page --street address, town, general region of the state, etc. Include days and hours of business.
3. Talk about what sets you apart. How are you different from the others? What do you offer clients? Talk about your vision and your mission as an organization. Make it succinct, and make it clear. Don't overstate who you are, just write about what makes you unique.
4. Organize your site in a way that makes sense. Typically, you'll want around 5-7 headings -- home, Product/Service 1, Product/Service 2, About Us, and Contact Us. This is the generally accepted way to organize your website. If you deviate from this norm, it usually throws visitors off. Your primary goal is to keep visitors ON your site once they've found it. Don't make the experience any more confusing or difficult than it needs to be.
5. Comb your content thoroughly for grammatical errors or the passive voice. Blog posts, social media posts, etc. can be a 3.5 out of 5, but your website content needs to be a 5 out of 5 on the effective writing scale. Don't deter people (or search engines) with junky content.