Online content is like a customer walking down “Main Street” and looking in a business’s window. Consider what it’s like to look into a realtor’s window. You see featured homes, the locations, prices, bedrooms, and features. Show the ideal customer examples of prices, features, and when you are open for business.
Give a Reason to Spend More Time
Don’t be a distant building on the horizon.
Invite people to get close up with your business. People will come inside your office, when the front door is easy to access. In the online world, most visitors will not read a long block of text, or click more than once to figure out what you are offering.
- Start with the offer
- Follow with contact details, or a call to action
- Add details after the offer below
- Summarise the offer
So, what happens when your service is proposal based?
Businesses that need to work from quotes, estimates, and proposals, are asking for a meeting! Don’t waste time – help the ideal customer contact you, or book a meeting. Share three typical meeting topics, and offer to answer questions.
Wasting Money on Content
Too many businesses waste their money with the content.
The ideal customer, your website, and your staff are inter-dependent. Before updating an online catalogue with the latest products, or editing management pages, use the opportunity to improve your business.
Update the existing text, images, and content if the website:
- Is currently showing a consistent trend of visitor growth
- Transactions are self-sustaining, and profitable
- Is brochure based (no online transactions), and less than three years old
Consider starting over with a new website, and new content if the website:
- Your brand, or products have changed significantly in the last 3 years
- Needs to be recoded for mobile, or online transactions need to be added
- Has been hacked, or security has been breached more than once
Build a relationship with a digital advertising agency, or a reputable web developer so you have help when you need it. Frequently touch bases with these experts, especially when you are updating your content. It’s like having a good relationship with your office property manager. They will be able to better help you when the update is urgent by knowing the current content activity.
New Opportunities Grow Out of Healthy Content
Every update to web content, or website technology is a growth opportunity.
Think of updating your text, images, or even your website technology as more than office maintenance. Use the opportunity to update your web content as an opportunity to:
- Improve your profit
- Increase traffic from your ideal customer
- Gain renewed attention within your market
Updating your content — or starting over, is a chance to improve your profit, increase your traffic, and gain renewed attention within your market.
Balance Content with Your Time
Updating your website content often is good for business.
Be realistic about what type of content you can maintain, and have multiple solutions for maintaining your content. While you do not have to update your web pages, and write your blog by yourself, you do need to be part of the process.
I recommend seeing my blog post, ‘Should You Outsource Your Blog?’ where I talk about how you can participate in generating blog content. The article includes review of the best use of interns, outsourced services, and local services to support a blog. The article applies to updating content in web pages, too.
See these stories that inspired this post:
Wanted to recommend a related article. Content Marketing World has done a good job of quantifying what type of information website visitors are looking for. Make it easy for your customer to find you, recognise you, and call you! (Yes, call you with a phone.)
Why 55% of Potential B2B Buyers Might Not Trust Your Website Content
By DIANNA HUFF published APRIL 3, 2014
” … it pays to include team members’ bios, photographs, and social profile links in your “About” page website content:
Names associated with photographs help people connect the dots across the internet — from Gmail and search results where we now see people’s Google+ profile pictures, to blog comments and social media platforms. …”
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/04/potential-b2b-buyers-website-content-trust/