Does your Content Make or Break your Website

Once you have your website designed and formatted to your requirements, you now are faced with the challenge of deciding what content to include which will effectively promote your site to your visitors and prospective customers.

The information you provide to those who view your website is just as important as the design and layout of the site.  Poor unrelated content will drive visitors away.  Your words are your life blood to your site.  Without the right words you will not entice your visitors to stay and read the information you have provided.  At best they will merely skim the surface or simply scroll down to the end. At worse they will merely click the back button.

If your content is not original, does not motivate, inspire, educate or provide a solution to a problem for which your visitors are seeking an answer, they will simply move on and probably never return.  

Your content must be relevant and useful so that it will promote sales and boost revenue.
The more unique your content is the better it will be for keeping your customers interested and repeatedly returning to your site on a regular basis. 

Unless you are generating income by selling your products or services your website will be merely a money wasting venture rather than a money making venture. 

It is vital that you refresh your website information regularly.  A lazy site will deter repeat customers and reduce sales and consequently lower your income. 

Content should not be seen just as a marketing ploy.  Although you want to promote your website and get as much traffic as possible unless you convert this to sales you are not fulfilling your ultimate reason for being online.  Naturally this will not apply if you have set up your website just for family interests like sharing photos, you have a favourite hobby you want to promote without selling products or alternatively your site is not for profit and purely information only.  The majority of people online are there to generate income whilst providing solutions and answers for problems and questions your visitors are wanting resolved. 

Carefully evaluate  the information you are offering to your visitors to make sure it is in keeping with the purpose of your site.  If you fail to meet this basic principle your content will be seen to be futile and of no value as it will not be what your visitors are searching for.

Inappropriate or irrelevant content has no place in your website.  You must strive to create the most up to date data there is available in respect to your subject matter.  Keeping your site current will not only attract new visitors but will motivate them to becoming customers who want to return to your site time after time.

Try and keep your visitors hungry for more.  The standard of excellence achieved by your content will encourage your visitors to share the excitement they have experienced at your site with their family, friends and colleagues who they know would love what you are offering. 

The result is your customer base grows and your income thrives.  You will have achieved the ultimate goal of being online – repetitive passive income.

Apply these steps and you and your visitors won’t be disappointed. 

Mel

Designing your Website

In order to have a website that is just how you want it to be, it is essential that you take the time to ensure that it is designed according to your requirements.  Naturally if you have decided to use a pre-designed template this is certainly going to reduce your costs in getting your website up and running. Be aware though, the more elaborate the template is with quality graphics the more costly it will be.  Remember a basic template with little or no graphics is going to be less expensive. Nevertheless you still need to be aware of any restrictions such a template has before proceeding with this step.   It is no good deciding that you want to change the colour of the website once it has been completed and is online to find that the template you have chosen restricts edits of this nature. It is important at this stage to know exactly what you are getting and whether any editing is possible.

It is a good idea to browse through as many templates as you can before making your final decision. The more choice you have the more likely you are to find the one that best suits you.

For instance, if you intend to have a website to promote beauty products you would more than likely consider a feminine designed template rather than one which portrayed a corporate image with laptops, whiteboard or cell phone graphics.  Make sure the colours you select are appropriate to what your site is promoting.  As a general rule subdued natural colours work best, so it is a good idea to keep bright dazzling colours to a minimum unless of course you want to convey this type of image. Don’t rush this step as it is imperative that you get it right, remembering that this will be going world wide for all to view and you don’t want to convey the wrong impression.  What you want is a template that has high impact and will capture the interest of your visitors and customers so that they will want to return again and again.  First impressions do count. 

It is essential that the website package you have selected is able to provide all the features you need.  The layout and navigation of your site needs to be such that visitors can easily access what they are looking for.  If it is too difficult to locate what visitors are seeking they will go elsewhere.

Make sure you can plan the layout to your liking with a good balance between text and graphics.  In this instance less is frequently more effective.  In other words, don’t over do it. The layout should be pleasing to the eye with contrast and spacing used to optimum advantage.  Don’t try and cram all your information on one or two pages just to keep your costs down.  This won’t work and will be to your disadvantage.  Spread your content out however be clear and precise and don’t overdo images and graphic.  Otherwise the site becomes too busy and will distract from the message you are trying to convey.

Since your text is vital to the success of your website it is important that you use a font that is easy to read such as Arial.  Don’t chop and change fonts as this also distracts from your message and is unappealing. Keep animation to a minimum as this can become annoying if overused. 

Don’t make your pages too wordy.  Less is best.  Just use sufficient text to convey your message in a concise and direct manner limiting images so they simply complement the text.

Remember the design of your website is vital to its success.  Choose wisely and it will be a success.

Mel