Hey there and welcome back!
So one of the most important parts of any website that widely goes overlooked in the build process is the content. I mean, isn’t the content what people care about the most with any website. You could have the best website design in the world, but if there’s no content, you have no website.
The content is what’s going to help people who come to your website become clients and customers for your business. So yeah, it’s an extremely important part of the process.
So today we’re going to walk through how you can start to create content for your new website so that it doesn’t become a last-minute item that you have to rush through, and instead you can just focus on creating content that converts.
Before we get started, if you want to see more videos on web design, WordPress, ecommerce, digital marketing and other website-related topics, be sure to hit the subscribe button and to ring the bell for notifications.
Now let’s get started.
Why content matters on a website
Content is the most important part of your website. It’s what people really want to see on your website.
You can have the absolute best website design in the world, but if your website doesn’t have any content or has bad content, it doesn’t matter. It’s a bad website.
The content on your website is what’s going to convince people to buy from you or work with you or hire you. It gives the reader a really good idea of what you do, how you do it and how what you do can help them with whatever problem they might be having.
And photos and videos can go the extra mile and really show what you do and how your services or products can help someone.
Content is the most important part of any website. Not the design. Not the fancy animations. Not the tech stack underneath.
As someone who wants to build a new website, your primary task is to make sure you have great content ready to go for the site. So let’s start on that right now.
Determine the pages that you want to have on your website
The first thing you need to do when it comes to content on your new website is to create a plan (are you sensing a theme with this series?).
You need to figure out what pages you’re going to have on your website. If you already have an existing website, you can start there.
If not, you know you’re going to need a homepage, an about page, a contact page and maybe a meet the team page at the very least. If you’re creating an online store, you’re going to need a store page, checkout page, account page and product pages. If you’re going to have a blog, you’ll also need a blog home page (but you don’t necessarily need to worry about the blog posts yet).
We’ll get to the part about creating a list, but start to think about all of the pages you’re going to need to have on your website.
Figure out the products/services you’ll have on the website
Also, if you have services, you need to have pages for each of those services to show and tell what you can do for your clients and customers. You’ll need to work to get the copy just right to convince people to fill out your lead generation form and take the next step.
Talk about a pain point they might have and how this service can fix that.
Also, make sure that you have photos of the service in progress, especially if there is a visual component of the service. That way people can have a better idea of what to expect when they choose you.
Another good thing is to create a good layout for the page. It doesn’t need to be fancy. In fact, simpler is better. But make sure to break up your text by using columns and photos. Walls of text can be really intimidating.
Finally, make sure you have some sort of action for the user to take — fill out a lead generation form, call you, purchase something. That is the goal of that page and it’s how people are going to go from interested readers to customers or clients.
If you’re selling products online, you’ll need to create content for each product that describes what the product is, what it does and how it can help your customers.
You’ll want to make sure you have high-quality photos of the product. Once again, first impressions matter, and showing a great photo of the product and having photos of the product in action can help someone make the decision to buy it.
Also, you’ll want to have well-written description text that says what it does and how it can help a customer. You’d be surprised how much this can make a difference, especially for people who might not be able to see the product.
But make sure your product page really shows off your product in the best way possible. This is your chance to get them to make the decision to buy the product. You can learn more about how to craft the perfect product page from a video I published a while ago in the description below.
Will you need photos and videos?
You also need to think about photos and videos for your website. Both of them, and especially photos, can be a great way to catch someone’s eye and keep them on your website. And unless you’re creating a simple blog or other really simple website, you’re going to have at least a couple of images on your website.
So figure out what pages will need to have photos and what types of specific shots you might need for those pages. From there, you can create a shot list and hire a professional photographer to take those high-quality photos for the website.
With video, it really depends on what you want for your business. If you decide to have a video or two on your website, you’ll need to hire a professional to create those videos for you. It is worth paying a bit extra to make sure your videos are professional quality.
But make sure you also think about photos and videos when it comes to your website content.
Create a list of what you’re going to need
So now that we know why content is so important for your new website and have thought about what content you’ll need, let’s create a list of the content that you’ll need for the new website.
You’ll want to take everything we just talked about and turn it into a list of content that you need for your new website. Think about the pages that will need content and what type of content you’ll need. Are you going to have a lot of photos? Are you going to need help creating a video or two? Will you need content for your product pages or services landing pages?
Be sure to write all of this down. If you want, you can create a simple spreadsheet. You can have a row for each page with the page title, the status of content for that page and maybe a table cell for notes about the page.
It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just make sure you and anyone else involved with the website can understand it.
But make sure you take the time to think about your content and create a list of the content you’ll need to create for your website. If you do that, you’re already ahead of the game.
Outro
So that’s it for today. What questions do you have about planning and creating content for your new website? Are there any concerns that you have about creating content, since it can be a tricky part of the website process? Be sure to leave them all down in the comments section below.
If you’re looking to get started on creating a website for your business right now, check out one of the Small Business Website Starter Kits. You’ll get a website built using WordPress with a design to match your business that will give you a great digital foundation that can help your business grow. And your website will be live in less than two weeks and for a price that will fit your budget. Check out the Small Business Website Starter Kit at the link down in the description below.
Next week we’ll dive into how to create a plan for your new website.
To see that video and more videos on web design, WordPress, ecommerce, digital marketing and other website-related topics, be sure to hit the subscribe button and to ring the bell for notifications.
But until then, I wish you and your business the best of luck.
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