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Content is often the reason web design projects are delayed. Clients can underestimate the amount of work involved and rush to get it finished in time, or they may not have the capability to write it. In this article, I give some advice on how to create compelling content for your website.

There are five things you need to identify when creating content.

Identify your audience

Who is likely to visit your website?

Try to create visitor profiles or personas in as much detail as possible so you can target your content to their specific needs. You may decide that it would help to write different sections based on different audiences. For example, an event planning company might have separate pages for the various types of events they manage, so the content can be tailored to that specific event. A page for organising a wedding would be written in a much brighter tone than one for organising a funeral.

Identify your values

What brings prospects to your site?

Write a short statement that addresses what your firm does and why and explains how your services or process provide the best value compared to your competitors. Think about your company values and how you differ to others in the market, then work out why prospects should choose your service from this information. Use this as a driving force for all your content.

Identify your competitors

How can you stand out against competitors?

You can look at competitors’ websites to get ideas about what to write, but you must not copy and paste their content. Not only is this plagiarism, it’s also unoriginal and will do no favours for your organic search results. Think about what you can do differently on your website to stand out – maybe you could have a blog or news page. It’s important to have a way of producing fresh, unique web content regularly.

Identify your language

What type of language are you using?

Your content should be more conversational than formal, written as if you were talking directly to someone who knows nothing about your business. Try to avoid using internal jargon as this will alienate prospects who are not as knowledgeable as you in your field. However, if you offer a specialist service to a more technical audience, it makes sense to use the terms and language they understand.

Identify your tasks

How much do you need to write, and by when?

Make sure you know how much you need to write for each page and section, then create a content plan so that you can complete this by the deadline given by your web design agency. Breaking the task up into chunks will make it much more manageable and allow you to balance creating content with your usual workload. Remember that you can ask your agency for help with creating content if you don’t have the time or capability as they have done it many times before.

Once you have identified these things, you will be ready to write your content. The earlier you are able to provide content to your web design agency, the better. This is because the website can be customised around the content you provide for a more responsive design. Here are a few tips for when you start writing:

• Ensure all the basic information is covered – you could be so wrapped up in writing about your services that you forget to add your phone number!
• Use existing content – whether this is from your old website, newsletters or other literature, it can save you some time.
• Quality over quantity – a few well-structured paragraphs are better than long pages of information as you have less chance of the reader skimming over it and not taking it in.
• Use your colleagues – you can draw on the expertise or skills of your colleagues to help produce content on specific or specialised areas of your business.
• Proofread – get someone else to read through your content to check spelling and grammar.

At Dolia, we support our clients throughout the web design project and can offer help if you are unsure on how much or what to write. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.