Stop.
Do two things before you go further.
1. Think of a simple sustainable first level structure for your site. One that you can grow with. Make it less than 7 buttons and include Contact and About, people expect to see those.
2. Do a keyword analysis. Don’t be intimidated. A lot of businesses think they know what words their potential customers are typing into search engines to find the products or services they offer. If you are one of them, you’re probably close enough to start a 20-30 word stream-of-consciousness keyword list to start your research. Use WordTracker or Keyword Discovery (there are others, and free, but these are the best) to help you expand that list and find out what phrases generate the most traffic and which have the highest Keyword Efficiency Index. Read more about this on our keyword analysis page, there’s a LOT to talk about here. The reason I think you should do it before you start writing is that having gone through the process, the highlights will stick out in your mind and guide your process.
Next, consider your home page content. A home page should do two things, let people know quickly that they’ve come to the right place and direct them to take action. Things you should consider in writing home page content:
- Be useful. Don’t just talk about your product or service, address the needs of your audience.
- Write some content, at least 250 words. So many people are worried about the design of their homepage. That’s good, and important. However, don’t design out your opportunities! Having content on the home page helps the search engines know what you’re all about, gives them more to find you by and lets them know which internal pages are most important.
- Make sure there’s at least one call to action. Shop now, call for an appointment, sign up for our newsletter, etc.
- Use hypertext links within your content to point to information deeper in the site. This is a very powerful search engine tactic. They like links within content. I had a site and did nothing but add a glossary and linked words to their definition to help readers better understand the content. The search visibility got a big boost from doing that!
- You don’t have to have one big block of text, design in some attractive groups of information, either so that your visitors can decide which group they fall into or what category of product or service they might be interested in.
- Finally, do not write your content according to the keyword phrases you found in your analysis. Use them in your titles, descriptions and headers, but write your content naturally, using related words and phrases, as search engines are looking for related terms to support the keyword phrase you are optimizing for. Keyword “stuffing” is a very bad idea. One way to avoid trouble is to read your copy aloud to someone. If they can tell what your page is optimized for, go back and try again…
Keep writing . . . the same concepts apply to all pages, and remember, people will be entering your site from numerous landing pages, especially if you do a good job with your content. Every page is an opportunity to attract the customers you are looking for.
Lastly, try to enjoy the process, boring content is, well, boring! If you love what you do, have products and/or services you believe in, success on the web is just time away.
When you’re done writing, choose no more than 3 people to review it. Choose them by:
- how well they understand your mission and your customer needs
- personality: do you like to hang out with them? choose someone with energy, insight and a sense of humor
- creativity: it’s so easy to sound exactly like your competition. everyone does it. have you noticed?
Hiring a copywriter isn’t a bad idea, but writing it yourself and hiring a copy editor is a better one. Who knows your business, your mission, your dream better than you and your leadership team. Sure, send it out to fine tune and add some flavor, but please, write your content yourself. Not only that, someone on your team should be reviewing it and adding to it regularly.
Yes, it’s true, and the most important thing on this page. You will need fresh content on a regular basis. Don’t panic, there are ways to do this without skipping the gym or seeing your kids. You can let your blog or newsletter do double duty and put a news section on your home page that has a little teaser of most recent posts or articles. Have a tips section, a hot resources section. Use your imagination! And think of what is helpful or interesting to your customers and potential customers.
When you’re done, do a site-map. If you have a dynamic site, use an XML site-map that dynamically changes as your website changes.
If you use terminology that’s not clear to those outside your vertical market, consider a glossary. Add to it as you go along. It’s just a nice thing to do, makes your site more usable and more search engine friendly.
Remember, your website is a work in progress, so don’t wait till it’s perfect to launch! Especially if you have a good Content Management System.