How to create engaging website content

Free coffee next exit

“Free Coffee Next Exit” Four simple words – huge effect. If you were driving on a freeway, unless you have a coffee allergy or are a bit of a coffee snob, you’d probably turn in to get yourself one. That’s the power of effective billboard marketing.

The techniques that go into creating great billboards are the same techniques that ensure your website design gets and keeps the attention of browsers. How high is your bounce rate? If you want to reduce it – and keep your customers on your website longer through good website designing, you need to follow these simple principals of billboard marketing.

• Be Simple And Obvious
  Don’t complicate things with fancy slogans or smart jokes. Say what you do. Say what you offer. Make it as simple and straightforward as possible. If they don’t get it in the first glance, you’ve now only got 3 seconds to communicate what you need to, to get them to stay – and that’s almost impossible.A billboard sign needs big words and a quick message. Your business website design is the same. Cut to the chase. As quickly as possible.
• Move Forward One Step At A Time
  When you go on a date, even if eventually you’d like to find someone to marry, you’d never make saying ‘I do’ by the end of the evening the goal. The same goes for website marketing. Your goal with everything you write is to simply progress the reader onto the next level. That could include more information, a trial or giving you a phone call for a quote. Think through the basic steps required for your customer to end up buying your product and then build your website to entice them through each step.The reason this is the best way to write your content is that it’s much easier to convince someone to take one step, than to jump over a canyon. Don’t try to sell your product on the first page. Make your business’ website design guide the customer through.
• Cut Out All The Info
  No one wants to look at paragraphs of text unless they’re reading a blog. Big amount so text can turn a reader off before they even get to the point of reading what you’ve written!Create nice clear headings that make for easy scanning to help the reader find the information they want as quickly as possible. Think of the format of FAQ’s. That’s how someone will read through your text. Use summaries extensively and allow someone to browse and get to the information they want as quickly as possible without being overwhelmed. Those who want lots of information will dig down for it.
• Make Every Step Actionable
  Call to actions are vital to the success of a website. Every stage of people finding out about your product or service needs a clear call to action. Some examples of great calls to action are: ‘Read More’ ‘Open This’ ‘Download trial’ ‘Buy Now’ ‘Call Us’.Call to actions give the reader clear instructions on what it is they need to do if they are interested in progressing to the next step. Don’t be afraid to be strong, that what they should be!

So what does your marketing look like? A billboard that everyone understands instantly even when they’re just ‘driving by’ or a whitepaper that makes people roll their eyes in boredom? Simplify and make your content actionable to increase the amount of people staying on your website.

If you don’t know how to write content that will keep people on your website, contact Complete Cloud – a respected website design firm – (see what we did there with the call to action?) and we’ll help you out in a jiffy!

For updates join us at Google+