We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: It is both good and proper for business owners to pause, from time to time, long enough to evaluate their own website content. As much emphasis as there (rightly) is on business blogging these days, it is imperative that small businesses also invest in their static Web page text—ensuring that theirs is a site built to engage, inform, entertain, and ultimately convert.
We’ve written before about some of the essential elements of a good business website, and also some of the important components of a strong ‘About Us’ page—but today, we take a different approach. Today, we invite you to simply read through your company website and then candidly answer the following questions.
Is this website worth anybody’s time?
Today’s busy, on-the-go Web users—more and more of them browsing on phones and tablets—don’t have time or patience to sift through the pages of your site if there’s nothing engaging about it.
As such, it’s important that your website go beyond simply providing the basic facts about your company. It should also offer valuable information—conveying something that your readers can use immediately, or at least telling the story of your business in a way that is engaging and entertaining.
To ask the question another way: Were you not the business owner, would you spend any time reading the business website?
Are you talking too much—or too little?
Many small business owners want to know about their website word count, and in truth there’s no exact figure we can offer. We’ll just say that: When writing your website content, brevity is to be embraced. Again, think about the kind of time commitment you’re asking for. At the same time, though, you need to offer something substantive and valuable—so do so, and do it as quickly and succinctly as you can.
Who is the website content likely to reach?
Are you writing to gain the attention of potential clients—or to earn the ongoing loyalty of current ones? Ideally, your website will have a pretty wide reach, but as you think about your target audience, the folks you most want to appeal to are new visitors to your website, folks who swing by to learn more about what your business does, what it stands for. The goal, of course, is to engage them enough that they’ll pick up the phone to ask for more information.
What separates my business website from my competitors’?
If the answer is nothing, then you may have a problem: A good business website has enough of a personal touch that the company’s competitive distinctions are well-evident.
Is this content fresh?
Both for the sake of the search engines and for your readers, it is important to update your website content regularly. Even if your content fares well in the evaluative categories we’ve laid out thus far, if it hasn’t been touched in two or three years then you may wish to spend some time refreshing it.
Grammar Chic, Inc. is pleased to offer website consultations and evaluations; to speak with our Web content writing team, contact us today: Call 803-831-7444 or visit www.grammarchic.net.
Amanda E. Clark founded Grammar Chic in 2008. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and holds degrees in Journalism, Political Science, and English. She launched Grammar Chic after freelancing for several years while simultaneously leading marketing and advertising initiatives for several Fortune 500 companies.