What is content? What is good website content? You may be thinking, your website appears crammed full of keywords and keyword phrases, and it still doesn’t generate quality prospective customers. What is the problem? My website guru said this would work. Now you hear him saying, maybe more AdWord campaigns are the answer. I’m sure you just need momentum.
To address this, let me first give you my description of a website for small business. A website for your business should be Web Pages and Data Files that Authentically Represent Your Business, both products, and services. In today’s competitive online world we also need to add entertaining.
How well does your website represent your products? When you carefully look at is, is it compelling? Do the words and pictures make you want the product or service that’s being represented by the description in words and pictures? Is the information so exciting, you want to see more, read more and find out more? If so, this is leaning towards entertainment. Like a great book, a movie or it could be like a game, or simply a magazine full of wonderful pictures, if the content on your website is drawing you into the story, you could have good content. If not, you don’t.
Most websites for small business use great big “buy now” buttons, contact us now, get a free estimate and so on, much like circus barkers simply because good content that represents your goods and services is missing.
Here’s an example, I just clicked on a website, I chose a business at random, one I’ve not looked at before and typed in plumbing. The first business that popped up is a good example. Here’s what’s visible on the opening or home page, the part that fits or is visible without scrolling on my monitor. The name of the business which appears to be a person’s name or nickname, a logo character, a bulldog smoking a cigar showing growling teeth with a pipe wrench, a 10% off note for Veterans, a big red “Call Today” button and a red truck with this same information, but instead of call now it says to call the marine!
If you have something to sell, (that’s a good starting place), shouldn’t shoppers get a chance to engage your products first? It’s like the entire sales process has been eliminated from websites. That would be like a car dealer putting the cars out back and trying to step forward with the sale before a potential customer gets to see the cars. People shopping want to see the products.
This fast pace, jumping up and down to get you to take action is all to get quick click results to show statistics so they can retain you as a customer buying more website services! Just look at how many clicks you got? Guess what; you can’t take clicks to the grocery store and trade them for food, you need clients that want to buy what you sell.
As mentioned above, most web developers when acknowledging your concern will recommend throwing more money at AdWords to get people to your website, sadly only to have big buttons pop up, an effort to close the sell before visitors even know what you sell, I don’t know why this makes sense to anyone.
What about this makes you and your business any different from any other? You better have good pricing because you’ve given the potential customer nothing up front to separate you from the crowd.
It sure doesn’t appeal to me, what about you?
