If you've been struggling with how to improve your website performance, a lot of people get so wrapped up in the technical SEO strategy and functionality of their website, they start to overlook the content their brand is providing.
But content is such a broad term. How can we quantify it in a way that's actionable for you?
In the same way that Northsail believes in full transparency with our clients (which is why we won't take on projects where we don't believe we can exceed the client's expectations), we want to help you understand some of the wide range of engagement opportunities you can achieve through a strong website content strategy.
And just like our clients know they can always rely on us to complete every project on-time, on-spec, and on-budget, by the time you finish reading this page, we want you to be bursting with new ideas for how to improve a website’s performance.
Before we jump into our suggestions, let's talk about what website content is, the types you can use, and how you can start coming up with your own website content ideas.
If a customer comes to your website and sees a banner with a product image on it. That's website content.
When they click through to your 'Contact Us' page, and find a little blurb about the history of your company and your founders, that's also website content.
Literally anything that can provide information, context, or engage the audience on your website could be considered a form of website content. It's not just things like written blog posts, company news, or SEO-driven pieces meant to increase organic traffic.
Even small choices you make like the typeface you use or the colors you choose have an impact on the effect of your website content, so they all need to be taken into consideration.
Technically, there are a lot of different types of website content. There are 8 forms of landing pages alone, each with their own purpose and means of execution.
However, when it comes to website content, literally any information that you provide for your customers through your website could be considered a form of website content.
FAQs, blogs, articles, about us information, product descriptions, customer testimonials - the list goes on and on. Each of these different types of website content add additional value to your website for customers, but in their own unique ways.
FAQs save customers the trouble of reaching out to you for commonly asked questions. Blogs and articles provide education on subjects relating to your products or brands.
Customer testimonials provide social proof that your brand is reliable, and 'About Us' information humanizes your brand so that customers feel like you're more than a faceless corporation and can relate to your core values through brand affinity.
Depending on your industry and the types of products/services that your business is offering should help determine what types of website content will serve your business best.
If you're unsure where to start, take some time and evaluate your competitors' sites to see what types of website content are working well for them, as well as where there are gaps that they're overlooking, which your business can potentially fill.
A good place to start looking for website content ideas if you don't already have a game plan in place, would be taking a look through your competitor's websites.
What kind of content types are they using? Do they have a lot of blogs or articles listed for educating their customers? Do they have an 'About Us' or 'Contact Us' page that takes time to show the faces hiding behind the brand? Are they using certain types of imagery, based on your industry?
All these factors need to be taken into consideration, and if you're noticing that your competitors are missing some of these key features on their sites, it can be a great idea to start figuring out ways for you to fill in those gaps on your own site.
It's also a good idea to spend some time looking at Google Analytics to see what kinds of industry keywords are trending, and whether certain competitors are dominating the digital landscape in your marketplace.
If so, you can start to work backwards to figure out what part of their strategy is driving conversions for their business, and then adopt some of those techniques into your own content strategy planning.
Sometimes it's not always about the exact type of content that you're providing for your website. You can take a hundred different angles on executing the same campaign, but if your campaign isn't engaging, your content strategy may fall flat.
Every part of your content plans needs to work in tandem to tell a cohesive, engaging brand story. A brand story draws potential customers into your brand and creates an emotional connection between them, which in turn, helps develop stronger brand loyalty and more return business.
There are more than Google search engine rankings and adopting optimal search strategies necessary to maximize your customer impact - a lot more.
Think about the things that engage you when you shop on another website. Does their site tell a story that starts with solving a problem for you, and result in you aching to click the all-important 'BUY' button?
If not, you've got to take a step back and think about the story your website is currently telling. Is it a strong representative of your brand and core values? When you're not, think about ways you can start adjusting your content to better reflect your brand story.
Nothing is more frustrating than needing assistance when you're trying to navigate a website or ecommerce database, and not being able to find someone from the company to help you sort it out.
There are a few different ways that you can make yourself directly available for customer support, and whether you choose in-site chat support, email support, or even offer phone support from your offices, making sure that this information is clearly listed in multiple areas is extremely important.
Customers want the peace of mind to know that they're going to get support from your business whenever it's needed, and that it can be accessed in a timely manner.
This can have an impact on your resources, since you'll be required to ensure there are team members constantly monitoring the site, phones, or company email for any support needed.
One way to combat this is by providing helpful FAQs at the bottom of high-traffic landing pages. This can help customers get easy answers to many of the questions that you are already getting asked frequently, and take the weight of providing that additional support off your team.
Every blog entry into your site adds to the base of easily digestible information for potential customers to enjoy. That doesn't mean you should just throw down whatever personal blog ideas you have without spending some time researching - that's still a crucial part of the process.
Personal blogs or lifestyle blogs are often very relatable for consumers. Regardless of your industry, customers want each blog entry to speak to them on a personal level and connect your brand's core values with their own.
Lifestyle blogs can be a great opportunity to showcase new products or highlight the benefits of using them to help convince customers to take action.
Personal blogs provide insight into your (or your team's) expertise behind the scenes. It gives customers a chance to see you as people, instead of just business owners.
Regardless of whether you choose to start with personal blogs or lifestyle blogs, the biggest thing to remember is that every blog entry should be entertaining. Engagement and excitement are key to getting readers to follow through to the end of each piece, where you'll presumably have some type of CTA waiting for them.
If you have any familiarity with Google Search Central, you'll know that search engine optimization isn't as cut and dry as many marketing agencies would have you believe.
Search engine rankings are constantly evolving and changing as Google's Analytics uses more advanced search criteria to help each consumer get the most accurate Google search results.
If you're trying to create meaningful content for your web pages, you'll eventually learn how to combine strong content strategy with effective search techniques like keywords, negative keywords, and SEM management.
Together, these elements build credibility for your site, and when your technical SEO (i.e., indexing, crawling, back-linking, etc.) is strong, adding in effective SEO-driven content is one of the most optimal search strategies at your disposal.
If you're an e-commerce business, and you're trying to improve your best practices and website user experiences, you should seriously consider USPS tracking options for delivered parcels.
In the modern age of customer support, giving consumers the opportunity to use USPS tracking to follow their package from the time of purchase until it reaches their doorstop, provides customers with the illusion of control.
Not only will it have no impact on their actual delivery time, but once the package has left your store/warehouse, it's out of your hands. This can help avoid facing angry customers on the phone due to unexpectedly delayed deliveries.
Anytime that a delivery suffers a setback on its way to the consumer, the USPS tracking system will update, so that the customer can see the delays have nothing to do with your business.
Not only will USPS tracking save you a ton of headaches and time on the phone, but it will save face for your business, on the odd occasion where delivery dates don't line up as expected for reasons that are beyond your control.
You won't have to spend nearly as much time trying to figure out how to improve a website’s performance when you sign up to try out Northsail's newest revolutionary service - Horizon.
With quick and easy high-performance landing pages, custom forms, and easy-to-add widgets, Horizon makes it simple to put the best practices and website user experience into place on any of your ongoing campaigns.
Manage multiple sites or campaigns in tandem, and give any members of your team access to assist - all without the need for a developer's assistance. Best of all, it's totally free for 30 days - no obligation or credit card required.
Are you ready to take back your time and energy, so that you can spend more focus creating the most effective, meaningful website content for your business? Horizon can help make those dreams a reality.
We’ll send you important updates about the early access program and your free invite when we are ready.
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