Web Design - Web Site Creation
The Project: From Start to Finish
There is a reason why some extremely large web sites are at the top of the search engines, and one reason only: they have significant amounts of original content. Content is the seed upon which great web sites thrive. The more original content you have, the better. And that means original. This means that you have to actually do some legwork. You have to write the content unless you have hired a content writer or design team that includes a content writer. Even though this is going to add to the cost of your web site, it will pay for itself time and time again when it converts leads into sales.
Coming up with the content is not an easy task if you choose to go it alone, but it can be done. While these tips don’t really focus on a specific industry, it would behoove you to follow some of these tips. They will help you come up with excellent content that can provide the salivating information that your clients are going to love you for.
To come up with original content:
1. Ask yourself what your buyers want in your product, and give it to them. What can you offer them in the way of service that no one else can? What can someone that is buying from you expect? To answer some of these questions, you may have to ask your potential clients themselves. Once you have this information, you will be able to develop the specific content for each client situation.
Say for the sake of example that you’re in real estate. You might ask questions of your buyer clients such as: What home styles are you going to be interested in? What information do you want to see about homes in your area? What is the specific goal or end result you hope to achieve once you’ve obtained your home? Do you plan on adding onto your home later? If so, what kind of add-ons? (this would be great for content geared toward basic construction principles). Have you ever bought a home before? Did you know that there could be pitfalls to signing a contract with various agents? Did you know that there could be pitfalls to signing contracts for properties?
For your seller clients, you may want to ask some of the following questions: What do you expect to see on a web site when it comes to content for selling your home? How have you increased your curb appeal so far? Which top 3 web sites are your favorites and why? What made you choose your last agent online? What attributes of web sites do you find most attractive? Did you know that there are contract pitfalls for you as well? What information would you like to see on the web site in regards to those? Do you know what a 1031 Exchange is and how it can help you roll your capital gains into another property without having to pay taxes on them?
2. Write your content based on the information you obtained in step 1. Say you’re in real estate and you want to sell homes to your clients. Obviously, you will want to provide buyer and seller pages that will provide specific information about your specific product. The real estate questions were meant to be used as an example to come up with specific original content ideas. By modifying the above questions per industry, you will be able to come up with significant amounts of content that will stun your visitors and make sure they want to contact you.
Another important attribute of any web site is known as the principle of Call To Action. Basically, be principle states that there has to be some reason for the potential client to want to contact you on your web site. You want to have content so compelling and informative that it establishes you as an expert in your industry and your product. Not only will this allow you the privilege of getting to the top of the search engines, this will provide clients a reason to perform a positive call to action response. Before going further, let me elaborate on positive call to action and negative call to action. Positive call to action means that someone likes your site so much that they contact you using one of the specific methods of contact that you list on your site. You DO list your phone number, email, address, and have at least a contact form on your web site, right? Negative call to action simply means that the client leaves the site and goes elsewhere. You want to avoid negative call to action whenever possible, and make it as easy as possible for a client to contact you. A few do’s and don’ts when it comes to providing call to action on your web site follows:
DO allow a client easy access to your contact information. Provide it on every single page possible so that clients don’t have to hunt down the information on your web site. If that’s the first impression that they see on your site, how will they ever have confidence in your business?
DO provide your contact information in an easy to read format. For example, don’t provide contact information that’s the same color as the background.
DO provide as much contact information as possible. Create a tabular data format that includes your contact name, phone number, email address, and company address. Provide alternate phone numbers as well. If you’re able to, provide a toll-free 800 number for clients to call. Nothing increases the confidence in an internet company when they have a free 800 number, especially for those clients that are not local to your locale.
DO make sure that your contact information is easily visible (above the fold) on your web site. Name your navigation buttons so they’re easy to understand: Contact Me, Contact Form, or Email. Don’t make it harder for your client than it has to be.
DO NOT provide one method of contact. Provide alternate methods. Sometimes clients are not comfortable speaking over the phone at first, and prefer to use email. That’s especially true when it comes to providing just your company address: who in their right mind would use snail mail to send you a question? It’s insane. Just provide an email address and be sure to offer the courtesy to respond to your clients as quickly as possible. It’s the right thing to do and will help increase your lead conversions when you can answer questions quickly.
DO NOT place your contact information at the bottom of the page. You don’t want to have your client hunt for contact information when they’re in a hurry. They’ll simply move on to another web site that has much better access to contact information for the company.
DO NOT place your contact information on a hard-to-reach page. Make sure at least your email address is clearly visible and accessible on EVERY page of your web site. Think about it: would you want to contact a webmaster that forces you to hunt for fifteen minutes for contact information? I know I wouldn’t.
Other methods of call to action include:
Adding a contact or quote form to your homepage. This is one of the most effective methods of call to action. For clients that really like your site and potential services, they will want to contact you. Provide a contact form that allows clients to fill it out as easily and as quickly as possible. Request minimal contact information such as: their first and last name, their mailing address, their email address, and phone number. Also, provide a small text area that allows them to input their comments.
Providing a showcase of three - five of your best and cheapest products or services on your homepage. Think about it: if clients can see immediately what you sell and the best possible options for them, they will want to purchase from you. This kind of call to action will pique their interest and desire to click further into your web site and find out more about the products that you offer.
Obviously not everyone is going to be moved by the above techniques. The above techniques, though, are meant to provide a mitigated risk against everyone simply clicking out of your site due to frustration. The three simple rules, to reiterate, are:
1. Provide high quality content
2. Provide your contact information in easy to reach places on your web site
3. Make it as easy as possible for clients to navigate your site.
While web development is technically more complicated than the above steps, they will provide you with a guideline to follow when you’re speaking with your web designer. It will help to clearly articulate what you want while at the same time allowing you to rest easy knowing that your site will turn out to be a high quality web site.
Next, I’m going to move into graphics and multimedia and how they can improve or detract from your web site.
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