Both B2B and B2C websites need more than just well-written content
As owners, managers and specialists, we do our utmost for our companies. We are 100% committed to their success, business strategies, and improving products and services… we think and talk about the company and its offerings every day… Yet the one thing we really need when working on website content – namely, to see it through the unbiased eyes of an outside visitor – is something we never get to experience. We will never again be an outsider, except on the day we join the company.
“We hadn’t seen that at all… it hadn’t occurred to us…,” clients tell us when we produce a detailed analysis of their website’s content in collaboration with an experienced content specialist. Their perspective can make up for precisely what people within the company are missing. The perspective and objectivity gained from experience with hundreds of websites hold enormous business and marketing potential. If you can harness it, your website can become a far more effective business tool than it has been so far.
7 questions to assess your website’s content
At AITOM, we carry out a systematic analysis of our clients’ website content. This results in specific recommended actions and their expected benefits for the business.
Put simply, we look at the content of every website from 7 perspectives:
1/ Is the text consistent with the rest of your company’s communications?
Or to put it another way: does your website speak the same language as your emails, promotional materials and business presentations? Do they all come from the same source and form a cohesive whole?
It’s not just about informal vs formal address or standard vs colloquial language, but about the overall ‘message’ that your brand’s texts send out to the world. What is your relationship with customers, what values do you believe in, and what can a customer expect when placing an order with you? You don’t need to produce a hundred-page communication manual to harmonise your corporate communications. All it takes is a few good questions and honest answers.
2/ Is your website content clear and does it lead to conversions?
There is nothing sadder than a user we’ve managed to attract, painstakingly brought to the website, only to see them leave confused after 20 seconds. They haven’t learnt what to look for or what to do, so they go somewhere where it’s explained more clearly.
The art of good content lies on the fine line between “capturing interest” and “not overwhelming”. We need to write just the right amount – neither too much nor too little – and guide the customer towards conversion at the right moment. Sometimes even just a few clever tweaks can make a big difference.
3/ Does the website’s content provide enough reasons to place an order or take other action?
All we can do is test and ask. An incredible amount of web content is based on sales pitches that simply don’t work. What we consider important isn’t necessarily what the customer considers important. Here, content once again intersects closely with business and marketing strategy. It never works on its own. Identifying the right incentives and describing them well does require a bit of effort, but a sweet reward awaits at the end.
4/ Does your website content address the concerns and questions of your target audiences?
Do you know what no one has ever actually managed to figure out on their own? What’s really going through customers’ minds. What problems they’re facing, what they need, and what they’re worried about. You simply can’t make that up!
A few phone calls and emails with a handful of typical customers will give you more answers than a team of the smartest specialists. A couple of hours of your time instead of expensive analyses, and you’ll know what to write. If your content can address the concerns of all your target groups, you’re miles closer to your goal.
5/ Does the website content follow SEO rules?
In short – is it based on keyword analysis and does it make use of every opportunity to appeal to search engines? There are simple tools for this too, and it would be a shame not to make proper use of them. Better sooner than later.
6/ Headings and subheadings – are they doing what they’re supposed to?
Headings are the first thing a visitor reads on the website. Unfortunately, they are often the last thing too.
Do yours entice visitors to read on? Are they specific enough not to make the visitor think too hard or mislead them? Do they all seem to come from the same source?
Some content analyses start with the headlines. And they know why.
7/ Is the content readable and error-free?
You read that correctly. We only really address style, word order, spelling, hyphens and capitalisation in the final step. Only when everything on the website is in its place and we know why it’s there does it make sense to consider how best to express it all. After all, well-written text alone has never brought anyone any orders.
Would you like advice on your website’s content and to take your content strategy a step further?