Writing Great Website Content – 8 Tips for Converting Clicks to Sales

Great website content doesn’t shortchange your visitor. If your potential customers can’t find what they are looking for, they won’t be back. If they don’t think that they will benefit from your product or service, the browser search box will be very busy.

The primary purpose of having a website is to engage current and would-be clients. You want them to buy from you and you must close the sale for your business to thrive.

So what in the blue blazes am I talking about?

I have just written content for my website. Consider

I am extremely well-educated. I have a post-graduate degree in underwater basket weaving.  I have written great website content for hundreds of sites on topics from toilet bowl cleaners to astrophysics and rocket science. The companies I’ve written for love me. My dogs, horses, and even stable flies adore me. My education and experience makes me a pro. Hire me! Let me write your website content. I’m the best there is.

Big deal. So what does that have to do with anything?

You didn’t start reading “Tips for Writing Great Website Content” to hear all about Sherry Lynne and how great she is, right? You want tips for writing website content, so you’re feeling a little bit ripped-off, shortchanged, stiffed, to be exact.

How many times did I use “I”, “me”, “I’ve”? Did my web content focus on You or describe advantages You get from using my product?

I broke the number 1 rule of great content writing. I put myself first.

“The consumer, so it is said, is the king… each is a voter who uses his money as votes to get the things done that he wants done.”
— Paul A. Samuelson (1915-2009), American Economist

Customers are always a business’ first priority. I’ve read a lot of company mission statements. Not one statement I’ve read has said “Our mission is to make money – lots of it”. No, 99.9% of mission statements are customer-centric.

The consumer is forking over their hard-earned cash to buy a product or service. They are entitled to believe they can walk on water. Or walk on water at least in your eyes. Your website’s content must convey that you can fulfill their every need. Great website content bridges the gap from text to a vivid picture of the advantage a consumer gets from contacting you or clicking on “Buy Now”.

Tips for Writing Great Website Content that Converts Clicks to Sales

1. Read and understand the company’s mission statement and make sure that your written content reflects the company.
2. Know the demographics of the readers. What age range, location, education level, etc. Knowing the demographics will determine your writing style – formal, informal, or somewhere in-between. Knowing the demographics of your readers will also influence which keywords you will use.
3. Determine what the visitor might already know about the industry, topic, and product/service. Next, put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What made them visit the site? What are they interested in reading, and what do they expect to learn? What are their specific, immediate needs? Is there something that you can get them to want either now or in the near future?
4. Solve the consumer’s problem. Focus on all the wonderful benefits the consumer will get from using the product or service. It’s not good enough to tell consumers that they will get great customer service — show them why you’re exceptional and outside the norm.
5. Keep the “we’re great because” stuff to a minimum except on pages like “About”. Frankly, consumers don’t care about your history. They want you to satisfy an immediate or future need. If you can’t convince them that you are the genie that grants every wish, they click over to a competitor’s website.
6. Write directly to the decision maker. The decision-maker is the person who ultimately pays for the product or service. The ten-year old that is surfing the web and looking at the latest and greatest smart phone is definitely not person handing over the cash.
7. Keep content short, concise, and easy to read. Don’t go under or over your intended reader’s head. Get the message across, simply and without extra words.
8. And lastly, don’t forget to optimize what you’ve written for search engines.

Writing great website content is really that simple if you never forget the rule “The consumer… is the king”.

Don’t shortchange your site’s visitors with writing poor website content. Don’t lose that new customer. Call Directory One in Houston, Texas at 713-465-0051 to talk with an experienced, professional website content writer today.