A website is all about keeping the visitor interested enough to take the desired action. That could be anything from making a call to signing up to a newsletter. The key to this is actually quite simple.
So I will get to the point …
Writing should be kept short, to the point and easy to grasp. Text should be interesting and success should be shouted about; what makes a business different? Perhaps an award has been won or there’s a unique selling point? This is far more interesting than a list of ‘about us’ facts. Of course it is necessary to state the website’s purpose but that can probably be done in a few words.
Up to the minute
Content should be relevant and up to date. Blog feeds and social media feeds keep content current and active. Website text should be reviewed regularly, it is amazing how things can change in just a month.
Break it up a bit
Content should be punctuated with eye-catching headers. Search engines pick these up so keywords should be used here. Just a couple of keywords in a header is good, otherwise it might seem spammy.
Show some wit
A little humour or good fun helps to break up long articles and keep people interested. Perhaps not a full-on joke but showing a spark of personality can’t hurt.
If content is King, images are his crown
Images and video keep people interested.
A good website design absolutely stands on its images, they attract us and keep us interested. In a magazine article most of us will scan the images before we get to the text and if the pics don’t get us going we might not even read the text.
I accept this is subjective, although if you are not interested in quantum physics you probably wouldn’t have bought the magazine in the first place. The chances are that someone has arrived at your website because they are interested in the subject matter, or they think they are. Keeping them interested is the key.
Some of the best websites in the World have very little design in the sense of layout and typography, they don’t need it because the images are amazing.
It’s what you leave out
This is actually a really beautiful website but take the images away and there is nothing left at all.
OK this is an extreme example but here’s another one. The designer here is clever, it is not all about the web design it is all about the subject. Sometimes it is what you leave out that makes it.
Images don’t just mean photos
Here there are no photographs just attractive graphics but the site is still very eye catching and appealing.
What if you don’t have stunning photos?
Actually most people probably don’t. If you are a business where images can really sell your product, like a restaurant, you should get professional photos done. They will be worth it in the end.
If you don’t have a product, think of a theme. I don’t mean blue skies and blokes in suits in fields shaking hands, a little thought is all that is required to come up with something original.
Take this one, they have used their location. Much more inviting than a calculator or worse, a pen and a spreadsheet!
Everyone loves a freebie
eBooks and white paper downloads are always something to give the reader a bit of a bonus and a reason to return in the future. Sorry, no eBooks here this time.
A few tips
A few tips to help with Google and the search engines (sounds like a 60s pop group):
- Page title tags, these should be no more than 70 characters long and define the content of the page.
- Description metatags. An attractive description with plenty of keywords will help. This shows up in the search engine results along with the title, so needs to attract people to click.
(If you have WordPress, titles and description tags are easy to do with plugins such as SEO for WordPress.) - Keywords in the text content. Care should be taken with keywords, they should come naturally. Over stuffing a site and trying to fool Google is never a good move and is seen as spam. Sticking to good honest content means one can’t go far wrong in Google’s eyes.
- Headings should be relevant and concise and as stated above, incorporate a couple of keywords if possible.
- Links to other pages should have relevant link text.
- Images should be named appropriately and image title and alt tags should be complete.
Thanks for reading my post, I hope you will find it useful!
