When you write content for your website, you’ve gotta think about your visitors. A fundamental principle of presenting information is considering your audience. Your visitors are coming to your site for a particular purpose. Are you purposefully fulfilling your visitor’s purpose?
If your visitors find what they want, they’ll be far more likely will stick around. Here are the 7 biggest mistakes you can make when creating content for your website.
Too many words
You’re not writing a thesis. Use simple language. Use short sentences. Keep your paragraphs short. Get to the point right away. If you don’t need a word, remove it.
Too much promotion
On promotional pages, go ahead and promote. Promotional pages are sales pages, product pages, and opt-in pages.
Your informational content should speak for itself. Keep promotion out of pages and posts that provide helpful information. If it’s relevant, you can use a call to action at the end of the article.
Excess promotion turns visitors off.
Keyword stuffing
Write naturally. You do not need to pad your articles with keywords. As you’ll recall from the introduction, write for your audience. And, in case you’re wondering, Google now prefers naturally written content.
Blah blah
Give your writing some style. Take a stand on an issue. Put your personality into your writing. Your visitors need a reason to read your content.
Irrelevant
Get inside the mind of your ideal visitor. What are they looking for? What problem do they want to solve? What desire do they want to fulfill? If you can help them get what they want, they will help you get what you want.
Oh so boring
Boring content tells your visitors to go away. You want them to stay. To keep your visitors, you need to engage them. Use titles, images, and descriptions that will get your visitors attention. Give them a reason to stay.
About you, not the reader
Write your content for your reader. Use words like you and your to focus on the user.
Even your “About Us” page can be focused on your reader. Yes, the page is about you. You can write the page so that it addresses the reader’s needs. Address their questions of expertise and trust.
Writing for the reader will help them feel listened too. Your visitors will feel that you see them. They will sense that you want to help them.
Conclusion
Addressing these seven points will improve the content on your website. Improving your content will keep visitors around longer. You will have a more effective website. Implement these ideas on one piece of content today to get a start on making your website a friendly place for prospective clients!
Photo credit: An old-fashioned photo has a way of catching our eye. Thanks for the photo Hannes Wolf!