The saying “Content is King” has been thrown around the SEO and Internet Marketing industries for the last few years now, and we’ve seen some brands take significant steps to solidify themselves as leaders in the content space. The issue that many businesses and brands encounter is that they try to replicate what the “big players” are doing, and either don’t have the resources to make it happen, or fail to recognize that their target markets won’t respond well to the type of content they are creating. Here’s a few ways to send potential customers running for the hills after they see the content on your website.
Autosound/Autoplay
Via BeatZone
Ever opened a website to check out later, and then wonder where that voice or music that you faintly hear is coming from? Lots of websites have made the mistake of adding a “virtual guide” to their page that introduces visitors to the page with a scary hologram-like individual who pops out from the side of the page. Allow your visitors to navigate the page on their own terms. Most users have seen a YouTube video before, and if they are inclined to view the one embedded on your page, they will figure out how to start the video on their own.
Pagination
One of my internet vices is to kick back and scroll through all sorts of “Top” lists. Something about being able to absorb the information at my (scrolling) speed makes it incredibly enjoyable. I become incredibly disgruntled when I come across a page that I was excited to read, but is paginated. We’ve all seen these before, where you have to load an entire new page to view each item/topic on the list and are inundated with ads, banners, and pop-ups along the way. While it may help your SEO by having all of these pages with keywords in them, there isn’t much more you could do to ruin the UX(User Experience). Create content with the end-consumer in mind, and pass it around the office/company/family to find out how it reads in others minds.
Hidden Information
The ever constant goal of website content is to provide information and answers to those looking for it. If the user isn’t able to find the information they need within a few seconds, they’ll bounce and head off to another site. Make sure that all vital information and resources are easily found on your website. For example, an apartment complex should have dedicated pages that provide information about their units and the rates associated with each.
Typos
Typos and poor grammar will send a reader running. Immediately. If the intention of your website is present your company/brand in a professional manner, than there are no excuses for having grammatical errors in your content. If attention to detail is ignored on your website, what sort of message is that sending to the potential customer viewing the site? Spend time going over anything that is going to be published on your website, whether it’s product descriptions, service pages, or blog content, to ensure that there are no errors.
Navigational Woes
Via BlogGoDown
Getting a website visitor to your content is great, but it’s only the first fight in the battle to convert them into a customer. Visit your web content and put yourself in a visitor’s shoes. Once you view the content, are you guided into another piece of content? Are there suggestions as to where to go on the site that are related to the content? By putting links in place to act as conversion funnels, you can “guide” the visitor towards the area of your site that will best serve the needs they may have that are related to the initial piece of content. If there are no navigational cues as to where to go next, the visitor will most likely leave your page and head off to the next one.
Creating valuable content is the key to having an engaging website that converts visitors, but without proper implementation and best practices, your content may actually be hurting more than it’s helping. If you’re looking for assistance building out your website content, Today’s Business’ team of expert content creators can help you engage with the visitors that matter most!