Website Content Checklist for Small Businesses – Net Designs

Content is one the most crucial ingredients that shape the recipe for an outstanding small business website.

When your visitors come to your website, they need to be given a compilation of content that inspires a connection with your small business and also provides answers and solutions to their problems.

You want visitors to have an amazing experience when they visit your website—and so do they. Though your website exists in a virtual space, having fresh, quality content is what sets the scene for customer interactions and relationships that are real and authentic.

But it’s not just fresh, quality content that keeps visitors engaged, but the right fresh, quality content. So if think you’re content might be getting a little stale, or if you’re not sure if it’s doing you any favors, here’s a checklist to help you figure out what’s what when it comes to website content for your small business:

Homepage

This is where you roll out the welcome mat. To present a welcoming and effective homepage to visitors, your homepage content must clearly communicate what you do and offer easy breezy navigation. In a matter of seconds, someone should be able to tell who you are, what you do, and why they should care.

It is of the utmost importance that your navigation is clear and concise. This is the last place you should try to get creative. Just like when you board an airplane, you don’t want the pilot to take the most creative route. You want to get where you’re going as quickly as possible. It’s one of those things that you want to be ordinary, not extraordinary.

Other absolute content must-haves include a tagline that needs no further explanation and a strong showing of your logo. Any compelling social proof you’re business has earned should also be pleading your case to visitors on the homepage.

Lastly, make sure you have a solid footer to snag visitors at the last second who haven’t found what they were looking for yet and were about to leave.

About Page

After your homepage, the about page is likely the most visited page on your website, so content must be crafted in a way that confidently declares your mission and shines a light on your ability to solve your their problems.

Let visitors know who the principal players are using professional photos and short bios, how your business was founded, and what your mission and beliefs are. This helps the user relate and brings a face to your small business. Ultimately, the about page is your opportunity to let customers get to know, like, and trust you. So be sincere and be transparent.

Credibility enhancers should also have a place on the about page. Special qualifications, features in publications, awards, endorsements, etc. can all live nicely here.

Services

The main goal of your services page is to show prospects you’re the right person to solve their problems. Be sure to have a main services page as well as additional pages dedicated to each major service you provide, complete with titles and descriptions.

The content on your services page should be written in a conversational tone so prospects can feel more comfortable in contacting you. It might be hard, but try not to get too jargon-y here.

Blog

While entertaining, the ultimate goal of a blog is to attract new customers and generate more leads. Blog posts are your sales people working for you 24/7. They sell you to your potential clients by showcasing your expertise and personality. Blog content must include enticing titles and hooks that contribute to your business’ message and help visitors understand your expertise better.

Research has continually shown that having a regularly updated blog on your website will drive in exponentially more traffic. A blog also humanizes your business and has the ability to form strong connections and meaningful interactions with customers in a way no other approach can.

P.S. Net Designs blogging service offers everything you need to put your story into words, inspire your customers to act, and make you look good.

Contact Page

As a business owner, you need to appear to be 100% available to your customers. To achieve this online, the content on your contact page must be thorough.

Firstly, it needs to house a standard contact form that can easily be filled out. It’s also no secret that a prominently displayed email address, phone number, hours, and address all need to fill up your contact page. All of your contact info should also be in the footer of your website, so it can be found on every page.

Testimonials

Testimonials are powerful stuff. Reading past and present customer’s real stories and experiences with your business will help convince potential customers to do business with you. Remember the key is quality, not quantity here. Only add the best testimonials—the well written, error-free, to the point endorsements. Quote the lines that steer attention to your best dealings.

FAQs

An FAQ page can help save you a ton of time by weeding through the clients that won’t be a good fit for you while simultaneously reassuring your ideal clients that you are the answer to their question. Make sure FAQ content is scannable, easy to navigate, and includes all those questions you’re tired of answering over and over again.

Every Page

Whether it’s your homepage or a single blog post, if you want your website visitors to engage and connect with you, there are a few points that needed to be covered on every page.

Clear, customer-focus content relevant to your target audience is number one. Also, make sure it is valuable in that it focuses on your readers first—not your business goals. It also needs to prove trustworthy with correct grammar and spelling as well as evidence to support any claims you are making.

Finally, and most importantly, it needs to provoke action. Strong calls to action are the driving force of your website that will turn it into a lead generating machine. You have to tell your visitors what you want them to do. Do you want them to schedule an appointment, request more information, or add a product to their cart? Then say so! A call to action has to be an interactive experience that can be as simple as “contact us today” or “learn more”—anything that prompts an action.

Whatever it is, make sure your call to action is pervasive and persuasive.

So now that you’ve gone through the checklist and you’re thinking it’s time to up your content game, Net Designs is here to guide you through the process. Unlike many website design companies that make you come up with all of your own content, Net Designs has content writers on the team that work with you to get those creative juices flowing and creates not just remarkable content, but the right content to fill the pages of your website.

Net Designs understands that with the amount of competition online, small business websites must think outside the content box in order to garner the required attention. Net Designs goes above and beyond to make use of engaging and interactive storytelling techniques that make an impression on your target audience, because it isn’t just the story itself—but the way you tell it that matters.

Author: Kendall Dick, Net Designs Blogger

Net Designs, Wendy Bedell | (269) 428-5016 | wendy.bedell@netdesignsonline.com | Contact