Websites are the proof that your organization exists. Cold as that sounds, it’s the truth. In one sense, the internet is the Yellow Pages of the 21st century. People look for something, find the “biggest ads” or first listings and boom, they’re off to find the information they came to get.
Remember these current research statistics:
- If your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, you will probably lose 75% of all visitors
- You have 7 seconds or less to engage a visitor’s attention
- 55% of visitors spend less than 15 seconds on the opening page of a website
–says you have Part of good design is good input. Good design is not just about the esthetics – how the site looks, it’s about how it works as well. You need to think about what you do, and the tone – the way the words are used – that will be used to represent your business.
Organize Your input
You should be organized before starting the process of having a website. There are two basic parts to the build:
- Design
- UX – User Experience – Usability – the functional design that makes getting around on the site easy and fun for the user
- UI – User Interface – Esthetics — how the site looks and how it presents information
- Content
- Information – What the site presents – briefly
- Tone – How the information is presented and what it does to create an image of your company
Website Functionality – how it works, and Look – the overall impression the site physically presents pictures and words is critical to its success.
Charisma PR likes to use a Creative Brief to get a quick picture of what, who, why and how your company works. From that information, we can create content that will build interest and actions from visitors. Our content also translates well to design and even SEO because it is written for those purposes as well as to create the proper image of your company.
Our recommendation – Get a (Good) designer to build your website
To quote an old saying – A wanna-be doctor who treats themselves has a fool for a patient. DIY is fine for re-finishing a piece of furniture but not for brain surgery or website development.
A good website designer will want you to give them or have someone provide content (words) and any visuals that could/should be used on the site. That includes good-quality pictures and/or videos images for products, people, testimonials or whatever.
- You need to choose to use a web designer who has technical ability and creative horsepower
- The website should be simple to use AND make the user feel comfortable
- Information needs to be presented with the appropriate “look” to make it easy to find and take in
Most good designers will also be able to refer you to a good content writer. Take their advice, don’t try to write finished content, just have your thoughts and information organized for a professional to do final content for you.
Avoid having a bad website
Just because it’s pretty doesn’t mean it works. The purpose of a website is summed up in the acronym AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
The website design needs to capture attention, but it is the content which should cause the visitor to be interested enough to read more. The content needs to have the kind of evocative style, the emotional engagement, to cause the visitor to take Action – call, email or buy.
Part of the power of content to drive action is tone, Tone is critical to building the personality of your company. Tone is a much misunderstood element of writing. Depending on how you want to be perceived, it can be casual, authoritative, helpful, critical and/or many other things.
Beware of what we call “Robocopy,” that’s the kind of material you would find in a manual or a really bad corporate brochure. It’s full of a lot of terms or jargon or both, but says nothing about you or your company. Bland or flavorless copy does you no good.
Bad or vague content will not represent your business or its products and services well. If your website isn’t doesn’t quickly provide the information a user wants, it isn’t worth anything.
You also need to update your website once it’s up and running. Compare it to your car, need to change your oil – at least once a year – and your website is the same. The content, pictures, videos and etcetera need to be reviewed – and probably changed – at least annually to avoid problems.
If you want to have website content that will help to drive the performance of your business, call or email us today.