Website design and management for small businesses

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Website Content

Content is King! If you want your website to be anything more than a 'must have' fashion accessory you need to include content which your visitors are going to find interesting and useful. Or one of those at least.

Deciding just what to include does not need to be difficult. As a rule, visitors will tend to scan quickly through a web page looking for content which interests them. They won't be happy to spend time reading through lots of irrelevant text to find what they want - they'll simply click away to another, hopefully more interesting, page.

Focus. Proceed by deciding just what you want to say or show on each page and then do just that. Include the right keywords in the right places - if relevant. Discard all text and graphical content which does not make a positive contribution. The content on each page should be relevant and focused.

Break up your text into short, easily digested paragraphs.

Content Checklist

The following list is not exhaustive but suggests some of the main types of content you might want to consider.

Name - does your web page make it clear who you are and what your business is called - as distinct from your website domain name (which might be quite different?
Contact - have you included all of the contact details your visitors might need: email, postal address, fax, telephone, mobile, etc.? Have you considered including a contact form or enquiry/order form?
Map - do your customers need to find your premises?
Products and Services - have you made clear exactly what products and services you are offering?
Prices - do you want to show your prices online? You will need to remember to update them every time they change.
Logos - have you included your logo? More importantly, if you have included logos which belong to others do you have their permission to do so?
Images - would it be useful to include images of your premises, vehicles, products?
Accreditation/Qualification/Association Membership - if details of these will increase your standing in the customer's eyes then why not include them?
Background Details - maybe the year your business was established, at least?
References/Testimonials - glowing testimonials from exisitng customers can be priceless - but make sure you can substantiate them if required.
Personnel - would it be useful to include, with their permission, photographs of your key personnel along with a few relevant details? Potential customers might like to feel that they know who they are dealing with.
Keywords - are your keywords prominent within your text? Work out what keywords you want to focus on and make sure they are included. (I can help you with this if necessary).
Copyright/Permission - whatever content you include do make sure that you have all necessary permissions to use it. Using text, images, logos, trademarks or personal details belonging to others without permission can mean trouble.

You might need to include certain kinds of content for legal and other reasons but, in general, before signing off the content of your web page consider it from your visitors viewpoint as well as from your own. Without visitor appeal your web page might be totally pointless.

Need Help? If you don't have much time to spend on perfecting your text then you might want to simply provide some rough notes and let me tidy things up for you. Just tell me if you'd like me to rewrite your text when you submit it. You will, of course, have the chance to approve and amend it later.