A website can be an exciting thing for any business, regardless of size or industry. It is that one space on the web that you have complete ownership of and utter control over. This makes it the best place to tell potential customers or clients about the excellence of your service, the value of the products you sell, and maybe even how your business philosophy and approach to marketplace problems has set you apart in your industry.
The reality is that a business website may do a fantastic job at selling the value of doing business with that company, but fail miserably at the most vital role a business website has: getting that business found by potential clients. And the reason for this? The content of the website is actually working against you!
So how do you know if your website has major content issues? While it is easy to know about the amount of business you are currently getting, it is much, much harder to quantify business you are losing. But in digital marketing, there are some key signs that your website is not working for you.
Google the Problems That Your Business Solves For Its Customers
Many business owners fall into the trap of googling their business’s name, seeing it at the top of search, and move on to something else, satisfied that it is easily findable to potential customers searching the web. But if a potential customer is not familiar with your business, ranking for your business name does very little to bring in new business.
The key to finding out if your website is doing its job is to search for the problems your customers are facing that your business specifically addresses. For example, if you have an aquarium business but the lion’s share of your income comes from installing aquariums in businesses, then you would want to google “commercial aquarium installations near me” or “Should I put an aquarium in the waiting room at my business?”. Google from your customer’s perspective and you will learn a lot about how easy or difficult it is to find your business on the web.
Are You Relying Heavily on Social Media?
If you are working hard on social media to reach out to new potential customers, maybe those same customers were already looking for you and just couldn’t find you. Social media can be a great resource, but for a fraction of the time, money, and effort, you may be able to increase your business considerably just by revamping the content on your website.
Is All Your New Business Coming from Ads?
If you are spending mountains of cash on search ads to bring in the majority of new customers, this is definitely a sign that your website’s content can be improved. Web advertising has gotten more and more expensive and once the ad stops, so does the customer reach. Resources are better spent on making sure your website reaches those same people organically. The amount of money you can save here can be pretty staggering.
So How Do You Fix Bad Content on a Business Website?
Keep in mind that revamping a business website to optimize it for search can cost money, but the point here is that in the end it should make an observable difference in your bottom line and it may just save you a small fortune in ad dollars and time spent endlessly posting on social media. The tips below can help you navigate the process in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
Get Web Analytics and Search Console for Your Website!
If your website has both Google Analytics and Search Console, then happily skip to the next paragraph. If you are missing one or both of these, it is critical that you make fixing this a priority. You may be about to make some big changes to your website, so you want to get a baseline of your web traffic and the search terms people are using to find your site, and be able to compare it to the stats once your website has been optimized.
Take a Long Objective Look at Your Website
Sitting down and taking a good honest, objective look at your business website can be eye opening. Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer. Do they want to read six paragraphs on your business philosophy? Are they going to have the patience to hunt around for your information on a specific service you may or may not offer? Most importantly, what is your homepage about? Does it accurately and clearly break down the products and/or services that your business provides? Is it helpful to someone who has a problem and is in a hurry for a solution?
Keep in mind that Google and other search engines stand between you and that potential customer. If Google can glean that you are not getting to the point of what solutions you have to offer for a specific search query, that person googling will probably never see your website.
Start a Blog on Your Business Website
If your website has built in blog functionality, then writing some blogs to educate your customers and share your industry expertise can really help kickstart a website that isn’t getting found. The key here is to go back to those search phrases that you can imagine your potential customers googling. Keep the blogs to one specific topic, make sure they are informative and helpful, and always keep a positive tone. Even better, hire a professional content writer if it is in your budget. Choose one you can communicate easily with – this will ensure the blogs accurately speak for your business.
If you are currently spending a lot of money on digital advertising and haven’t tried blogging, then shifting a little of those resources to get started may really pay off in the long run. And by long run, we really mean months to a year or two. It can take a long time for blog content to start paying off, but when it does, it will continue to work for you far into the future. Not bad for a one-time expense!
Get a Basic Understanding of SEO
If you haven’t realized it yet, this whole article is about SEO. If you are not familiar with SEO (search engine optimization), doing a little research or at least watching some videos on YouTube can be extremely helpful. The idea here is not for you to take on the very technical SEO aspects of your website on your own. What’s critical is that you understand how important it is, and find an SEO expert that you can communicate well with. Having some understanding and terminology can go a long way!
Get Help to Fix Your Website Content!!!
We’ll say it again: if you have the resources or can divert some resources away from your ad budget or other business expenses, then hiring a content expert to look over and optimize your website is money well spent. If the person you are considering calls themselves an SEO expert, make sure they are also an expert in content production. SEO is very technical, but these days it is all about content and the words and phrases that define the namespace of your industry. Fixing website content issues, whether it be your homepage narrative, a blog, or even metadata, is the realm of writers, not coders. The best SEO experts have backgrounds in both writing and web development, and should be enthusiastic about talking with you about the specifics of your business.
If you think your website’s content isn’t helping your business find new customers, then don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our team can handle both the writing and technical aspects to help your business website reach its full potential.
