Create winning content to improve website engagement

Maybe your website analytics show that the level of visitor engagement with your website is slow. This isn't great because the more time people spend on your site, the more likely they are to buy something. And the more they buy, the more likely they are to return. So, it’s important to create reasons for them to stay.

#1 What is website content?

Website content is anything you put on your website to attract visitors. This includes the actual pages on your website, which are important for telling your company's story and describing your offerings. But perhaps more important are all the “extras” you display, such as:

• Articles to explain your processes and technologies in detail
• Articles or Infographics to help visitors understand industry trends
• Tests to help prospects know if your services are right for them
• Videos to introduce your mission statement, show how to use your products, or go behind the scenes at your company
• Blog posts to keep people up to date on new offers and ideas
• E-books to provide how-to information and insights
• newsletters to offer all the latest product and sales information

The more content you have, the more likely it will appear on social media (especially if you put it there) and the more people will be exposed to it and inspired to interact with your website. Once there, they will stay longer if you guide them to additional content that might be useful to them. The longer they stay, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

#2: Understand your market

The first thing to understand about creating quality content has nothing to do with your company or your products or services. It's about the people you want to do business with. Think about your ideal customers. What qualities do these people or companies possess? If your target market is consumers, you can develop personas that reflect the characteristics of likely buyers.

Once you have a clear picture of who you're targeting, think about what's valuable to them from a content perspective. Are they quick to make decisions or are they more thoughtful? Are they visual learners or do they prefer text? How long do they have to review the content?

Now, plan your content development based on this information. For example, quick decision makers just want to know the basics, so consider publishing a one-page fact sheet that uses bullet points to show the top three to five features and benefits associated with your offering. For those who need more time and information, create white papers, videos, or in-depth articles about other aspects of your offering, like the materials you use.

#3 Make content easy to find

All that great content you're creating won't do you any good if it's buried in layers of your site map, making it difficult for users to find it. Make it more visible:

• Including a Resources tab and placing all of your content there
• Using calls to action (CTAs) for specific content on each website page
• Publishing content on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• Suggest other content similar to each piece

#4: Develop Quality Content

Okay, so you have your personas, you know what type of content they are likely to respond to, and you have a plan to make them easier to find. The only step left is creating the content. Here are some tips to ensure your content will be worth finding:

• Don't waste your visitors' time: Whether it's a video, blog post, or article, get straight to the point and lead readers or viewers with a logical flow of ideas. Make sure each piece has a center point. At the same time, don’t skimp on the word count. Texts of 1,000 to 2,500 words are more likely to keep readers' attention (and rank better in search engines).
• Include CTAs: While website content should be useful and informative to visitors, it should also serve to push them to the next stage of the sales cycle, which includes interest, attention, desire and action. Use CTAs like “Want to know more? Sign up for a demo.
• Invite participation: Don't just expect visitors to share your content on social media or leave a comment on your blog. Ask them directly to participate and make it easy with things like social media links.
• Make sure the content matches your brand: Your content should match your company's personality in terms of text, audio, and images. Do a branding exercise to find 5-10 words that describe who you are and make sure each piece of content reflects these ideas.
• Consider hiring professionals: If you have an amazing marketing team, great! Let them do whatever it takes to keep you in the minds of potential customers. Otherwise, consider hiring a separate agency or vendors (writer, designer, software engineer, etc.) to make your content shine.

#5 Adapt your content

Don't let all your hard work go to waste. Adapt it to get two, three or even more uses. For example, let's say you created a complete white paper describing how your product is made. You can create several short videos that show each step of the process, using the white paper as the basis for your video scripts.

Or let's say you've developed a series of articles on various trends you expect to impact your industry in the coming months. Consider putting them together into an e-book that website visitors can download in exchange for their email address (which you can use to send newsletters).

#6 Be responsive

To ensure you get as much engagement as possible on your website, make sure it is visible to anyone who wants to visit it, regardless of what type of device they are on. The use of mobile devices has grown so much that you would be missing out on this market if you didn't use responsive design in your website development. (If you're not sure what responsive design is, ask your developer!)

If you liked this, be sure to check out our other articles on web development.

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• What is the difference between web and game developers
• The 5 best websites created with Python
• From Idea to Launch: The Software Development Journey