Your website is the public face of your brand online and therefore needs to contain content that is both general and informative. It has to appeal to people who know nothing about your company but who are looking for a solution to a problem that your product is designed to solve.
It also has to provide valuable content for those who already know your offerings, since it is extremely valuable to encourage repeat visits.Think of your website as your office’s reception desk – what do people need to find and learn?
You website will consist predominantly of short copy that is written to encourage an action. Remember that your home page is your first, and possibly only, chance to make a good impression. A visitor who arrives on your page wants to know exactly what is available and what is valuable on your page, so point them directly to the best content. This is a vital part of creating the smooth user experience you studied in chapter 2. Consider the following home page text (underlined text
is a link):
Welcome to Alpha Design!
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Questions?
All of the most important information is directly available to the reader and is not hidden in blocks of text. The readers immediately knows where to look for the content they are likely to need and are encouraged to join the brand community. If you’ve correctly anticipated your audience’s needs, they will click your links and explore your website. You will still need to have at least one paragraph of text either explaining what you do or solving a problem your target market has – this allows you to include keywords that are relevant to your business, making search engines see you as valuable to the search query.
Here are some other elements to consider.
• Your contact page. Keep your contact page to a minimum by providing your details clearly and separately. Don’t include any text that is not directly related to your contact details – this page must be as slimmed down as possible.
• Your navigation. The row of links at the top of your page, which take visitors to other parts of your website, must be extremely clear and obvious. Try to avoid obscure page titles because your visitors are much more likely to leave your site than to spend a long time browsing for what they need. Also,
stick to terms that web users will be familiar with, like “home” and “contact”, rather than inventing your own.