Guide The Ultimate

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To Writing Website Content

©Create IT Web Designs 2018

The Ultimate Guide To Writing Website Content www.createitwebdesigns.com

CREATE IT WEB DESIGNS | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | © 2018 1

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Does this sound familiar? You are trying to write your website content and drawing a blank. Or worse yet, you have a high bounce rate on your website and you cannot figure out why no one is staying to hear what you have to say. This Ultimate Guide To Writing Website Content is here to help you solve the problem and help you create the best content for your site.

Let’s go thru what you have accomplished so far with your website.

You’ve got your business name.

You’ve got your domain name. You have your hosting provider. You have your logo or your logo started. Now you are down to the part about writing your blog or website and you have no idea what to say or what to write. Eeek! Luckily, you’ve found the Ultimate Guide to Writing your Website Content.

Your content is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing on your website.

http://www.createitwebdesigns.com/



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Not your logo, not your images…your words. Trust me, it sounds overwhelming to start thinking about what you need to write. I’ve been there. I’m here to give you my best knowledge and years of experience on how to organize and write the best content possible. The best way to figure out what you need on your website is to break it down into an outline.

Let’s Get Started!




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Website Template

Disclaimer: This guide was written to be beneficial to Create IT Web Designs

customers and potential customers. Please use the guide to help write the webpages of your website. You do not need to use this exact template for Create IT Web Designs to build or modify your website. The more information you are able to write, the better you understand your business, your niche, and your audience the better your website will be. Thank you!

What we will accomplish in this guide:

1. Creating a main topic or main statement

2. Decide what menu item headings (and possibly sub-headings) you would

like displayed in the top bar

3. Creating a Contact Page

4. Writing an About Page

5. Writing a Blog Article

6. Writing a Services Page

7. Writing a Portfolio Page

8. Writing a Home Page

9. List favorite websites for inspiration




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Main Topic of Your Website Worksheet

These exact questions will not be used within your webpage but getting this statement really helps you understand your business and get you set up to write great content on your web page.

1. Who are you?

2. What is your niche (the more specific the better)?

3. Who is your audience or ideal

4. What are you providing (service, product, information) and to whom?

5. What is your vision for this web page?

6. What type of tone do you want to take (business, friendly, fun, sarcastic)?

7. More importantly, what will readers want from you?

8. What does your website want to achieve?




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Will you have an on-line shop designed to generate sales? YES/NO Is it a portfolio of your work? YES/NO Is it educational? YES/NO Does it offer an online community for users to engage with? YES/NO Is it meant to draw in new consumers, support existing ones, or both? YES/NO

Main Statement Now that you’ve completed the above and understand your voice, niche, and audience, write a Main Statement. What is the Main Statement of your business? In 1-3 sentences:




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Headings and Subheadings: These are the main headings that you would like listed at the top of the screen. (i.e. Home, About, Services, Portfolio, Blog, Articles, FAQs, Shop, Contact)

• What Headings do you envision?

Subheadings: (optional). Example: About->Employees, Mission Statement, Company News). Keep in mind the subheading pages should be at least 500 words long for it to be a subheading page. If it is short (less than 300 words) it would be a good idea to keep in in the main heading. Remember: Longer pages are better for SEO.

• List any subheadings (optional)

Sub-Subheadings. DON’T EVEN THINK OF DOING THIS! I do not recommend doing Sub-Sub Headings as it becomes too many clicks for a user. The less clicks the better for the overall user experience.

Now that you have broken out the types of pages, let’s get started writing the pages.




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Contact Page

We are going to start with the easiest one first! This one requires the least amount of writing. You need to have a way for potential customers to contact you. Providing a contact form allows you to allow customers to contact you and you are able to request the information you need from them such as name, email, or phone.

Main Statement: Why is it important to contact you? Is it to hire you for a project, to work with you, ask questions before the customer buys, or ask for more details? What information do you want to collect, so you may respond appropriately?

1. First Name YES/NO 2. Last Name YES/NO 3. Phone Number YES/NO 4. Address YES/NO 5. Email YES/NO 6. Message YES/NO 7. Reason for contact YES/NO 8. How did you hear about us? YES/NO 9. Other (please list below)

Images

If you are a single owner business, I recommend putting a picture of yourself on your contact page. Readers like to know who they are talking to. If you are a brick and mortar store, do you want a Google Map on the Page? List of office or business hours? Any additional items listed?




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About Page

The About page is one of the most important pages on your website and

IT’S ONE OF THE MOST VISITED! Oh, my! Pressure is on. You have about 1-3 seconds to capture your audience. Not only that, the About page is also one of the most difficult page to write! So, let’s take some steps to help you write your about page.

1. It’s not about you.

What? That’s correct…it’s about what you can do for your reader. The first sentence of your About page should NEVER start with “I,” “I’m,” or “My.” The About page is not about you, it’s about the reader. This is not an interview where a reader is asking “Tell me about yourself.” The first part of your About page should answer this question.

What problem does my website solve for my readers or what will someone gain from reading it?

2. Why should I read your pages? Create a sticky story. Good stories are sticky, which means people are more likely to connect with them and pass them on. Tell me about yourself and your credentials while building a trust. Only tell the part of the story that is in regards to your website. Don’t go into too much detail about your kids, we know you are proud of them and love them, but unless they are part of the website, mention them briefly. Tell me about the website. This should not be your LinkedIn Resume. If they want to see your LinkedIn Resume, create a social icon on your website to your resume. Build a connection. Every business has a story to tell, so tell your story. Use your tone of voice. This is an opportunity to showcase your brand personality.




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3. Put a professional looking picture of yourself on the page. It’s very important to have a picture of yourself on your webpage. People want to know you, like you, and build a trust with you. Don’t remain a mystery! If you have a team, introduce your team here also. Make sure your picture is after the sticky story. Don’t start with the first thing a user sees is your picture. I see many a webpage start with a big picture of themselves. I want to read about your first before I decide I want to get to know you more. The picture, if you use one, at the top should be about what the problem solves for the reader.

4. What should I read? Don’t miss an opportunity to showcase your most popular articles or parts of your website. Where do you want to direct them on your website? Do you want them to check our your services, your work, your blog articles.

5. Call – to Action (CTA).

Follow up with a call to action. Do you want them to call you, email you, fill out a contact form, visit you brick and mortar store, or sign up for a newsletter. The last paragraph should include the CTA.

Word of warning. Do not put in Google ads in your about page. Breaking up the sticky story with an ad of an affiliate link, will make readers bolt in a hurry. It appears you are trying to make a quick buck versus actually giving out why I need to read your website. You will loose your reader fast and you will see your bounce rate reflected by this in Google Analytics.




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About Page Worksheet

1. What problem does my website solve for my readers or what will someone gain from reading it?

2. Why should I read your pages. Your sticky story.

3. A professional looking picture of yourself.

4. What should I read?

5. What is the Call To Action?




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Examples of some excellent About pages and why they are excellent.

The Caboose Spice & Co

The Caboose Spice & Co does a fantastic job of capturing your attention and drawing their core business of spices into their vision of bringing people to the table. Here is how The Caboose Spice & Co is a success at this.

1. They lead with a statement in bold about me the reader “Something magical takes place when we gather around the table.”

2. Their colorful picture at the top with a family meal answers what is a reader looking for…how to gather around the table as a family. Their sticky story is captivating and makes me what to learn more and use their spices.

3. The picture of the owners Stacie and Greg is in the middle followed by a bit

of information about the 2 of them.

4. The follow up with pictures of the their spices to direct the reader to their product.


https://blog.caboose-spices.com/about-us/

https://blog.caboose-spices.com/about-us/



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5. The call to action is to both look at their spices and sign up for the their newsletter to receive 10% off.




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Fuzzy & Birch

1. Jenni at Fuzzy and Birch leads with Your Day Job Kind of Sucks. If you haven’t had a job that sucks, you are lucky! I want to find out more.

2. The sticky story continues about how to leave that job that sucks and explains how she can help you do that.

3. Jenni’s picture is at the bottom with a quick biography of herself.

4. Both her call to action and articles to read are links to find out more

information.


https://blog.fuzzyandbirch.com/about/

https://blog.fuzzyandbirch.com/about/



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Blogs/Articles Page

The Blogs/Articles page should reflect the business or blog articles that you write. It is important that you have some sort of communication reflecting your personality, interests, and passions regarding your business. This gives potential customers and basis of who you are and more about your business. For example, the article for a law office is giving advice or things to think about when putting your last will and testament together. Another example is a a restaurant giving out a recipe of their dish. This is your chance to connect with your audience to find out more about you. It is as if they are receiving a free service or information to your website that they can use. This helps them to build trust and a connection to you as the business owner. The articles should be about information you know and can share, whether it is an itinerary, recipe, self-help article, ways to improve themselves and grow. This should NOT be a story that starts with “I” did this and did that unless it has some meaning to help the reader. The reader is not interested in your story, they want to know how it can help them with their story.

Main Statement. Needs to be Eye-catching and concise headline about the articles/blogs that you are writing. This headline will be something a Google user will search on. For example, “How to catch a Leprechaun” would be something someone would search on Google versus “Use a laundry basket to catch a Leprechaun”.

Image Image reflecting your articles/Blogs. –if you are using Pinterest as part of your marketing plan, your image should be Pinterest sized.

Articles/Blogs Need to have at least 3 articles/blogs written. I’d recommend having an image reflecting each article, additionally.




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Services Page

The services page is about what you offer. The goal of this page is to outline the products and services you offer, the process, and how someone can get started. You need to have both a sales pitch and an information outline to your services. The time frame, the outline of how the process works, and frequently asked Questions, are all valuable to a reader to determine if this is what they need. If you have a large amount of services, break them down into categories.

1. Break the ice with an overview of services. Highlight benefits for prospective customers and differentiate yourself from the competition. It is important to outline how your service can specifically help your prospect. Your unique tone and sales pitch from this opening paragraph can grab your prospect’s interest. Remember if a reader doesn’t like what is in the first one or two sentences, they will bounce quickly. Focus on the benefits of doing business with you rather than just the service they are looking for.

2. Include solid testimonials from previous clients. Testimonials are key to giving prospective customers social proof. Make sure you have legitimate testimonials from actual clients. It may be awkward, but at the end of each project I ask for customers to provide me with a testimonials that I may use. Or I go back through my emails and ask permission to use a sentence from an email.

3. Explain who your ideal client is.

Be specific. The more specific your niche is the better.




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4. What are you offering?

List the services and products you are offering. Go into more detail on the level of services you offer.

5. List prices. There are different schools of thought on this. Research has shown that listing prices or generalized prices increases the inquiries by 50%. Please also check out this article by Hubspot: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-publish-pricing-on-website-var I agree with listing prices, as I’ve had more inquiries about my services when I list prices versus when I didn’t. It also makes no room for negotiation, which can take up your precious time. It gives a clear indication of your project and scope of your project.

6. Call to Action Example call to actions are contact me, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., or sign up newsletter.


https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-publish-pricing-on-website-var



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Services Worksheet

1. Break the ice with an overview of services.

2. Testimonials from previous clients.

3. Who is your ideal client?

4. List Prices

5. Call To Action.




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Examples of Great Services Pages

Pixels2HTML

1. Pixel2html does something I see few people doing…creating a call to action at the top of the page.

2. Continues with talking about the features that a reader would love and mentions that it is simple with a picture to portray the simplicity.

3. Has a solid testimonial with the number of customers they have and then

lists some customer quotes.

4. List the call to action with other services offered followed by the “Get the project started”.


https://pixel2html.com/services/wordpress.html

https://pixel2html.com/services/wordpress.html



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Applecart Lane Creative

1. Applecart Lane Creative addresses the reader right away with “It’s no secret that professional blog graphics are the key to online success.” The graphics in the header show that they are professional graphics.

2. Immediately below in hot pink…Apple Cart Lane gets straight to the point “Here’s what I do.” And lists 3 services with links explaining in more detail about the services.

3. Lists additional links to other parts of her website.

4. The Call to action is to sign up for the newsletter.


http://applecartlane.com/services/

http://applecartlane.com/services/



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Portfolio Page (optional) Show off your work to the world. Include a diverse amount of your work. The best part of a portfolio is that you need zero to few words. Let the pictures do the speaking for you.

1. Main Statement—overview of the work that you want to display. (optional) 2. Show only your best and favorite work. Do not list everything. 3. Less is more. Don’t overwhelm potential customers with everything. 4. Explain your work, but don’t embellish. (optional) 5. Decide how to Organize (optional)—decide if want subcategories based on

topic (Photos, Logos, designs…). 6. Include Call to Action.

Cast Iron Design gives a simple description of the logo designs and simple pictures that show their best logo work.


https://castirondesign.com/work/logos-marks-and-icons

https://castirondesign.com/work/logos-marks-and-icons



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Additional Pages Worksheet (optional)

1. Main Statement Any webpage should have a main statement to the page and answer:

What problem does this page solve for my readers or what will someone gain from reading it?

2. Call To Action The page should end with a call to action.

3. Image Image should reflect to the main statement of the page. Most users are visual so images or graphics are very helpful to the overall user experience.




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Home Page

Why is the home page on the last part of your document? This is the first page everyone wants to write, but it should actually be the last page! The homepage is the shortened version of all your other pages combined. Your home page should be your longest page. The longer the better it is for SEO (search engine optimization). I suggest breaking the page down into an outline first.

Outline: Tagline/Headline: (This should be a one sentence main point that you want a user to see within 1-3 seconds. It does not have to be a complete sentence but can also be a branding statement….example: Yoplait yogurt—“load up on what they love”). This should be shorter than your Main Statement. You have 1-3 seconds to capture your reader with this sentence before they decide if they want to stay or leave.

Sub Taglines/Headlines: Zero in on the main points for your target audience. This should be a selling statement and not info about yourself. (i.e. Yoplait-> “creamy meets crunchy” for their newest yogurt type).

General Outline: (The main points you would like to make on the home page.)

1. Who your audience is.

2. Services/Products you provide.

3. Benefit of your services/products. Why does it matter? Home page should be a lightweight version and easy to read. Speak the language of your customers.

4. Social proof. Reviews of your services or quotes from customers. The

more proof you have the more the audience will build a trust with you. 5. Calls 2 action to contact you or click further into your website.




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Images: Most users are visual. You absolutely need supporting image(s) on a home page.




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Home Page Worksheet

1. What is your headline?

2. What is your sub-headline?

3. Who is your audience?

4. What are your services/products?

5. Benefits of your services/products?

6. What is your social proof?

7. Call to Action.




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Favorite Webpages Worksheet List from 3-6 of your favorite webpages that you would like your website designed after. Please list the web address along with what you like about each of the webpages. The more specific you are the better. This helps Create IT Web Designs design the website how you are envisioning.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.


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