If your website takes too long to load, impatient visitors will leave and go instead to your competition. Similarly, if your website content is below expectations, your visitors will leave and head for the websites of your competitors, and might never return.
What Website Content Sends Visitors Away?
Bad content obviously. The content that has no value, that provides no useful information, that is stuffed full of your keywords, and that contains grammatical blunders and typos. On top of that, bad content is also poorly formatted – usually it’s just a wall of text with no bullet points or subheadings – and with too many with links or ads. If you allow this kind of content on your site, people won’t stay long enough to discover how great are your products and services – regardless of how beautifully designed the site.
Consumers Have Many Choices Today
The days when there were only one or two websites in the same niche are long gone. Today there are dozens, sometimes even hundreds of websites offering the same thing, whether it be information, products, or services. Even if your niche is obscure, there is bound to be at least two or three websites that provide solutions similar to your own – from competitors from around the world.
How to Encourage Visitors To Stay
Provide website content that informs or entertains and that is likely to be shared by others. In other words, content that is created first for people and only second for search engines.
Keywords should still be used, as links and calls to action, but the subject covered should be to your visitors’ taste. The writing style should be appropriate for the type of website you run, and it should not try to sell anything. That is in fact what most consumers dislike, to be pestered about buying something. A much more effective tactic is to showcase the essential features of your product or services and let consumers decide whether they should buy or not.
Writing great website content yourself can take much of your time, particularly if writing is not your forte. In this case you will need to decide if your efforts would be better invested in other areas of your website, or landing new business.
Many of my clients, particularly those who have had an online presence for some time, have opted to outsource their website content writing (and many other aspects of their business!). In so doing, they are able to develop and refine their products and services, and grow their businesses in other ways.
Hear from them at Kerry Finch Testimonials
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