What Content to Include on Website Pages

If you’re a business owner getting your first website built, you know you want useful content on your web pages. But where do you start? What do you need to consider?

Adding content to your web pages can seem like an overwhelming task. You don’t want to create a cluttered disorganized mass of text on your website pages. You want your website visitors to:

• Learn what services and products your business provides
• Perceive you as a business they can trust
• Know you can answer their questions and solve their pain points

After more than 20 years of working on the web, I’ve learned a few tips about creating useful, relevant web content that’s focused on your site visitors.

In this post, I’ll discuss content for three main pages found on almost every website: Home, About, and Contact.

Home Page

Your home page needs to convey what your business is about and what it can do for customers. It’s a page where you build trust, to show your business is reputable and trustworthy.

And it encourages visitors to explore other content on the rest of your website.

On your home page, include:

1. Services/products offered
2. Businesses you cater to. Who is your ideal client or customer?
3. Benefits. Why should someone buy your products or services? Highlight client results.
4. Testimonials. One or two testimonials show what customers like about your products/services.
5. Trust factors. How many years have you been in business? What industry-wide organizations do you belong to? (Example: Chamber of Commerce, etc.)

About Page

Here’s your opportunity to showcase your business. Share who you are, the expertise you have, and the services/products you offer.

Show your visitors who you are in a personal way and the problems you can solve for customers.

For your About page, include:

1. Short paragraph of what your company does, with:
   1. Name of your company and your name
   2. Services/products you offer (use terms everyone can understand, not industry terms or acronyms)
   3. Geographic area(s) you serve (if appropriate)
   4. Description of your customers. Who do you create services/products for? (sales people, community organizations, schools, small businesses, lawyers, doctors, etc.)
   5. Recognition or awards your business has received
2. What you offer that’s better than your competition
3. Photo of yourself (professional portrait) and background
4. Share an interesting fact about yourself (do you like to play chess, bicycle, fly planes?) something that will make you more personal to your visitors.
5. Add a link to your contact page, and/or include your contact information (email or phone)

Contact Page

The contact page is where you include the various ways visitors can reach you. Add all your contact information, including your physical mailing address.

Your physical address provides credibility and a sense of trust to your potential clients.

Keep in mind your visitors will have their own preferences for how they want to contact you. Provide multiple ways for contact.

But, if you know you prefer to not receive email, don’t add your email account.

Here are tips on what to include on your Contact page:

1. Company name
2. Your name
3. Physical mailing address
4. Days and hours of operations
5. Direct link to an email address (easy access for mobile users)
6. Phone number
7. Map of location, if you have a physical store
8. When visitors can expect a response from you (within 1-2 business days, whatever is your policy)

Include a contact form with a message area for visitors who want to include a more detailed message for you.

More Tips for Writing Content

As you write content for the web pages, consider who your audience is. Make it easy for them to choose your business for their work or project.

1. Use short sentences.
2. Use headings and subheadings to chunk content. Headings add context to a page and make it easy for website visitors to scan the page for the info they seek.
3. Break up walls of text with unordered or ordered lists for sequences of three or more.
4. Use spell and grammar check.
5. Include images to add interest to your page. If you choose to use images you don’t own, make sure you understand the rights for using the image.
6. Read your content out loud. It works! You’ll be surprised how quickly you can find a problem sentence or poor grammar when you read your content out loud.

One more tip: use the online Hemingwayapplication to check the readability of your content. You can use it online for free, or buy it for Windows or Mac.

Did I miss anything? Share your tips in the comments.

Originally published November 12, 2014