web essentials
website content
Planning the content of your website can be a daunting task. How do you know that the information you include is what your customers want to know? This Catalyst Media Essentials Fact Sheet contains some professional food for thought regarding what information will best make the most of your website investment. Know your audience
Advertise your Site
This must be your primary focus. What do your customers want to see? Look at what similar businesses are doing with their websites and ask your customers what they would find useful on your site. Offer something above and beyond what your competitors do.
Promote your website everywhere you promote your business, such as on business cards, flyers and television advertisements. Enlist professional marketing assistance to raise the profile of your website above others on the web. For more information on website marketing, refer to the Catalyst Media Essentials: Marketing Fact Sheet.
Be concise The internet is about getting information quickly. Very few people are willing to read pages of information when it can be given to them in a few short bullet points.
Organise your information This will make it easy for your customers to find it, understand it and act on it. Organising information allows you to provide links to additional information for customers keen to read more.
Control the content The ability to change your website doesn’t end when your web designer has finished work. Content management systems allow the website owner to do their own updates. This way, the business can avoid costs incurred by having to reprint items such as product brochures.
Checklist
Essential information Make sure to include all contact details, including street address, post office box, telephone numbers, fax and email). Beyond this, every website is different. Don’t base your website on what everyone else has on their site. Once again – know your audience, their needs, what will make them return to your site and bring others with them.
Added extras Internet content ideas are limited only by your imagination and the abilities of your web designer. Integrated payment gateway systems (where customers can select and pay for products, with payment to a business bank account processed in real time) are rapidly growing in popularity, effectively turning the website into a business that never closes. Photo galleries, event calendars, product listings, currency converters, audio visual presentations, current weather reports, restricted access pages and interfacing with other websites are other possibilities. Innovative ideas make a website stand out among competitors and a good web designer will be able to make your ideas a reality!
1. Give your customers what they want. Don’t know what this is? Ask them! 2. Other websites can be used for inspiration but make sure you innovate and take it one step further. 3. Organise your information and be concise. 4. Contact details are the only essential information to include. The rest is up to you. 5. Turn your business into a 24 hour shop with an integrated payment gateway system, just one of the many website content possibilities available. 6. If photographs will help sell your products or services, include them. 7. Advertise your site everywhere. 8. Use marketing tools to increase traffic to your site. 9. Take control with a Content Management System.
Use of images This depends on your business and your audience. If you sell shoes, then photographs of shoes would be almost essential. If you are an accountant, maybe there is less need for photos. If your customers want to see images and these images will help sell your products or services, then include them. For more information on photography, refer to the Catalyst Media Essentials: Photography Fact Sheet.
catalystmedia
PO Box 743, Level 1 / 10 Barolin St, Bundaberg Qld 4670 • p 07 4131 9700 • f 07 4131 9797 info@catalystmedia.com.au • www.catalystmedia.com.au
1