Develop your content

Develop Your Content

Content: The subject matter you include in your site – text, images, diagrams, information, forms, etc.

This exercise will help you create a list of content for your site.

It’s a very thorough brainstorming process -­‐-­‐ if you’re creating a simple site, you may choose to focus on only the steps marked with an asterisk (*).

STEP (CHECK THOSE THAT YOU’D LIKE TO DO)

STATUS

*Get content ideas from internal team

Complete

Identify sales-­‐oriented content to help you meet the needs of prospects who find you by searching

Identify content for marketing campaigns including organic/paid search, email marketing, publicity, white paper offers

*Identify targeted content that different users will want and need

*Review the content on your competitors’ sites

*Add miscellaneous content ideas

*Collect the content into a master list and prioritize

Complete

Complete

Complete Complete Complete Complete

INTERNAL TEAM CONTENT IDEAS

If you have multiple departments on the team, ask them to think carefully about what the site could potentially do to improve your sales and service for existing customers.

PEOPLE OR DEPARTMENTS TO ASK

Enter their suggestions below:

A. INTERNAL CONTENT SUGGESTIONS

STATUS Complete Complete Complete Complete

IMPORTANCE H

Websites  Develop Your Content

M

L

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A. INTERNAL CONTENT SUGGESTIONS

IMPORTANCE H H H H H H

M M M M M M

L L L L L L

At the end of this exercise, copy these suggestions into the Master Content List.

Notes

The next sections offer tips for creating sales-­‐oriented content.

SEARCH MARKETING CONTENT

Most business buyers turn to the web to find information about products, vendors, and solutions for their problems. And the higher the price of the product/service, the earlier the buyer starts the search.

This section identifies content that can help you generate qualified leads from these searchers. First, check your average price in the grid below.*

HOW FAR IN ADVANCE THE BUYER USES A SEARCH ENGINE Check Purchase YOUR amount in the average study price

<$500

$500-­‐$1000

$1000-­‐$2500

$5000-­‐$10,000

$10,000-­‐ $50,000

$50,000+

The A same week day or two

One month

2-­‐3 months

4-­‐6 months

7-­‐9 months

9-­‐12 months

Other

13.6% 0.8% 2.1% 1.6% 3.7%

38.3% 32.8% 25.0% 19.8% 15.6%

30.9% 41.6% 37.5% 29.4% 26.6%

8.0% 15.2% 27.8% 31.0% 31.2%

4.3% 6.4% 4.9% 15.1% 14.7%

0.0% 0.8% 2.1% 1.6% 3.7%

1.9% 2.4% 0.0% 0.8% 2.8%

3.1% 0.0% 0.7% 0.8% 1.8%

1.8%

9.1%

16.4%

27.3%

26.4%

7.3%

9.1%

2.7%

*Research provided by Enquiro Search Solutions – www.enquiro.com

What does this mean for you? From the line that matches your “average price”, find the three highest percentages:

Websites  Develop Your Content

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Timing

% of buyers who searched at this time (from your price range in the table)

Here are tips for providing content to meet the needs of visitors who search within each timeframe.

Timing (check those you Ideas for improving your website listed above) (check those that are worth exploring) The same day Make sure they can easily find the product they need from the homepage.

Product categories or navigation that’s obvious to you may not be as obvious to your prospects.

Know what information the prospect needs about your products and display it as early as possible. The longer it takes to get to the detail, the higher the probability that your prospect will leave your site.

If a prospect needs to see a picture, demo, feature list, etc., get it out there quickly and prominently.

Make sure it’s easy to buy: an obvious “order now” button, a simple checkout process

Make sure you offer speedy shipping

If buyers have questions and need to speak with a sales rep, make sure you take phone calls and are properly staffed to answer live. Don’t force your prospect to send an email and wait 24 hours to respond. If they want to buy that day and you’re not available, they may buy from your competitor.

A week or two Same as “same day”, plus: Know what else a customer needs before making the purchase and be ready to deliver it in the time left

One month, Encourage prospects to call you with questions or to get more information.

2-­‐3 months A phone call is far more valuable than an email request – you can do much more qualifying and really engage them. When you respond to an email request, the prospect may have already found another solution or may have forgotten you

Provide comparisons to enable these visitors to easily see how your solution compares with your competition

Offer a quote or more detailed information if they provide very basic information so you can follow up

Websites  Develop Your Content

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4-­‐6 months

7-­‐9 months, 9-­‐12 months

Focus on creating trust and educating your prospects. These aren’t ready to buy yet, so make them comfortable that you’re a resource. If you try to close the prospect now, you’ll fail.

Make sure your website offers valuable, unbiased and general information. Prospects aren’t ready for detail at this phase; they need general information about the solution and how it’s relevant to them.

Make sure you offer something valuable to a searcher that’s this far away from purchasing. You need to keep up a relationship over a long period of time. By creating an ongoing newsletter with important and relevant information, you can capture prospect names and put them in a pipeline to nurture over time.

Carry these suggestions into the list below:

B. SALES-­‐ORIENTED CONTENT

IMPORTANCE H H H H H H H

M M M M M M M

L L L L L L L

At the end of this exercise, copy these suggestions into the Master Content List.

MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Here are additional suggestions for content to support various marketing programs.

MARKETING PROGRAM CONTENT SUGGESTIONS (check those you’ll use) (check those that you’d like to include) Organic search: Optimizing Home page with valuable content on it: A keyword-­‐rich your site so it appears in headline, subheadings, body copy, and links into detailed pages in search engine results your site News section on home page; includes the story headline, date, intro line; story headline is a link to a detail page that contains the story itself

Site map with text links (very important to search engines)

Pages about very specific subjects that searchers will be looking for

Websites  Develop Your Content

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Paid search: Buying listings

on search engines so you’ll appear when the user searches for particular words

Ongoing email newsletters to prospects, customers

General email campaigns to

generate leads, promote certain offers or programs, etc.

Lead generation programs using white papers, best practices or other valuable information they can download from your site

Content that’s written with search engines in mind: keyword-­‐ rich headlines, subheadings, links, body copy, etc.

Specific landing pages written for each ad campaign you run – the goal is to continue the message in the ad and convert a casual visitor (that you paid for) into a qualified prospect

Newsletter signup and removal feature; capture name, email, and other information as needed (but keep it short – the more info you request, the more likely it is that your prospect will abandon.

Limit the number of required fields.)

Newsletter home page to access the current edition and archived newsletters. Make sure the page is just one click from the home page.

Use a separate page for each full story. Don’t put the newsletters in a PDF that you can download; the content is valuable for search engine rankings and the spiders can’t read PDFs.

Specific landing page(s) for the offers and stories you include in your campaigns – designed to convert visitors into qualified prospects or buyers Specific landing page(s) for the white paper offers, including details about the offer and prospect data capture. (Balance your need for information with the prospect’s tolerance for providing it – the more fields you require, the less likely your prospect is to finish the form.)

You’ll also need a fulfillment process – the document can be on the page after the form, or you can create a more elaborate process where you email a link to a specific URL to allow the user to download.

Carry these suggestions into the list below:

C. MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Websites  Develop Your Content

IMPORTANCE H H H H H

M M M M M

L L L L L

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C. MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

IMPORTANCE

H H

M M

L L

At the end of this exercise, copy these suggestions into the Master Content List.

Notes:

TARGETED CONTENT FOR USERS

It’s important to identify the different users who will be visiting your site, then make sure you have content for them.

Be sure to identify any distinct subgroups with different needs in each user group. For example, if you sell to three different customer segments – Fortune 100, midmarket, and small businesses – you probably offer different solutions for each, and you should offer content that speaks directly to each segment.

USER CATEGORIES DISTINCT GROUPS WITHIN THIS CATEGORY (check those that will visit your site)

Prospects

Current customers

Distributors

Strategic partners

Vendors Media Job seekers Current employees

Now look at each distinct group of users. What do you want them to do after visiting your site and what content can you offer to get them to take that action?

User category + subgroup

Describe a typical person in this group When and why does this person visit your site?

What do you want this person to do after visiting?

What content can you offer to get Websites  Develop Your Content

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the person to take this action?

User category + subgroup

Describe a typical person in this group When does this person visit your site?

What do you want this person to do after visiting?

What content can you offer to get the person to take this action?

User category + subgroup

Describe a typical person in this group

When does this person visit your site?

What do you want this person to do after visiting?

What content can you offer to get the person to take this action?

Continue the exercise for each group you identified. When you’re finished, enter the content you’ve identified into the grid below:

D. TARGETED CONTENT FOR USERS

IMPORTANCE H H H H H H H

M M M M M M M

L L L L L L L

At the end of this exercise, copy these suggestions into the Master Content List.

Notes:

Websites  Develop Your Content

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COMPETITIVE REVIEW

You may also want to look at your competitors’ sites. What content do they offer that you haven’t already identified and should include on your own site?

Competitor

URL Content that we should include

Competitor

URL

Content that we should include

Competitor

URL Content that we should include

When you’re finished, enter the content you’ve identified into the grid below:

E. CONTENT THAT OUR COMPETITORS OFFER

IMPORTANCE H H H H H H H

M M M M M M M

L L L L L L L

At the end of this exercise, copy these suggestions into the Master Content List.

Notes:

MISCELLANEOUS CONTENT

Is there anything else you need to offer that you haven’t already identified?

Websites  Develop Your Content

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TYPE OF CONTENT (check those you’d like to include) News

E-­‐commerce Product catalog

Sales literature download

Downloadable white papers with or without data capture first

Testimonials

List of current clients

Case studies

Content for current customers

Secure login for current customers

Websites  Develop Your Content

EXPLANATION/NOTES A news section is a sales tool and a traffic tool as well. When you update your site frequently, it helps your search rankings, and “news” content is fairly easy to refresh on a regular basis. And when you distribute press releases and put them on your site, you can generate even more traffic.

If it would be easier for your customers to place orders online, set up your website to do it.

If your users might want to see details about the individual products (or services) you offer, include them on the site. If there are many of them, you may need a search function and/or a database to store the information. If your site can save your prospects/customers a phone call to you, then it’s valuable to put this information online.

Create PDF versions of your sales literature and put a download link on your site. However, don’t use the PDF instead of putting content on the site itself. And include only the literature that’s truly relevant at this point in time.

White paper marketing has become a huge topic in B2B marketing. It’s a research report that provides detailed information to prospects who are researching initial solutions. You can use a white paper as a free offer in email and search marketing campaigns; you can allow all prospects to download it or ask them for data beforehand.

Testimonials are especially powerful when they provide very specific information and are relevant for the user who is visiting your site – try to include several testimonials for each customer segment you target.

Provide details in addition to the company’s name – what did you do for them and how did it benefit? Consider grouping the clients by industry or solution.

Put good, detailed case studies in the body copy of your site, then offer a printable PDF. By adding the content to your site rather than just relying on PDFs, your site will naturally look richer to search engines.

Can you use your site to reach out to current customers? If so, create a section just for them.

If your customers need to access their account information, you’ll need a login feature.

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TYPE OF CONTENT (check those you’d like to include) Information request form and confirmation email

About us/Company information

Bios of key executives Privacy policy

Terms of use

How to apply for a job Job descriptions for current openings

Site map

Email newsletters

Simple FAQs

Customer service Search for content on the site

Chat room Bulletin board

Websites  Develop Your Content

EXPLANATION/NOTES A form to request a call, literature, or demo from your company. Be sure to tell the user how quickly they can expect the information (and they’ll expect it quickly); you’ll also need to generate a followup email.

Make sure you cover the information that your prospects would deem important. If you don’t offer any detail, you may lack credibility.

Same as above

Usually displayed as a persistent link at the bottom of every page; it describes what information you capture from your visitors and what you do with that information

A legal agreement that states that by using your site, visitors agree to your terms. For example, your terms may reference your privacy policy, limit your liability, and identify any copyrights/patents/trademarks.

Usually placed in a “Jobs” or “Careers” section

Usually placed in a “Jobs” or “Careers” section

A page that lists all of your pages as text links; it’s very important for search engine optimization.

If you send email newsletters or are considering them to nurture your prospects or customers, you’ll need a newsletter section with pages devoted to individual stories, links to past issues, etc.

Provide a list of typical questions and responses; make sure you include contact information on the page so people can immediately call or email if the FAQs don’t help.

Can you provide meaningful help on your site? A simple FAQ list many not be enough; you may need more levels of questions.

If your site offers a lot of content or a product catalog and your users need to be able to find things quickly, consider adding a search tool.

A chat room enables users to log in and chat live with other users; more appropriate for consumer-­‐oriented sites with high volume.

A bulletin board allows users to post questions or topics of interest into boards and respond to them. page 10 of 12

TYPE OF CONTENT (check those you’d like to include)

EXPLANATION/NOTES

Add any of these last content items to your list:

F. MISCELLANEOUS CONTENT

IMPORTANCE H H H H H H H

M M M M M M M

L L L L L L L

At the end of this exercise, copy these suggestions into the Master Content List.

Notes:

MASTER CONTENT LIST

You should now have a solid list of content to include in your site. You can cut and paste your lists from A to F into this section, then include it in your site specifications if you’re hiring a vendor.

Links: A. Internal Ideas … B. Sales-­‐oriented content … C. Marketing campaign content … D. Targeted user content … E. Competitor content … F. Miscellaneous content

MASTER CONTENT LIST IMPORTANCE

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L Websites  Develop Your Content

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Notes:

H H H

M M M

L L L

If you’re hiring a web development firm and want them to take your content, organize it in the best possible way and then write it, then you can provide them with this list – you’re done.

However, if you’re just hiring a programmer to program the site, or if you’re completely developing your content in-­‐house, you’ll need to organize the content into sections and pages – your “site architecture.” Here are the next steps:

TYPE OF SITE YOU’RE NEXT STEPS EXERCISES TO USE CREATING Simple site Create a simple list of sections and 302 – Simple Site Architecture the pages in each section 308 – Write your content Sophisticated site (lots of Create multiple levels of 304 – Sophisticated Site Architecture content, more navigation) navigation and the pages in each 308 – Write your content section

Websites  Develop Your Content

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