How to get website content right (and why it matters)

Visiting a company website isn’t just about getting the information you need, it’s a window into what the company stands for – its people, its values and its vision. When you visit a business website it’s essential to feel that you understand the company and trust their expertise.

So, the words on your site do more than just communicate information – they help to build relationships and influence customers.

However, not all website content is created equal.

Content can be compelling, relevant and genuinely useful – or just a way of filling space with no real value to the reader.

Content can take the form of blogs, videos, infographics, audio and more – but we’ll focus on written content in this post.

Read on and learn more about why professionally written content is important and the different types of content you can use to entertain, inform and engage your audience.

Why website content matters

Professional content on your business website is not only necessary but essential.

Quality content isn’t just about words on web pages. It’s a strategic tool to engage visitors and position your brand as an industry authority. Engaging, well-written content can captivate your audience, effectively communicate your value and inspire action, whether you want them to request a quote or buy a product.

SEO-optimised content can also help your website rank higher in search results, driving more organic traffic.

Professional web content is an investment that can deliver substantial ROI by enhancing your online presence and driving business growth.

Discover our full suite of web content writing services, from audits to copywriting.

The benefits of professional content for your website

Having content on your website is great, but having professionally created content has even more benefits:

• Improves search performance – Quality content, when optimised correctly, supports SEO and improves your website’s visibility on search engines, driving more organic traffic to your site.
• Brings your brand to life – Content allows you to communicate your brand’s personality, values and mission, helping you build a strong connection with your audience.
• Reinforces your credibility and authority – Publishing insightful, well-researched content can showcase your industry knowledge, strengthening your reputation as a credible and authoritative source of information.
• Shows you’re an expert in your area – Sharing your unique insights and expertise can position you as a trusted thought leader in your field.
• Provides valuable information and support to customers – Quality content can succinctly answer common customer queries and educate your audience, providing valuable resources that enhance customer experience.
• Supports every stage of the customer journey – From attracting potential customers to supporting existing ones, content plays a vital role at every stage of the customer journey. This includes hooking their attention, encouraging them to make a purchase, and offering post-purchase support like FAQs.
• Cost-effective with proven ROI: Compared to other marketing initiatives, content creation is relatively cost-effective compared to its long-term benefits. Its ability to engage audiences and drive traffic over time makes it a solid investment.

What makes high-quality website content?

Know your target audience

Without knowing who you’re talking to, how do you know how to talk to them?

Understanding your target audience is key to creating compelling web content. It allows you to adjust your message, tone and language to resonate best with your readers, increasing engagement and connection. By knowing their interests, challenges and preferences, you can provide valuable content that meets their needs.

Knowing your target audience intimately not only enhances user experience but also builds trust and loyalty, turning visitors into customers and advocates for your brand.

A good website content strategy plays an important role, not just in what to write but also in creating clarity on who you are writing for and what actions you want them to take.

Robust research

Thorough and accurate research into your content topics, target customers, keywords and competitors’ content is essential for creating high-quality website content.

Not only does it make it more effective, but it also makes it accurate, informative and relevant – all things that can boost your brand’s credibility.

Research helps you understand your audience’s needs, preferences and pain points, enabling you to create content that resonates with them. It also helps identify trending topics and industry developments, keeping things fresh and relevant. When writing SEO-optimised content, a simple keyword search could make your content rank higher in search results.

Research can come in many forms, but government sources such as the Office for National Statistics and organisations such as YouGov and Statista are good starting points with lots of free, quality data and statistics.

Accuracy

Accuracy is essential in website content writing, as it demonstrates credibility and trustworthiness. Inaccurate information can mislead readers, potentially damaging your brand’s reputation.

Accurate content, on the other hand, demonstrates your commitment to providing reliable, trustworthy information, reinforcing your brand’s authority within your industry. It also builds audience trust and encourages repeat visits to your site, which could lead to conversions.

Accuracy also extends to targeting your audience. If your keywords and topics don’t line up with what your target audience is after, you may end up communicating with the wrong people (or no one at all!)

Make sure you check elements such as:

• Numbers and data
• Facts
• Names (and especially spelling of names)
• Dates
• Consistency – ensure different data or information doesn’t contradict
• Links to other sources
• The quality of the source itself – only use credible, reliable sources of information such as company reports or public data.

Effective writing skills

Well-written content is key to establishing a professional image and effectively engaging your audience. It encourages clear communication, reduces misunderstandings and maintains reader interest.

High-quality writing also reflects your expertise, establishing your business as one that understands what it’s talking about and knows how to communicate it well. It gives your content a better chance of being shared, increasing your reach and influence.

Actionable content

Actionable content adds great value to content marketing by giving readers clear, practical steps to follow. It goes beyond just informing or entertaining to empower readers to apply what they’ve learned in real-world situations. Return visits should increase as your content fosters engagement, leading to more conversions.

Demonstrate your brand’s expertise and commitment to providing value, helping build trust and loyalty among your audience.

Actionable content means that someone who reads it does something. This could be sharing their information with you, sharing the webpage with other people, or hitting the ‘buy’ button.

The worst outcome is a shrug of the shoulders and leave without doing anything!

Different types of content writing for websites

Company blog

Companies that have blogs on their website generate 67% more leads per month on average than those who don’t – and that’s the power of content done right.

Blogs can include how-to guides, listicles, case studies, interviews and thought pieces. When written and structured well, this content can have many benefits. Blogs can help you increase organic traffic and repeat visits, improve search engine rankings, lower bounce rates, boost page visiting times, encourage conversions and enhance customer loyalty.

A good company blog will cover a variety of relevant topics. The content will be clearly and cohesively structured, with headers separating the well-researched, well-written content and appropriate images dotted throughout.

Webpages

Some web pages require more important content than others, but your product and service pages are the ones that might require the most attention. These pages are the ones that you will benefit the most from directing your target audience to in order to convert them into loyal, returning customers.

For the perfect product/service page, you’ll need three things – a clear call to action (CTA), engaging and concise copy packed with information and benefits and high-quality visuals.

Learn about Submerge’s copywriting services.

Landing pages

A landing page is a standalone web page designed for targeted marketing, ideal for events and seasonal deals like Black Friday.

For an effective landing page, you’ll need to have strong headlines that capture your target audience’s interest and concise, engaging copy that clearly explains the value and benefit of the topic. You should also include a strong CTA that encourages the reader to take the desired action, whether that’s buying tickets, downloading materials or sharing their contact details.

Supporting pages

Besides your product pages, landing pages and blog, you’ll also need to populate your website with supporting pages. These will be home to your ‘evergreen’ content, which may not need to be updated regularly, such as your company’s contact details and FAQs.

It’s key that these pages are clearly structured, well-written and accurate from the start. They play a crucial step in the conversion process, allowing potential customers to contact you and find the information that will make them more confident about choosing you. If your contact details or core information changes, it is essential that you update these pages immediately.

The website content workflow

Before your website is full of inspiring and engaging content, you first have to do the hard part – create it.

1. Determine your audience

Your audience should be the one shaping your content’s tone of voice and your topic list. The whole point of web content (the good and the bad) is to provide value to your target audience, whether they need help with a purchasing decision or are just looking for some information. Your target audience will undoubtedly have a number of needs and questions you can easily use to shape your content calendar.

2. Brainstorm ideas

When you’re looking for content ideas, look to your customers. Find out what they’re searching for online and see if there are any online search trends boosted by customer behaviour. Also, look at what your competitors are writing.

3. Get SEO right from the start

If you plan on creating SEO-optimised content (and we think you should), combine your idea brainstorming with keyword research. This is going to tell you how many people are searching for that content per month and whether your website could rank for those keywords (this is known as keyword difficulty). It’ll also show you other keywords that may help you develop better, more targeted ideas.

Learn more about Submerge’s SEO services.

4. Research your topic

To provide the most value and best user experience for your target audience, you need to research your topic thoroughly. Whether you’re producing a product page or blog post, misleading your target customers is a big no-no. When researching, pay attention to the date and source of the information you’re looking at. Rely on trusted, established sources and opt for the latest research to keep your content relevant and accurate.

5. Decide on the format

Before you can proceed with content creation, you need to decide on the format of your content. Blogs, product pages and FAQs all have different formats and purposes, so you’ll need to select one of these first.

6. Structure the content

You’ve got your format, your audience data and your ideas – now you need to figure out how to put it all together. Your content’s structure, from the headers you use to the images you include, is crucial to making it relevant, clear, and informative. Besides making your content easier to read and improving user experience, using headers, subheaders, links and optimised images is all needed for SEO success.

You might also want to create a structure for your content strategy to ensure consistency and stay organised. This is ideal if you’re focusing on blog content – for example, you may decide on a three-month calendar with multiple postings a week.

7. Write the content

Now, the hard part – the writing.

Everyone has their own way of approaching writing tasks, so work in a way that’s most productive and effective for you. You might find there is specific writing software that is more convenient for you to use, particularly if you’re creating SEO content, such as Textmetrics or SurferSEO.

8. Write with SEO in mind

If you are writing SEO content, here are a few tips to help you get closer to the top of search page rankings:

• Link to other pages of your own website to help create a strong internal link structure
• Check your content is optimised for mobile use – 96% of internet users access the internet via mobile
• Ensure your optimised images have your primary keyword in the alt tag
• Include external links to credible, secure sites
• Use a schema markup so search engines understand your content and improve visibility

9. Choose the right images

Images can add supporting visual excitement to web content and help break up the text. They can also benefit your SEO efforts. Optimised images that are the right size and have keyword-inclusive alt tags can improve your search engine rankings.

10. Edit and proof your work

Editing is a must before publishing any web content. It’s an in-depth review of the content, checking that the piece’s overall structure, clarity and tone are suitable and that any facts or claims are accurate.

Without editing, your content could be littered with mistakes, damaging customer trust and brand sentiment. A single piece of content, however short, may go through multiple rounds of editing before it’s perfect.

Proofing is the less intense, final stage of the editing process. Focusing on any surface errors, it’s a final opportunity to check your web content.

11. Publish

Time to hit the button! Once your piece has been thoroughly researched, well-written and proofed to perfection, you can finally publish it.

12. Share

Now that your excellent content is out there, you need to tell people where it is. Sharing links across your business’s social media platforms and email marketing encourages organic traffic to your site and improves your SEO.

How to begin creating good web content

Content creation is a skill – it can be learned, but it requires time and effort.

For small or time-poor businesses, there may not be enough time or resources to train an in-house content team to the professional level you need to encourage a maximum ROI.

Content agencies can take on the task of writing a wide variety of content, using their experience and bank of software and tools to create high-quality work while you focus on running your business.

At Submerge, our content team consists of ex-journalists, diligent editors and seasoned writers dedicated to creating only the best website content for your business.

Contact us today for a chat about how we can transform your web content and for more ideas on how to write website content.