I had a few clients from around Perth come to me last week wanting not just a copywriter, but to totally upgrade their website – and no idea where to start!
It can feel like a bit of a chicken and egg scenario … Do you go to the website designer or content writer first? Do you need to know exactly what you want before you go or is that what the designer or copywriter is for?
Well here are a couple of things to kick start your website brainstorm – before going to either a web guru or creative copywriter!
- Begin Reconnaissance.
Have a good gander at your competition – google your top keywords, see which businesses come up, and then see how and what they promote to their customers. What angle are they using? What services do they promote as their top-selling or most popular? What pages do they have – Home, About, Services etc.? What do you think they are missing or should be doing? What do you like/would do differently?
This is a total brainstorm, write down all your observations and take note of what is working for them or isn’t, and try to see if there is an angle you could take on your website that would make your content and site stand out from the rest.
- Think like a client.
Put your acting hat on and try and think with the brain and perspective of a client. And not just any client, but like the kind of client you WANT to work with – your target audience. If you can talk directly to them through your content, you will be much more likely to be attracting and converting the kind of clients you want to work with!
Ask yourself… What questions are you always asked? What confuses your clients the most about your services or what you can offer them? What are their main concerns? What makes you more worthy than your many competitors of their business? What are their problems you can solve? What do they need to know? You might want a few infographics that address some of these questions, or maybe your Home page needs a video to personalize your brand… try and think outside the box – but always with your client in mind.
- Tangible Planning.
I’m a very tactile person, I love lists and bullet-points and laying work out very clearly in front of me. So this next point makes a lot of sense to my brain.
Now you have heaps of information and ideas brewing – map it out! Grab sheets of paper and mock up the layout of your site, one page per web page, and feel free to pin it to your wall with arrows that go between each page showing the path your clients will take to get to the goal – contact or sale. This helps you make sure all your info links together in a way that tells your visitors everything they need to know and steers them to the point of sale.
- Guinea pig time.
Find a third-party – a friend, partner or passer-by and test them out on your mock up. Listen to the questions they ask – it will help you figure out what you are missing or what isn’t working.
By this point you should have a fairly clear idea of what you want your site to look like and what info needs to be included. Now you just need to take this to a website designer who will thank you (possibly with tears) for being so organised and pro-active, and use it to build you the perfect site. To be followed by a chat with a copywriter who will also tear up at the sight of such clear and thoughtful preparation, ask some additional questions and use that information you gave to create targeted content that engages and connects your audience.
It’s a beautiful thing.
If you are at the ‘chat with a copywriter’ stage, feel free to contact us here or head to our services page for some more info on how we can help!