Having established the purpose and platform of your website, it’s important to ensure that your content is accurate, appropriate and will effectively deliver the messages you want it to convey.

6 key features to consider when producing content for your website:

1. Include an “about us” page – People often go straight to the ‘about us’ page when they visit a website for the first time.  On this page you should tell the story of your organisation, use data or facts to back up statements, demonstrate your expertise and use real photos of your work and/or its impact
2. Include your contact details – Enable your visitors to find out more about your organisation or to express interest in getting involved.  This can be achieved by clearly displaying contact details on your website; or providing the option for visitors to fill out a form requesting a call back or brochure
3. Write for Search Engines (Search Engine Optimisation) – Including Keywords and relevant phrases that people search for on search engines within the text of your website will help to move your site up the rankings of search engines like Google. Search engines particularly pick up on Keywords as well as carrying out “long-tail searches” (3 or 4 Keyword phrases).  Including long-tail keywords within your copy can generate more successful search engine results as people who search with very specific phrases tend to know what they’re specifically looking for
4. Incorporate a blog – Blogs present a good way to continuously add new content to your website once it is live. Show your personality (or brand) in your posts and encourage visitors to interact with you by inviting them to comment on posts and share them with others
5. Build relevant links with other organisations/platforms – If your site includes content that is desirable for other organisations to link to and reference, or to share with others, this is likely to increase awareness of your organisation by extending your reach.  It will also contribute to improving your rankings with search engines
6. Link your website to social media accounts and campaigns – Linking to, and promoting your website through, social media accounts can significantly increase the number of visitors to your site.  People often “like” and “share” content on social media so organisations can benefit from this by creating posts which encourage people to share them and/or to click on links and go to specific web pages to find out more.  In this way you can quickly raise awareness, share knowledge, build trust and increase your supporter base.   In addition, running targeted advertising campaigns within social media can quickly raise awareness of your organisation amongst specific audiences (targeted by their behaviours, interests, age, geographical location etc).

The design and structure of webpages also has an impact on how engaging and easy to read they are.

9 tips for making the style of your website engaging and easy to read:

1. Balance – Ensure that there is a balance of symmetry and asymmetry within your design
2. Grid –Designing on a grid system can help with ensuring your website is well organised.  If converting your website for viewing on mobile devices this can also help as the software is able to reorder the grid and arrange your content most appropriately
3. Colour – Reflect your brand and organisational colour palette in your website colour choice.  Certain colours are more complementary than others and will therefore make your website more attractive/compelling to view
4. Graphics – Have the ability to add to the visual image of your website.  The graphics you use do not have to be extravagant, simple designs can convey a good impression
5. Typography – Depending on the platform you are using to build your website, the range of fonts available to use may be limited.  However it is important to consider the typography used as this is one of the first things that your visitors will see
6. White Space – Ensure that your web pages aren’t overcrowded.  Leaving some “white space” around an image or text can make it more appealing to the viewer as this element “stands out” against the background
7. Brand – Ensure that your website reflects your brand accurately i.e. including your logo, straplines and layout.  Visitors will be able to quickly identify your organisation and are therefore more likely to trust the site as genuine and know what to expect in terms of content and service
8. Tone of Voice – Ensure that the tone of voice of your website is consistent with the tone used throughout your organisation to enable your brand to be accurately portrayed as above
9. Enable people to communicate with you – Provide a space for people to communicate with you through contact forms (which must always be answered or acknowledged soon after submission) or specific calls to action.  Allowing people to submit reviews can increase the frequency of new content being added to your site (which is likely to improve your rankings on search engines) and give you a “star rating” on search engines which also improves visibility.

For further advice with copywriting and design for your website, or to develop a social media campaign to reach your target audience at the right time please get in touch.  We love to help organisations get their stories heard!!

References/acknowledgements:

https://www.yola.com/blog/5-things-your-business-website-should-have/

http://www.noupe.com/design/7-key-principles-that-make-a-web-design-look-good.html