Whether the goal of your website is to increase awareness, generate more leads, or turn more leads into customers — or all three — having high-quality content is critical to getting people to visit your site and return to it again and again. That makes web content development an integral part of an effective inbound marketing strategy, helping you to:
- Create the type of experience your website visitors want to have
- Positively influence the way those visitors think about your business
In this blog, look at some types of web content you should consider including to boost the appeal and value of your site, whether you are building it from scratch or revitalizing an existing site.
Endless possibilities for web content
Web content development is the process of crafting all the information your website offers. It can involve everything from research and analysis to the creative design, writing, and editing processes, through formatting, organizing, and publishing the resulting content on the site.
In the early days of the web, content development generally meant taking existing documents and coding the text into HTML. But with today’s smart search engines, web content includes virtually anything that can be distributed by an HTTP server and viewed by a web browser.
That means not just the text on webpages and assets such as documents and PDFs, but also videos, audio recordings, images, animation, and other digital elements are now searchable. That opens up almost endless possibilities for ways to engage an audience and create leads through web content.
Examples of effective website content
Expert web content development produces pages that your audience will find helpful, informative, unique, and entertaining. Done right, it encourages visitors to stay longer on a site to explore and learn more or to bookmark pages to return to again later.
In addition, original and high-quality text-based content that is optimized for SEO can help your site rank well in web searches, helping customers and prospects find you.
Here are 7 types of high-quality web content that can please website visitors and keep them coming back for more.
1. Blogs
Blogging is an invaluable tool for driving visitors to your website, and building awareness about you and your brand.
Generally written from a more personal and informal point of view than content assets, a blog is a great way to connect with readers. It is the perfect vehicle for providing them with information that not only answers a question or solves a problem, but also helps to establish you as a trusted authority on the topic.
Blogs are also a great way to keep your web content fresh, enabling you to post new content on a regular basis and helping you continue to rank in SERPs (search results).
2. Content assets
This broad category of web content includes collateral and similar resources you have already invested in and can now repurpose to help draw visitors to your website.
Some examples are product brochures, user manuals, slide presentations, white papers, industry reports, case studies, fact sheets, ebooks, webinars, and podcasts.
The goal is to extend the value of these assets by using them across different digital media and channels. The content can be broken up into smaller pieces and distributed in new ways, such as via blog posts, tweets, video clips, email blasts, search engine ads, and other channels.
3. Calls to action
A call to action (CTA) is a prompt designed to get your website visitor to take some immediate action, such as make a purchase or get more information.
In addition to having CTAs on your web pages, you can include them in other marketing content you use to drive traffic to your website, such as blogs, emails, social media posts, and e-newsletters.
Some common prompts:
- Apply today
- Book now
- Contact us
- Download for free
- Get a quote
- Join today
- Learn more
- Order now
- Register today
- Shop online and save
A CTA may take your web visitor to a landing page for further action.
Whatever your CTA is, it is important that the intent is clear and your audience has a good idea what to expect. After all, you don’t want lose visitors by having them click on a link that takes them somewhere they really don’t want to go.
4. Landing pages
Landing pages are destinations — the web pages where visitors are sent when they click on a hyperlink, such as a search engine result, a social media ad, a CTA, or a special offer on your website.
These pages are designed to help you convert website visitors into leads by providing a way to capture their contact information.
For example, suppose you want to build your authority as an SME by offering a free white paper to your website visitors. When they click on the offer link, it can take them to a landing page where the content of white paper is described in more detail and they can download the paper by submitting an email address.
5. Testimonials
One of the best ways to appeal to prospects and build credibility is with relatable success stories from their peers. That is what makes customer testimonials such valuable web content.
Whether your goal is to create formal case studies, include real-life customer scenarios in a white paper, or post short video clips on Twitter or Facebook, having a process in place to identify happy customers and capture their feedback is a great idea.
TIP: Don’t hide all your valuable customer feedback on one testimonials page. Include testimonials throughout your site to serve as social proof that validates your claims.
6. Video & audio content
With the ability to embed video and audio clips so that anyone can view and listen without leaving the webpage, digitally recorded media are increasingly popular web content tools. It is a great way to offer content such as how-tos, webinars, podcasts, and seminars.
7. Visual content
According to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual learners. So, it makes good sense to incorporate visual web content into your website.
In addition to having a graphic design that helps to convey the flavor and purpose of your brand, you can:
- Use images — preferably original ones — to break up and enhance the text
- Create videos to entertain and inform
- Reiterate key information in a concise way through infographics
- Create your own memes to make important messages more memorable
- Offer presentations for visitors who want details in a more graphic, bulleted format
- Include screenshots to clearly show things that may be difficult to explain in words
Where do you begin to do web content development?
It’s a double-edged sword: There are virtually unlimited possibilities for creating web content — but that makes it a pretty daunting task, especially when you are not in the business of marketing or don’t have the resources to dedicate to full-time web development.
Thinking about existing content and ways you might repurpose assets you have already made an investment in is a great place to start.
But for truly engaging web content development, it is also important to have two things:
- Deep insights about your buyers (from buyer persona research)
- A strategy for creating purposeful content that gives visitors a reason to keep coming back to your website.
For professional support in creating your website and/or keeping it fresh, content development services offer expertise in everything you might need:
- Buyer persona and other helpful research
- Content strategy
- Graphic design
- Web content writing
- Technical writing
- SEO
- Social media
- Video and multimedia development
A web content development professional can help you create high-quality content that both expresses the uniqueness of your business and provides website visitors with an experience that is easy to use, informative, and inviting.
