Top Tips for Website Content Creation That You Need To Know

As far as marketing goes, it doesn’t necessarily matter if you have the flashiest tools or follow the latest trends. 

While those elements can help you get more business, what matters most is the content of your website. 

Marketing is all about getting people to pay attention to your brand, but you’ll lose business if your brand has nothing worth paying attention to.

So, based on that definition, the most vital aspect of your marketing is website content creation. 

This idea is also known as content marketing. 

Fortunately, you don’t have to have a master’s degree in entertainment or game theory to develop a site that attracts customers.

All you need to do is read this article (lucky you). 

Here is everything you need to know about website content creation.

What Defines Great Website Content?

This question may seem a bit philosophical or subjective at first, but you can quantify “great” website content with a few key metrics. 

Here’s a quick rundown of what separates a great website from a mediocre one.

What is the content trying to do?

Asking yourself this question first will give you a much better idea of what to put on your website. 

Are you an eCommerce retailer who wants to sell products directly to consumers? 

If so, your content will vary wildly from a business consulting firm. As a retailer, you want your content to create more transactions. 

So, you’ll focus on product descriptions, photos, videos, and other materials that show how great your products are and why people should buy them.

As a business consultant, your goal is to establish trust among potential clients.

So, your content should illustrate what makes you an authority within the industry. Even if you don’t have much experience consulting, you can promote your insider knowledge.

Overall, if your content matches your primary objective, it’s good.

What are people searching for?

Here is where keyword research will come into play. 

Even though you may want to write about topics that are near and dear to your heart, are people going to pay attention? 

Are enough people going to visit your website and consume that content? 

If not, you should focus on more relevant topics. 

Again, let’s use our eCommerce and business consulting firms as examples.

For the retailer, let’s say that they sell kitchen appliances. While there are tons of appliance makes and models available, not all of them are very popular. 

For example, air fryers are having a moment right now, meaning that more users are likely searching for air fryers to buy. 

If the retailer doesn’t feature air fryers on their pages, they could miss out on all that oil-free business.

For the consultant, what matters most is the kind of clients they want to attract. 

Top-level executives? Small business owners? 

In each case, the consultant needs to know how those potential clients are searching for help. 

Then, they align their content to meet those needs.

Does the content deliver value?

Finally, once you know how to align your website content, you need to make sure it delivers. 

Just because someone is searching for an air fryer doesn’t mean that you can simply show them a few models and call it a day. 

Comparison guides, in-depth product demonstrations, and recipe ideas are excellent ways to entice users to make a final purchase.

Overall, excellent website content doesn’t just answer a question — it provides sufficient context too.

Things to Keep in Mind When Creating Content for Your Website

Before we get into the step-by-step guide for website content creation, let’s go over a few considerations and what to avoid. 

In many cases, knowing what not to do is as valuable or more so than knowing what works.

Make it the right length

In today’s modern environment, the leading mantra is “less is more”.

However, that’s not always the case. The length of the content doesn’t matter as much as the value it provides. 

Users are okay with a 3000-word document if it offers exciting or captivating insight. 

Overall, try to make your content as long or as short as it should be. 

There are no hard and fast rules when talking about length, both for written pieces and video clips.

Make it scannable

While users can spend time reading long-form blog posts and guides, they’ll likely try to skim through it first. 

If you only have massive walls of text, the whole piece seems impenetrable. 

Instead, it’s best to break it up into sections with headers, bullet points, and subheadings. 

Ideally, a user should be able to get the context of the material without having to dive in headfirst.

Make it unique

While plagiarism is always a no-no, we’re talking about duplicate content on multiple pages. 

Try to make sure that everything is unique on each page. 

This tactic holds true for text, images, and video content. 

For example, if you use the same stock photos throughout your website, it will feel hollow and unprofessional.

Make it personal

Most people don’t want to read a 4000-word dissertation on some obscure subject. 

So, don’t write your content that way either. Depending on the context of your site, you can be casual or professional. 

Even on the pro side of the spectrum, you want to avoid technical terms or run-on sentences. 

Produce the content from the user’s point of view, not necessarily your own. 

Are you talking to people who are already knowledgeable about a topic, or are most of your visitors learning about it for the first time?

Make it professional

In this case, we’re talking about objective quality, not personality. 

For example, a blog post with spelling errors and missing punctuation will look amateur and untrustworthy. 

Similarly, visitors will assume that your site isn’t legit if your photos are blurry or low-resolution.

Website Content Creation: Step-by-step Guide

So, we know what makes website content “great,” and we know what to avoid. 

Now, let’s dive into the necessary steps to building a world-class website that will attract visitors and help you rank highly in search results.

Step one: Know your audience

We touched on this a little in the sections above, but you need to know who will be visiting your site the most. 

Even if you don’t have any data to draw from yet, you can build content based on who you want to see. 

The best option is to develop user personas centered around a specific type of individual.

Specificity is crucial because you want to appeal to that person, not everyone. 

Broad, generic content will not attract users because it doesn’t address unique needs or wants. 

Instead, it’s far better to focus on a niche. 

Keep in mind that you can develop multiple personas and appeal to each one. That said, don’t spread your content too thin.

Some questions to ask about your audience include:

How will they find my website?

Will it be through a paid advertisement or an organic search result? 

Do you want lots of traffic from social media or recommendations? 

What about email marketing? 

While you’ll get traffic from multiple sources, consider your largest resource and use that as a starting point.

What problem are they trying to solve?

If you’re selling a product, you can appeal to its features and benefits. 

If you’re selling a service, you can pay attention to the value that clients want to receive. 

This question will also be crucial for step two: building your value proposition.

Overall, you want to approach your content from that user’s perspective. What will they notice first, and what should they get after reading or viewing your content?

Step two: Build a compelling value proposition

This step and the previous one are essentially two sides of the same coin. 

First, you need to know what problems your prospective customers or clients are having; then, you can figure out how to solve them. 

In this case, however, you’ll need to focus on your competition as well. 

No matter what industry you’re in, competitors will always try to increase their market share. So, you have to figure out what sets you apart and be able to deliver on that promise.

Questions to ask in this step include:

• What specifically am I providing to customers or clients?
• Which problems am I solving? How am I solving them?
• What is my competition doing? Are they solving the same issues in similar ways?
• What sets me apart from the competition?

Having answers to those questions ensures that you can address them in your content. 

That also leads us into the next step.

Step three: Anticipate questions and objections

Ideally, customers or clients will have a set of questions or objections ready when they visit your website.

In reality, though, most people will either try to get answers from you, or they won’t know what to ask until it comes up.

So, when developing your website content, you need to anticipate those questions and objections before they arise. 

Usually, these questions are related to the value of your proposition. 

Is what you’re offering worth the price you’re selling it at? 

The more you can prove your value, the more comfortable users will be in trusting you and your opinion.

On another note, you need to anticipate what users will think when they first see your page. 

If you don’t address that question immediately, they’ll likely bounce and go somewhere else. 

Landing pages are crucial because you have to convey information as quickly as possible. 

In most cases, users will only spend a few seconds on a website before deciding whether to stay on it.

Step four: Organize your page layout

Since you need to deliver value immediately, you have to make sure that your page looks as compelling as possible. 

So, once you know what your content will be about, you need to figure out how you’re going to present it.

As a rule, people pay the most attention to the top left of the screen. 

If users have to scroll for the information they want or need, they’re much more likely to bounce off the page. 

That said, you don’t necessarily have to follow a cookie-cutter layout template. 

Instead, keep these factors in mind:

What captures their attention first?

Is it a bold headline or a picture?

Is it a video clip that starts playing automatically? 

Do you use web banners or pop-up windows? 

Try to approach your page layout like someone who doesn’t know who you are. 

From there, you can identify the most captivating elements and determine whether they fit your value proposition. 

For example, if you’re selling air fryers and the first appliance featured is a coffee maker, users will get confused and leave the page.

What will motivate them to scroll down?

It’s not bad to have content “below the fold,” but you should have a compelling reason for users to keep scrolling to find more information. 

Is there an offer at the bottom of the page? 

Is that where they can subscribe to an email list? 

Is that where they can download a white paper or ebook? 

Make sure that your content leads them all the way down. Otherwise, they’ll miss out on that valuable information.

How does a smaller screen affect the layout?

These days, all pages must be mobile-friendly to rank highly on search results. 

However, looking at content on a smartphone is different than doing so on a desktop or laptop computer. 

You have a much smaller space in which to work, so you have to maximize every inch. 

Sometimes, the best option is to create a unique mobile version of your content. 

In most cases, though, it’s better to create content that looks appealing on all screens, regardless of size.

Are you monetizing the page?

Having ads or sponsors on your site isn’t inherently wrong. 

Consumers are used to seeing advertisements wherever they go. 

That said, you need to make sure that any ads or promotions are not too distracting or misleading. 

For example, if you want someone to download a file, having an ad with a “download” button can be confusing.

If the person clicks the wrong thing, they’ll get the wrong impression.

Step five: Test and revise your content

Even if you’re the greatest writer or photographer in the world, you can’t have a truly objective opinion of your own work. 

So, while you may think that your content is captivating and engaging, others may not see it the same way. 

Users may notice different elements first, or they may interpret your material differently than you expected.

Another point to consider is context. 

A photo or video may make sense to you, but it may seem out of place or unnecessary to someone else. 

Something as simple as the placement of a picture can make someone want to read more or less. 

In some cases, the arrangement can make the content seem confusing.

For example, if you have a call to action in the middle of a blog post, users might not know to keep scrolling past it.

The best way to test and revise your content is through A/B testing. 

For the unfamiliar, this method works by using two separate versions of the same page. 

Half of your audience looks at version A, while the other half looks at version B. From there, you can analyze the data and see which version gets the most engagement.

Although this process is valuable, it can also be time-consuming. 

For accurate results, you need to make minor edits. If you overhaul a page, it’s impossible to tell which elements work the best. 

Instead, you have to make incremental changes and take note of how they affect your traffic. 

Over time, you can refine your content to be as captivating as possible. As long as the material is valuable to the user, you’ll get more traction from it.

Step six: Be consistent

Finally, you should have a content creation schedule to keep new and old users coming back to your website. 

Without new material, it’s hard to maintain momentum, hurting your bottom line. 

The best option is to create a content calendar and stick to it. 

• How often do you want to make new pieces? 
• How will you promote them to your audiences? 
• Which platforms will deliver the most traction?

Another point to remember is that quality matters more than quantity. 

So focus on making high-quality content, not necessarily deadlines. Best of all, you can make companion pieces to help promote a specific item. 

For example, if you have a new video coming out, you can cut a promo clip and social media ads to run before and after it drops. 

This way, you can maintain momentum with a high-value piece.

Wrap Up: High-quality Website Content Creation Needs an Objective Opinion

Now you know how to guarantee the best website content creation, right?

But, as we mentioned, is vital to look at your production from a different perspective. 

And here’s a piece of good news: Rock Content can assess your pages and show you how well it works. 

From there, we can develop a content marketing strategy and help you execute it. 

So make sure to check the content marketing maturity of your business!