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Starting to grow your business online is a huge step! There's certainly a lot to think about. This is why I've put together this checklist of items your new website needs.
In the next couple of pages, I've outlined what exactly you'll want to include on your website and why. To help you get started creating content, I've also included some guiding questions and ideas.
Why does the content on your website matter?
When we visit a website for a brand we like (especially if we're there to shop) we unconsciously have expectations for it.
We expect that we'll:
Get all the information about the product we're interested in
See photos of the products or person offering the service
Learn about the brand and the story behind it
Find ways to contact someone or visit physical locations
And that's just the surface level of expectations!
Add in the fact that good content helps you get sales, get found on Google, and leave a good impression on your target audience, and you realize that what you're putting out there matters a lot.
Your website is a way of showing that you’re not just selling a product or a service, you’re solving a problem, bringing joy, and delivering value to your customers — even if they don’t buy from you at the moment.
So, how do you go about meeting these unconscious expectations?
By clearly identifying what your target audience needs and wants to know about you, your brand, and your products/services.
All this to say, you’ll want to include content that people expect, that will answer their questions and that is interesting and engaging. This will include content like:
An about page
Your mission and values
Your contact information
Product/Service descriptions
High-quality photos and graphics
Blog posts, podcasts, or videos
Customer reviews and testimonials
Links to your social media accounts
Email sign-up form
You want to deliver this information clearly and concisely. And you want to package it up and present it in a pretty and impactful way.
Key content to include on your website:
Your home page
This is your chance to make a great first impression. It’s often the first page people come across when looking for you online. It’s the page you’ll direct people to when giving out your website.
Show the value of what you offer to your audience right away. Do you offer skincare that helps them get glowing skin? Then tell them that. Do you offer handcrafted art for their living spaces? Let them know.
This is where you can let your audience know about current offers and promotions — if there’s a sale going on, it should be obvious on the home page.
This is also a great area to share a preview of your brand’s story.
For this section of your website use these questions for guidance:
What do you want people to do when they get to your website?
What will grab your target audience’s interest? (i.e. will it be a video of the founder, a video of a product, a bold graphic, a simple banner, etc.)
What will guide people through your customer journey from website visitors to paying customers?
Product/Service descriptions
This is where you’ll want to go into more detail about your offer(s). Make sure you’re answering all the questions your website visitor might have about each product. Take the time to imagine being in their shoes and coming across your product for the very first time. What’s going to cross your mind? What do you need to know about this item to make your final decision to buy it?
Here you’ll want to be informative and convincing. Make sure you’re answering things like:
What do you offer?
What problem or want is this addressing? And for whom is it doing this?
Why should your audience care about this?
What value does this offer them?
About page
This is such an important part of your website. People care about it a lot - it helps you develop trust and a personal connection with your target audience.
So make sure you tell your audience about yourself or your brand, by answering questions like:
What do you do and why?
What's your story and why is it relevant to them?
What sets you apart from other businesses/service providers?
Mission & values
This is your place to share the things that are important for you and your brand. If you create products that are eco-friendly, fair-trade or support a community or charity with your work, this is the perfect place to share that.
You can roll this into your about page as well. To really show your values, you might want to bring this up in your product descriptions too.
What's your goal with the work you do?
What drives you?
What's important to your brand?
How do you take action to live and breathe your mission and values?
Blog
Give your audience some real value here. This helps your SEO efforts and your sales method.
What 2-3 topics can you talk about relating to your products/services?
What FAQs can you address with a blog post?
Aim to post a new blog post regularly and consistently, once a week, or every other week.
Contact & email sign up
This gives you a chance to nurture your customer relationship by being able to show up in their inbox, and your customer a chance to better get to know your brand.
What call to action will drive them to sign up?
Do you have a term you call your audience like “bestie”?
So what are your next steps?
Do some competitor research and see what other brands and businesses like yours are doing with their website. Keep in mind what you think they’re doing well, what they could be doing better, and what you can learn from their strengths and weaknesses.
Next, start writing! Get all the ideas out of your head and onto a page (or screen) so you can find it all in one convenient spot. I like to call this the mind dump — it helps me clear my head to write with clarity.
Once you’ve done this, you can start thinking about all those questions I asked you earlier in this blog post. Take the time to start forming real answers. After that, refine, edit and then edit again.
Don’t be afraid to use people, programs, and services that will help you write something you’re proud of.
Programs like Grammarly help you edit the grammar and clarity of your written content.
The Hemingway App is an editing program that can help you simplify what you’re saying.
Content writers, like me, can help you edit what you’ve written or they can write it all for you.
Asking your friends and family for feedback can also be hugely valuable in editing your content. If they have the time, why not ask them to give it a read-through?
When all is said and done, you’ll have the basics of what your website needs to start being shown to the world. You’ve got this!
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