Have you ever hopped onto a site and then in just a few seconds, decided that it was not worth your time?
Either a page you wanted was taking too long to load, none of the writing was interesting, or you were just confused about what the website was really about.
I’m willing to bet this has happened to you quite often and according to the stats, you’re not alone. Around 55% of people spend fewer than 15 seconds on a website before they decide to click away.
This means that as soon as a potential lead clicks on your site, you have less than 15 seconds to convince them to stay on and read more about all you have to offer them. Why? Well, because people have options.
If you’re selling dog food and your potential customer lands on your page, they still haven’t decided if they are going to spend their hard-earned money on you. If you don’t immediately grab their attention and convince them that you’re the right dog food supplier, then they’ll just search for another company that sells dog food.
Great website content will ensure that they stay longer than 15 seconds and of course, the longer they stay, the more they get to read what you’re all about and the more likely they are to purchase whatever they need from you.
So what do you have to do to make sure that you grab their attention for more than 15 seconds? You need website content that translates!
What Does a Website with Content that Translates Have?
1. The content appeals to the target market
2. The content is more about your audience than you
3. Your website has clear CTAs
4. The information gets to the point
We’re in the digital age and it’s going to be difficult for your business to make it without a great website.
People are constantly on the internet, searching for whatever they need. Wouldn’t it be great to tailor your website to appeal to your market?
Let’s break down how your website can appeal to your target market through your web content.
The Content Appeals to the Target Market
This is the first component we’ll discuss because your audience should always be the focal point when constructing your website.
How do you make sure that the content appeals to your target market?
1. You Address Their Wants or Needs
Your potential customers are not going to spend too much time on your site if you’re not addressing their wants or needs. This is why when you’re analyzing your target market, you need to understand what they want, what they need, and how you can fulfill that.
Let’s break this down with an example.
If you’ve just opened a new gym, your general market are people who want to lose weight, gain muscles, or improve their fitness.
Taking into account those who want to lose weight specifically, they might have different needs. Some of them might struggle to remain consistent with their diet and workout routines, some of them might be beginners, some of them might have noted this as a new year’s resolution.
Don’t get confused. Of course, their wants and needs might be varied according to an individual, but most of them have these common wants and needs:
- Affordable gym membership contracts
- To be motivated to stick to their goals
- Easy to follow workout and diet plans
- Fun workout classes
- Gym equipment that is up-to-date and easy to use
Your website will need to have content that addresses these wants and needs in order for this market to be convinced that your gym is the place to be.
The same can be said for every other type of business out there. Immediately addressing what your target market’s desires are will instantly hook them.
2. You Speak Their Language
This is one of the most important components of really grabbing the attention of your target market.
A website that is geared at providing services for millennials is not going to have the same language or tone as a website or business that provides medical services to senior citizens.
Speaking the language of your target market will help to build rapport and further build trust and familiarity between you and them.
3. You Consider How Much They Know About The Subject Matter
It is important to consider how clued up your target market is about your product or service.
For instance, if you’re a company that provides IT services to businesses, it is important to understand who those businesses are and what level of understanding they have about your services.
Are they going to understand your complicated industry jargon? Shouldn’t you rather keeps things simple for them?
Or maybe you’re not targeting businesses, but rather, other IT specialists. In this case, you can get a little more technical as this market will be able to grasp your content better than a business owner who isn’t too clued about about IT but would like your services.
Addressing your market’s needs and wants, speaking their language, and also considering their level of knowledge about your products or services will help you to provide content that connects to your ideal market.
The Content is More about Your Audience than You
This component is a branch of the previous point but deserves its own subheading because this is what makes or breaks some websites.
Did you know that your “About” page is not really supposed to be about you?
Your “about” page should ideally reveal things about you, that are relevant to your target market.
Crawford Direct explains it perfectly by highlighting that “Now this may sound a bit harsh, but people really don’t care about you. They really only care about themselves. It’s what you can do for them that will make your visitors sit up and take notice.”
So how do you talk about yourself and your market at the same time?
To put this into perspective, I’ve taken a small excerpt from one of my favorite Digital Marketing gurus, Neil Patel.
On his site, it states:
“Who is Neil Patel? He is a New York Times Bestselling author. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations.”
Now, of course, he spoke about himself and his accolades, but all these achievements relate to businesses he is trying to attract. He is basically saying: “I know all about business. I’m the best marketer out there and I have the track record to prove it. Trust me with your company.”
You may not have Neil Patel’s accolades, but perhaps you have an interesting passion, perspective, or anything else that relates to your target market. Focus on that on your “About” page.
Regarding the other pages on your website, ensure that all the info that is included is something that your audience can either relate to or easily understand.
As stated above, your audience cares more about themselves than you. Keep this in mind when creating all content on your site.
Your Website has Clear CTAs
Think about all the times you subscribed to a blog, followed a business’ twitter feed, or simply engaged with them on social media. You did this because you were prompted to by a clever Call-To-Action (CTA).
A CTA is what marketers use to evoke an immediate response from readers.
The following are some examples of CTAs you’ve likely come across while online:
Netflix: Their CTA is “Join Free for a Month”
Dropbox: Their CTA is “Sign up for free”
Evernote: Their CTA is “Remember Everything. Sign Up”
Some other CTAs you might have come across are:
- Like what you’ve read? Share with your friends! (Followed by social media sharing buttons)
- Join our Facebook group for more info on…
All the above examples of CTAs are clear in their intent.
Each page of your website should also have CTAs and it must be clear what your intention is.
Do you want your readers to follow your business blog? Do you want them to subscribe and get email notifications of new products?
Whatever it is that you want your reader to do, you need to articulate this to them in a clear and concise manner through your CTA.
The Information Gets to The Point
We’re living in times where people want information fast.
They don’t have the time to go through each and every page of your website to see if you sell a certain product. Why do that when they can just hop onto another site to figure it out quickly?
Make sure that all your important information is right on top of each page. And if you have to, cut out all the unnecessary blab.
Get straight to the point!
- What is your business?
- What do you do?
- What services do you offer?
- What are your expertise?
- What is your CTA?
Highlight all these. Make it loud and clear so that when your potential customer lands on your website, they’ll spend way more than 15 seconds on it.
Do your need to revamp your website content? Contact Iconic Writing for a free quote.
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