Developing content for your website

There's nothing like a clean slate to start with.

When you decided to get a website for your business, you probably didn't consider that you would need to come up with ALL of the content to fill your website in. This can be a very daunting job!

Try answering some of these questions to get yourself started.

1. What services do your clients/prospects most want and need?
2. What are the core strengths of your organization?
3. How do people feel after they use your services?
4. What are your customers trying to accomplish by using your products/services?
5. Describe your typical customer (needs, desires, preferences, fears, pain, etc.).
6. Who is your competition? (come up with at least 3-5 competitors)
7. What sets your company apart from others in your industry? Is there a unique aspect to your company that you could use as a point of differentiation?
8. Do you have an existing tagline, slogan or brand statement? If not, do you think you should create one?
9. How do prospects find you?
10. What are the central keywords/trigger words that prospects might use to find you online? (I.e. what words would your target audience use to describe the key products/services/information you provide?)
11. What is your target location (international/national/regional/state/local)?
12. What should constitute a successful visit on your website?

Do you already have an "old" site that you're transferring data from?

Here's a test of your current data that might be useful in tranferring your current content:

1. IDENTIFY client "personas." Define concerns, drives, roles, etc.
2. QUESTIONS  what questions would personas ask during each stage of buying process?
3. ANSWERS  answer those questions.
4. AUDIT  critically audit that content to weed out good & bad questions and answers.
5. MAP  map remaining content to current site content available.
6. IDENTIFY  find the holes, and the content currently missing.
7. CREATE fill the holes with the new content.