We've all heard the phrase "content is king" when it comes to website copy. You've probably read more than your share of articles that recommend adding more content to your website to enhance your brand, improve your search engine visibility, and increase your sales.
But you've been busy and haven't gotten around to it just yet, or aren't sure where to begin.
After all, you're not a writer and the idea of creating an outline (or doing any "real" writing) makes you break out in hives.
If any of this sounds like you, you're in the right place. Here are some great ways to add content to your site that require only minimal writing capabilities. Many of them can be implemented quickly too, so you can get started right away and gradually add to your site's content over time.
1. Let your customers tell their stories
One of the easiest ways to add unique content to your site is to let your customers do it for you. Not only does this save you time, customer content also boosts your credibility and helps prospective customers feel what it's like to use your products or services.
Testimonials
When done right, customer testimonials are one of the best ways to boost your credibility and showcase the unique benefits of your products and services. Now, before you start thinking about how hard it will be to get customers to write testimonials for you, let me share the best way we've found to get testimonials from clients: put them on video.
Simply ask happy customers or clients if they'd be willing to give you a video testimonial. After they've said yes, but before they have a chance to change their mind, get out your smartphone and shoot a candid testimonial right there on the spot.
Just follow these steps:
- Ask your customers what they love most about your company.
- Let them talk for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Don't worry if they say um or if there's background noise. Just keep the camera rolling.
- Send the video to your web developer or post the video to your YouTube channel.
Product reviews
If you sell a physical product, it's often helpful to solicit product reviews from your customers shortly after they've purchased from you. Many customers will be happy to write a few kind words and some will even give detailed reviews of a product's unique features.
This type of content is helpful for prospective buyers and will also naturally contain keyword phrases that search engines find helpful in categorizing your website. You can also invite customers to send in their own product videos, showing all the unique ways they use your product.
2. Showcase your work
If you offer physical services, an easy way to add content to your site and showcase the quality of your work is to add a photo gallery of your past projects. Include "before" and "after" shots when it makes sense to do so and add a few details about each project, including:
- What the customer wanted when they came to you.
- The challenges the project presented.
- How your team delivered results to the customer.
You can showcase your work in other places other than just your website. Depending on your business, Houzz, Pinterest, and Facebook are great places to show off your work.
3. Demonstrate your product's unique features
Do you sell a complex product or service that might not be easy to understand at first glance? The perfect way to get prospective customers excited about your product or service is to demonstrate how it works.
Shoot a product demonstration video to show off the product's unique benefits and you're likely to increase your conversion rates exponentially, especially if your competitors are not providing similar information. Include product demonstration videos with the product information on your website for maximum impact.
4. Add original or interesting statistics
Compile interesting facts and figures about some aspect of your product or service to get your customers thinking about, sharing, and liking your content. People love to share anecdotes, facts, and figures - and may even post your information on their social media accounts, providing even more exposure for your company and links back to your website.
This is content marketing in its most basic form. Creating content that isn’t aimed at promoting your products or services, but is focused on delivering interesting stats and facts in your industry that are informative, funny or useful for people to know.
5. Create tutorials or how-to's
Providing helpful tutorials or how-to's like this one on generating leads online is another great way to add content to your website that won't require Pulitzer Prize-winning writing skills.
Showing your customers how to do something builds trust and goodwill and also establishes your company as an authority in your field. Tutorials and how-to information can take many forms including:
- Videos
- .PDF documents
- Technical manuals
- Slideshows
With all the technology at our disposal today, it's easier than ever to add fresh, engaging and useful content to your website that enhances your brand, improves your search engine rankings, and increases your conversion rates ... even if writing isn't your favorite pastime. Hopefully this article has sparked some great ideas and even inspired you to come up with a few of your own, which we hope you'll leave in the comments below!
