2/28/2007
Top 10 Content Problems for Small Biz Web Sites
When seeking perfection, companies sometimes reinvent the wheel. When they stumble into imperfection, they tend to reinvent the wheel as well. Most of the problems I encounter with SMB Web sites are the same ones. Here they are, in no particular order.
1. Too much copy. Large blocks of text on a Web page are intimidating. They scare visitors away. Adhere to the “No Scroll Rule”. If the reader has to scroll down the page, summon your editor.
2. Old New. Ever see a site where the “What’s New” section consists of a couple press releases from 2004? That attracts orders like vinegar attracts bees.
3. No stories. Content packed with facts, figures, statistics, concepts, dissertations and assertions seldom hits people on an emotional level. People like stories about people. Use them. Skeptical? Check out Hitachi’s new campaign.
4. No bios. Whenever I ask a CEO what makes his or her company different, the answer is invariably “Our people!” Then why do so few sites display profiles and photos of employees? Doing so breaks the ice, invites prospects to dialog.
5. No dialog. Speaking of dialog, a Web site should offer plenty of opportunities for customers to comment, inquire, suggest, argue, complain and praise. These days, most sites have a page with a “Contact Us” form, but those things can be confining, confusing and complicated. You have to make it easy.
6. Old history. Same problem as old news. If the last entry on the company history page is from 1996, what message are you sending?
7. No news. A site can most likely live without a “Company History” page. But a page for news is indispensable. People crave news. If you were visiting a company site, wouldn’t a “What’s New” link be your first click? And–every company has news, and plenty of it.
8. Lame, unoptimized home page. A home page can invite readers in or shoo them away. The message you convey there is critically important. And on the home page at least, the message should be optimized for keyword phrases. Otherwise you are wasting a golden opportunity to attract new prospects.
9. Too many or too few graphics. I’m not a designer, but I think it’s safe to say that sites either overuse graphics to the point of distraction, or appear so stark or visually unappealing that they put visitors to sleep. It seems difficult to find the happy medium.
10. No blog. Blogs kill several of these birds with one stone. Blogs invite online dialog more powerfully than anything yet devised by man. Blogs are search engine optimizing machines. Blogs are jam-packed with the freshest news on the street. Blogs are all about people. Blog posts are generally brief. There’s much to gain–put one on your domain.
6 Responses to Top 10 Content Problems for Small Biz Web Sites
Good list, Brad. How about adding one more?
11. An easy to figure out navigation system! I can’t tell you how many times I gave up on a site because there wasn’t an obvious way to find what I wanted – not even a search bar! Aggravating, to say the least.
Amen to that, Bob. When I review sites for clients, navigation is a focus area unto itself, so I tend not to think of it in terms of content. But it is a major issue with many sites.
Sage advice, Brad!
Numbers 2 and 6 are inexcusable in an active website and are sure to cause loss of customers/revenue.
About #1: I’ve seen websites with long, continuous, unbroken paragraphs (some with only one long paragraph–scary!) that looked so daunting that, as much as I love to read, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Shorter paragraphs with plenty of white space between and around them are essential if you actually expect anyone to read the content–instead of heading for the nearest exit, aka, the back arrow.
Another excellent post!
Jeanne
I’m going to be the “odd one out” here and disagree with #1.
Obviously, it makes good sense to not have overwhelmingly long posts. I agree with Brad and Jeanne, it can be intimidating and bump your visitors very quickly.
However, I think sometimes longer content is necessary to fully explain an idea. I think of Yaro Starak. He always has long posts, but they are so engaging, I read them in complete.
I would tweak #1 just a bit. People will read longer posts if the content is interesting to them. But you have to understand that the same rules to reading a newspaper apply to reading online.
We need lots of short paragraphs to allow for skimming; short paragraphs and headings are complementary graphical features just as much as a key photo, graph or cartoon.
The biggest difference between a news article and a blog/web page post is that we have to not just use Headlines but also frequent subheadlines. And these headlines must always be customer-focused (not company-focused).
Thanks for a great (engaging!) post, Brad. I will definitely share it on Twitter.
Hi Alysha, Thanks for visiting & sharing your ideas. There are exceptions to every rule, and some bloggers have made excellent careers out of breaking rules. Reading your comment, it occurs to me that longer posts can work well particularly when credibility has been established. Yaro is an excellent example. He’s a widely recognized authority, and people definitely crave his ideas. If a small business is new to blogging, I still question whether a steady diet of lengthy posts will be likely to gain readers and build community.
That’s a fair point.
Small business blog writers will need to make sure their posts are “hard-hitting”, informative and succinct.