So far we’ve done a bit of homework on what you want for your website, and we’ve researched domain options to find the best one for your business. Next? Website content.

Have you looked at the length of news stories online these days? A lot of times you’ll find them to be short and sweet and to the point. Writing for the internet isn’t like the days in school where you had a 1,000 word minimum you had to meet and you had to spend time elaborating and exaggerating to meet that minimum. With everyone constantly on the go, we all want to get the information we need as quick as possible.

With that in mind, here are some do’s and don’ts of content for your website:

Do:

• Keep your information clear, concise, and to the point. Double and triple-check your information and see what you can strip out, what isn’t relative to the page topic, and anything that sounds repetitive.
• Think of questions you are frequently asked by customers and then include that information online.
• Write to your customer (that’s who you’re marketing to, after all). Be conversational but professional.

Don’t:

• Use acronyms or technical/industry terms. Your client/customer may not have any idea what you’re talking about, and you’re not shaving off much reading time by using acronyms instead of writing out the full name/words.
• Plagiarize. No one likes a thief. Your content should be in your own words.
• Write too much (or too little). The key is to find a happy balance between the two.

When in doubt, write as much as you want and let Neighborhood Image help you go through it and pare it back! Sometimes we, as business owners, know our own business so in-depth that it’s hard to look at it from an outsider’s point of view. A fresh set of eyes can find and question anything that seems unclear and help to make sure your customers won’t be frustrated trying to get information from your website.

 

This post is part of our Website 101 series. Read more in the series:

• 5 things to think about before getting a new website
• Picking the right domain name

You’ve done your homework and armed yourself with a good chunk of information for your new website – now let’s look at your domain name. If you already have one, great! These days 90% of our clients already have one, but if your business is new or you’re looking for a name change, here are a few guidelines in selecting the domain name you’ll call home:

• Pick the obvious – Match your domain name to your brand. We’re Neighborhood Image, so neighborhoodimage.com was the obvious choice.
• Pick a variation that makes sense – You do your research and find out your business name is already taken. What now? Consider other options and your location – joeshomerenovations.com might be taken, but what about joesrenovations.com or marionhomerenovations.com? Keep your domain name as relevant as possible.
• Avoid hyphens and numbers – It’s far easier to tell someone your domain name is “neighborhood image dot com” than it is to say “neighborhood dash image 740 dot com”
• Make sure your domain is spelled right – If the domain you want is available and it seems like it’s too good to be true (you just can’t believe that no one thought to snatch it up already), double and triple check that you spelled it right! We’ve had to break the hearts of a client or two when we point out the misspelled name in the domain they registered.
• Break your domain down – Sean pointed this out to me as something he does from time to time. He’ll break down domain names and look at the words as they run together to make sure it doesn’t spell something totally inappropriate.

 

This post is part of our Website 101 series. Read more in the series:

• 5 things to think about before getting a new website

Sometimes knowing where to begin on a website can feel overwhelming – you’re not sure where to begin, what information you need to have on there, and you’re not sure where to start with putting all of that information together into a cohesive finished product.

But with a little bit of homework you can easily get off to a good start and ensure the website you end up with is exactly what you want and need. I know, I know – no one likes homework. Not in school, not in college, and certainly not at work. Homework is, however, essential!

Here are 5 items to think about and get you feeling more comfortable with what you want/need from your new website (bonus points if you write all your answers down and bring them with you for your initial meeting with us!):

1. Audience – Who is your audience? What reason(s) do customers have for visiting the site (informational purposes, online shopping, making reservations, etc)?
2. Your current site – (If you have a website already) What do you like about it and why? What do you dislike about it?
3. Your new site – Do you have a specific look or feel in mind? Color preferences? What images do you have available (your logo, stock photos, candids, etc)? What specific features do you want your site to have?
4. Content – What pages need to be on the site and what information needs to go on those pages? Do you have information already written up or do you need to take a bit of time writing up what you want those pages to have on it? If you want to post news or blog posts, do you already have a few items written that can be added during the building process (no one likes an empty page)?
5. Deadline – The all-important question: what is your deadline for this project?

Use the above to help give you a rough outline of what you’re looking for and you’ll be ahead of the game when it comes time to get that new website going.

This post is part of our Website 101 series. Read more in the series:

• Picking the right domain name