Writing content and providing a structure for a website can be a daunting task. There is so much information to include, how do you make sure that you say everything that you need to say? And beyond this, how do you say everything you need to say in the most succinct and user-friendly way possible? The answer is to do your research and follow a clear plan.

Here’s our guide to ensuring you have all the relevant information you need for your site;

Bring your whole team into the conversation

Perhaps your first point of contact when it comes to ensuring your site has all the relevant information is those around you. It is sometimes easy to forget that one of your most valuable resources to completing a task is your fellow team members. It is also easy to omit important information when completing a task on your own. Naturally when completing tasks, we are swayed in one way or another towards our own particular preoccupations, or our own expertise. By opening the conversation out to your team you can help to iron out these omissions by taking advantage of the expertise that you have available to you. 

Ask your sales team

In particular you may want to speak with the members of your team that have the most direct contact with customers. Your sales team for instance are likely to be answering questions from customers on a daily basis. If there are any questions which occur repeatedly, then make a note of them. These questions should provide a framework for your website. By resolving as many of these questions as possible you can help to take the strain off of your sales staff and subsequently free up their time to spend on the things you really want them to be doing – i.e. selling!

Take inspiration from other sites

While you don’t want to simply copy your competitors it can be helpful to review their sites and what they are doing. As a task, why not do a review of the site of a competitor and make a note of all the elements you like and all the elements you don’t like. What information have they included that you think is good and what have they left out that you think is needed? Beyond this, how well have they communicated this information? Is it easy to read and to navigate? How might this be improved?

Monitor what your audience are searching

Asking your colleagues and reviewing competitors are two good ways to gain the insight you are after. But you can also go further than this. When deciding what to include on your website it’s important not to forget your customers. While your fellow team members have an insight into customer behaviour it is still not a completely objective one. The frequently asked questions they are asked may for example be a product of a number of different factors that are specific to you and your brand. Monitoring your audience using analytical tools such as Google Analytics and Google Trends, or social listening tools such as Hootsuite, can help add some objectivity. Having visibility of what your customers are searching for can help to provide a framework for the kind of site that will be useful to them.  

Survey your customers

Surveying your customers is another possibility for ensuring that you are providing all the information that they require. Your customers are likely to have opinions about how you can improve their experience, so why not ask them directly? The advantage of surveys is that you can control the questions that you are asking. If you have specific questions that you would like answered, then surveys are one of the most effective ways to achieve this. 

If you’d like to find out more about how to create the perfect website then visit our website design page or get in touch via our contact form or by calling 02895072007.