The content you create this year is more important than ever. The big brands like American Express and Coca-Cola have caught on now. Instead of spending a lot of their dollars on interruption marketing (commercials, etc.), they are paying consultants like myself big bucks to create compelling content campaigns for them that build brand trust and brand loyalty. Does your content do this? What is the first impression that your content makes?
In my work with clients, I do a LOT of website content evaluations a.k.a. makeovers, with which I use a 17-point criteria system. Over the years, I have consistently found five factors that site owners drop the ball on and so I thought I’d share them with you today…
Reason #1 – I Can’t Find Your Blog!
One of the biggest areas that site owners drop the ball on is basic search engine optimization. First, you have to start thinking like your ideal client. How would your ideal client search for your what you do in the search engines? What type of language would they use? Now you have to optimize your blog post titles to reflect that language so that when people do a search that your article shows up in the search results.
So for example, if you are a wedding planner and you are writing an article on wedding planning tips, I can’t tell you how many biz owners I have seen that title those articles something cute like “I Do” or generic like “Your Beautiful Wedding” — when the reality is that you need to be very specific and use terms that REAL people search for if you want to get search engine traffic like “How To Plan A Wedding On A Budget”. The key to getting this right is doing keyword research in your niche to make sure you are targeting phrases that people are typing into Google. I use the keyword research tool Market Samurai for this type of research for myself and when I create editorial calendars for clients.
Reason #2 – Your Blog Screams To Me That You Are An Amateur
As a solo entrepreneur, our resources may be limited as to how much we will invest in the aesthetics of our website, but we can make up for it in other areas. That’s why it’s really important that we do. So if your blog screams “amateur” then I’m afraid you are two seconds away from losing yet another possible client.
You are hosting your blog on a 3rd party blogging platform such as Blogger, Wordpres.org, LiveJournal etc. — While these are great resources and very user friendly for newbies, a blog hosted here does not say that you are serious about your business. Serious enough to invest a few dollars on your own domain name and a self-hosted WordPress blog. When I see a blog like this, I don’t think serious, I think “newbie” — and I’m not going to invest my money with a newbie or with someone who appears to be a newbie.
Your blog looks straight out of the package. While you do not have to spend a lot of time or money on this, I think that it’s really important for your website to look like you’ve spent at least a little energy in making it “different” than the many other blogs that use the same template you use. It shows that you are serious about your business and that you want to provide a good user experience.
Reason #3 – Your Blog Gives Me A Headache
If your blog is too cluttered, it will turn off and turn away potential clients. A good way to give your blog “room to breathe” is to make sure that your articles have a lot of white space between paragraphs, photos, etc. You also need to take a good long look at your sidebars. Do you have too many slow loading social media widgets? (Dear Facebook, can you fix that?) Do you have too many advertisements? Is there just too much junk in your sidebars that leave your readers about where to go first? Consider what you can eliminate from your sidebars that will improve your visitors user experience? A simple and clean blog is best.
Reason #4 – There Is No YOU In Your Blog
This isn’t typically a newbie mistake, but one that many intermediate marketers make. A trend that has started which I fully support is the use of guest blog posts. Many bloggers are featuring other writers and experts so that there is more “fresh” content on their site without having to create it all themselves. Totally fine strategy, except that many bloggers are overdoing it to the point that I don’t know what the point or message of the blog is. There are so many different points and strategies being made on the blog by different writers, I’m not really sure what I’m suppose to be learning and more importantly what to do next. If this is you, remember that this is YOUR business and at the end of the day people have to be able to trust YOU in order to make a decision on whether or not to invest with you. Using too many guest bloggers will dilute your message, so be picky and selective about who you feature. Make sure the message of the guest articles are in alignment with your overall marketing message.
Reason #5 – You Haven’t Invited Me To Come Back
While I may do a search, and find your blog articles, AND actually read one, I probably won’t ever come back and visit your blog again because you haven’t asked me to. The #1 call to action that entrepreneurs should make in their blog is to ask for an email address so that the reader can continue to read more content. The reality is that trust doesn’t come easy in today’s world! Visitors need to have additional exposure to your message in order to make a decision to trust you and invest in you. So ask invite them to experience more of you. Make sure to add optin boxes on your blog. The best 2 places for these optin invitations are top right-hand corner of your site and at the end of your individual articles.
Your Turn!
I’m sure you’ve visited many blogs on your travels around the web, what are some things that make you “click away”? Share them below in the comments area, because I’m sure that we all can learn from each other.
Lisa Angelettie
Latest posts by Lisa Angelettie (see all)
- Back Matter 101: How To Add Killer Call To Actions To Your Books - August 3, 2015
- Shelfari Is No Longer An Option In Author Central - July 28, 2015
- What Are The Most Well-Read Cities In America? - June 2, 2015
I think this article needs an answer. reason 1 answer with “how to……”, etc. And i look forward to it :-p. It is useful
Really? I thought I answered the “how to” in each section. Okay, I’ll write a follow-up:)
What makes me click away? Lots of flashing red arrows and dollar signs, or really loud music that assaults my ears as the page loads. Also, all those ‘hyper-energized guys in business shirts’ who yell at me, or tell me to ‘Stop doing whatever it is that you are doing, right now…etc etc’ No! I won’t! – don’t tell me what to do – goodbye!
Also, text, video or audio where they won’t cut to the chase – they ramble on about how they made their fortune etc, etc, blah! blah! blah! – I don’t want to know! Give me content and useful information, and give it to me now – just get on with it, I haven’t got all day! And if they do all those things, and it looks like it might be good, I might even part with some cash – but it has to be very enticing for me to go that far.
And why is it, that when people are trying to flog their e-books, or DVDs, or their coaching course, they fill yards of web page with endless (I mean endless) testimonials, so you have to search closely or at the foot of the page to see what it is they are actually selling – everyone does it.
I don’t care at all what others think – I’ll decide on the value to me of the content, it’s potential use to me, the person’s style, and the price. I just flip the screen down to the foot of the very long page, see the price and click away. Why? If it’s ridiculously expensive – No. If it’s $7 for something that will change my life, I don’t believe it – gone, gone, gone! It takes about 1 minute.
You’ve probably noticed that I have strong feelings on this subject! 🙂 But…don’t worry, Lisa, I love your style and content, so you are safe from my scorn!
Wow! Loved those comments Carol. Very strong opinions and I probably shared by many. I think so many people use the testimonials because they have been proven to work. Social proof and all that. Your pricing statement was interesting too. It amazes me how many people think they can get true value for $7 !
thanks for the tips. I need to clean up my side bar.
I was just re-reading this excellent post to see if I’d forgotten anything, and I found a maybe typo? I wouldn’t mention it but it’s an important one – and you can ‘not approve’ this post if you don’t want it visible on the site.
Quote: “You are hosting your blog on a 3rd party blogging platform such as Blogger, Wordpres.org, LiveJournal etc.”
The 3rd Party WordPress site is WordPress.com, not WordPress.org. WordPress.org is the self hosted WordPress platform.
I just noticed (on 3rd reading only) that you really do have a typo there – wordpress has double ss in it, but who cares – but the other typo could confuse people.
i read ur all article all are very effective and writing skill i cant explain