Attracting Web Visitors: Commit to Content

Below is a reproduction of a blog post I recent put together for the scientific communications agency I work for, Alto Marketing. Find more great content over at the blog.

Easily accessible content available through the internet is changing how we all do business. This is especially relevant in the life science sector, as the clients and customers in our field tend to be tech-savvy and resourceful. Here I explore the importance of providing your customers with engaging, interesting and valuable content. Part 1 focuses on creating and maintaining an interesting and useful website, a keystone of any marketing program.

The importance of a website

The internet has levelled the global playing field for all companies, allowing even small companies to provide global offerings without the need for extensive physical infrastructure such as factories, retail outlets etc. Anyone from anywhere in the world can visit your website and buy from you. A website is a truly valuable marketing tool. However, to provide some perspective, in 2008, Google was already indexing over 1 trillion unique web pages. Somehow your information has to stick out from the masses.

Attracting visitors is the main goal of a website

Attracting visitors to your website is likely one of your primary business goals, along with capturing their interest and turning these leads into sales. After all, generating sales and revenue is how all companies will ultimately be judged.

Some visitors to your site will be interested in a specific product and will consider their search successful when they find it. However, others will enter your site not knowing what to expect, and it is these users who must be especially engaged and captivated, rather than hit with the hard sell. Either way, you have to ensure that people looking for a service or product you provide end up using your site and no one else’s.

What do visitors want to find on your site?

People are not interested in reading reams and reams of unappealing, blatant, dull webtext. Instead, try to think like your users:

• What are they searching for?
• What do they want?
• What are their problems?
• How do your solutions help?

In this way, their Google searches will lead to your website. Once you’ve caught their interest, you have to keep it by providing high quality content. Capturing their interest is not as easy as it would seem. People do not read in detail on the web. They browse and scan until they find exactly what they are looking for. If you’re not providing the right content, they will just move on to the next site with the speed of a single click.

It’s your job (and ours) to make sure that web users find your content first and that what they find is relevant, informative and interesting. This will encourage them to return again and again… and to tell their colleagues.

So how do I promote my products?

You can still promote your products. But customers won’t buy a product because you tell them how ‘efficient’, ‘useful’ or ‘forward-thinking’ it is. Instead, you have to captivate and engage with them. What are the benefits of your approach? How does your offering solve customer problems? Sell your solutions and sell your expertise.

Next week, we’ll find out how best to attract visitors to your site via your web marketing efforts, by making the most of your expertise, products and services and engaging with the visitors to your site.