Does Your SEO Content Sell

While written with search engines in mind, SEO content should also consider the end users of your website; your potential customers. Attracting masses of traffic, regardless of how targeted that traffic, is only a portion of the battle.

If the content you've used is next to meaningless or smacks of being written solely to rank well in the search engines then your website will under perform and your online business efforts will suffer as a consequence.

Finding the perfect blend between search optimised content and offering an enhanced user experience is critical to better website performance.

Treat Your Business Like A Business

Every website, blog, and other online real estate should be viewed as a business if it is being used to generate an income of any sort. This means that the customer experience is equally as important to your website as it is to your business as a whole.

A good customer experience means more sales, greater conversion rates, improved customer loyalty, and increased customer retention and return business.

Small businesses and bricks and mortar commercial ventures have been living by the ethos that "the customer is always right" for decades and this should go for your online business as well.

Every Word Counts

From the home page to the deeper, product pages, and from your blog to your support forums, the intention of each visible page is to promote your business. Whether you're trying to ensure that customers continue to return to your service or you intend to attract new customers this means that your website content needs to be set up to sell as well as attract the attention of the search engines.

The CTA (Call To Action)

Decide on your Call To Action (CTA) for each of your pages. Once you've done this, don't simply give visitors the opportunity to follow your CTA but ensure that they're left with little choice but to do so. Entice them, emote them, but above all ensure that you convert them.

Identify Your CTA

The desired action for each page can differ significantly. On the home page of your site, you are most likely to want to divert customers to the product or services pages where they can learn more information. On the deeper pages, such as product description pages, the desired action is adding the item to the shopping basket or proceeding to checkout; alternatively, it could be to request a quote, make a phone call, or register their details.

Make sure you know what your CTA is before you write the content because if you don't know then your website visitors certainly won't.

Stand Out And Stand Apart

At the same time as identifying your CTA, you should also consider your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This is the single thing that makes your business or your website stand out from every other one in the same industry. Virtually every website has one even though many website owners don't know about it.

Think about the things that benefit your customers and not those that benefit you. Free shipping, discount on bulk orders, hand made products, a no fuss money back guarantee, or a truly personal service can all be used as effective USPs if they are sold properly.

Website Content That Performs

Website content can do so much more than attract a flurry of visitors to a website, and indeed it should. Yes, traffic is important, because without it, the most effective combination of CTA and USP in the world would bear no relevance but never forget the end user.

(About the Author: Matt Jackson)