Before you begin planning what goes where on your website, you need to be crystal clear on your message and your goals. Without this clarity it is easy to frustrate your visitors by having too many paths or unclear paths to the same outcome.
Steps to successfully planning your content strategy
- Define your target market for each of your services or products.
- Set the priorities for your site.
- Prioritize the services you want to promote
- Prioritize the products you want to promote
- Get clear on the path each of your markets will take.
- You want to make it easy for your visitor to engage with you at their level of comfort. For example some people may have a strong sense of urgency while others are simply browsing. Some visitors are very comfortable jumping right into engaging with you while others need more time to get to know you or your service/product.
- Having a clearly defined path for your visitors builds trusts and makes it easy for them to say yes to you when they are ready.
There are 3 basic paths for every service or product you sell
Low entry
This requires the least amount of interaction or commitment on your visitor’s part.
Who is low-entry?
Low entry visitors typically do not know much about you, are not familiar with your product or service, or have a low sense of urgency. Low-entry visitors usually consume your content in a passive state. This means they will come back to your site on their own and have not signed up for lists, etc.
What is a low-entry visitor looking for?
A low entry visitor is trying to figure out:
- If they are in the right place (are they on the right website?)
- If your product or service is what they are looking for
Once the above criteria is met these visitors are then trying to get to know and trust you.
The type of content a low-entry visitor consumes is:
Website page content, blog posts, videos, and audio that they can read, watch, or listen to while they are on your site.
What you want to do with a low-entry visitor:
Ideally you want to move a low entry visitor from passively engaging with your content to actively engaging with your content within their first visit to your site.
Medium Entry
What is medium-entry?
A medium-entry visitor is comfortable with some interaction but still prefers a somewhat anonymous experience.
What is a medium-entry visitor looking for?
A medium-entry visitor likes what you have to offer but may not be ready to buy yet. They want to remember your site exists as a resource.
The type of content a medium-entry visitor consumes is:
Giveaways, subscription to podcasts, signing up for free webinars, newsletter lists, or blog subscriptions.
What you want to do with a medium-entry visitor:
Medium-entry visitors have demonstrated they trust you enough to give you their contact information. They have done this because your content is compelling, helps fix a problem, they resonate with you or your message, or all of the above.
You want to keep your content in front of them on a consistent basis so they remember you in their time of need.
High Entry
What is high-entry?
A high-entry visitor is ready to take action. They want to hire you or buy from you.
What is a high-entry visitor looking for?
High-entry visitors are looking for an easy (and usually fast) way to get their needs taken care of.
The type of content a high-entry visitor consumes is:
Service/product pages, general contact pages, buy now buttons. These visitors want clear communication and expectations.
What you want to do with a high-entry visitor.
Make is easy for them to hire you or purchase from you. this includes making sure these pages are up to date and do not have too many steps.
The last step before planning your pages
And finally, knowing what you like and what you need up front will make your relationship with your designer (whether that is you or someone you hire) much more fluid and effective. This is done by determining your preferences and needs for your website.
- Begin building a list of sites that have styles you like or that are congruent with your brand.
- Begin building a list of the added features your site will need (i.e. shopping cart, video, audio, landing page, etc. Build a list of sites that do these things well.
And that’s all there is to it! Now, that you have this crucial information laid you’re ready to begin your webpage content strategy.