Summary: When writing web site content for your small business, avoid the common mistake of focusing on features and/or your company profile. Instead, address your prospects directly and describe how your products and services fulfill their needs and wants.

There’s nothing worse than staring at a blank page when you’ve got web site content to write.

It happens to everyone: You design your site and even pick some keywords to use, but that still only gets you so far. Someone still has to do the writing. So where do you start?

For most companies, what ends up on the site is content that’s written for the company CEO, not necessarily the key information that potential prospects or customers are looking for. To get that internally focused “It’s all about me!” out of your system, I suggest you write your company pages first.

Write company-oriented pages first

What are the company pages? Things like About Us, Contact, and other general information pages that orient people about who you are. This isn’t the primary reason they are coming to your site, which is why, many times, you’ll notice that section is buried in the footer (you can see its that way on the Kutenda site for the same reason).

The basic content that you want on an About Us page or section (depending how big your company is)

• How was your company founded? Is there a good story behind your company’s founding? Tell it here, it gives you personality.
• Who are the principals? Is a personal touch important in your business? If so, it makes sense to provide pictures and biographies of key staff.
• What is your vision and or mission? Don’t get too verbose about it, but if you have a vision of what you are trying to achieve, add a few sentences to let people know about it.
• What do you do? Just in case they haven’t figured that out elsewhere on your site, it’s a good idea to give a brief description of what your company does.

The About Us section is great because it helps you unload the standard way that companies write without it interfering with your overall message and goals for your web site. Once you’re done talking about yourself,  it’s time to speak directly to your potential customer.

Figure out why your prospect cares

Before you start writing, think for a bit. Why should your potential customer care about you, your web site, your company? This isn’t as hard as it seems. You could even ask some of your existing customers to find out why they buy from you and what it does for them. This really works. Your customers are going to say what other people like them need to hear. Go and call your best customers to find out what you really do for them.

• If you sell to businesses, ask yourself: What business problem or problems does my company solve?
• If you sell to individuals, ask yourself: How does what we sell make an individual happier, skinnier, smarter, richer, etc?

This may seem like a cheesy thought process, but the reality is these are the benefits of what you do, and connecting with people about what they want to get out of your product or service—as opposed telling them about the bells and whistles—is the way to draw them in to read more.

Here are a couple examples to give you an idea of what I mean:

1. You are a picture-framer. You frame pictures for people, and maybe you also let people come to your shop and do it themselves. Why does your prospect care? Maybe it’s because you have such a good eye for framing you can enhance any image, so people trust you with their most treasured photographs. OR, maybe for the DIY crowd, you offer on-the-spot consults so that every picture that leaves your store is framed right.

You could have talked about the kinds of frames and mattes you offer, your price range for frames and finishes, but that wouldn’t give your site visitors a good understanding about why they ought to come to you. The real benefit you provide? You make their artwork more beautiful.

2. You provide IT services to small businesses. There are plenty of companies and independent contractors you compete against and that provide similar or identical services. To stand out, it has to be on service and providing peace of mind. You could talk about how your company guarantees a certain level of response in a crisis or emergency. You could talk about your expertise in solving various computer and network-related business problems. Or you could address a specific business problem (like potential data loss), explain the risks and describe how your services mitigate those risks.

You could have talked about the pieces and parts you used to provide these services, but ultimately, your prospects don’t care HOW you are going to solve their business problem. They just want to be reassured that you can. The key to good content for a web site is always keep in mind what the customer wants or needs to hear to believe you can help solve a business or personal issue for them.

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