Forum Moderators: not2easy
When starting the site, the biggest single issue we have is getting content out of the customer.
Its not a lack of willingness on their part, more a general confusion about what they should include.
What we want to do is give them a checklist to get their mental juices running.
e.g. (from the top of my head)
Home page - Introduction to your company and products
Products/Services Page(s)
Testemonials Page
Quality and Certifications Page
Location Details
Contact Details
Company History (yeah, b-o-r-i-n-g, but at least I can optimise it as doorway page)
....etc
What other suggestions can we throw out for 'possible' pages?
I feel that if we hit the right mix we can talk many of them into taking more pages, but at the very least get make it easier for them to focus on the pertinent facts.
Home page - a corporate-style splash as an entry point.
About page - who they are and how they do what they do so well.
Product/Services page - what it says, perhaps leading to specific documents or data download (pdf).
News page - what's new from the company or its products.
Enquiry page - the most important page of the lot (you'd be surprised how many sites fail to include and enquiry form). Use automated data capture here too with opt-in/out mailing lists.
Kick off with this on the smaller sites and you won't go wrong. you'll find that the things like testimonials, quality and location will fit in to the About page and News page where it's newsworthy. History fits well in the about page, if you have to include it.
>Location Details
A map page (use "map" in the links and title) and a separate "driving directions" page covering all of the major routes (great for geographic keywords).
--explain your industry and why the product stands out
--compare against other leading products
--why they should care to buy from you
I like to tell businesses to give the user as much info as possible. In many industries, the consumer doesn't know much. Now is your chance to educate them! Giving as much info as possible helps the visitor buy and build credibility.
When I get a moment, I will collate it all and post a summary as a crib sheet to kick start the old grey cells.
Oh yeah! I forgot that one... add trade associations and links to them.
Also, did we mention a "Line Card" anywhere? It's just a categorized list of your vendors, I was amazed at how many emails I rec'd where people were searching out specific brands, they came in on my line card.
could you explain more about "line Card" i think it may need a USA to UK translation.
Dave
It's just a directory of the major brands stocked or sold. A simple bulleted list of the manufacturer's name and a listing of some of the brands they manufacture or distribute. In some of the wholesale trades, manufacturer's websites may be scarce, but I'd link out if they have one. Very simple, very quick, and likely to be chock full of keywords and brands.
Board of Director Info if you happen to have one (actually, this one gets quite a few hits....)
Bylaws again, if you happen to have any.
Annual Reports (I think someone already mentioned that...)
Employment Opportunities Other then our index page, this is our most hit page.
And of course things like current projects, rate scales, and other customer service type things.
I did a small site for as Audio Production Suite some time ago including the following pages:- profile, credits, resources, rates, contact.
I guess these would translate to :-
profile => about
credits => history
resources => plant/factory equipment et al
rates => prices
contact => contact/enquiry
Onya
Woz
This depends of course on how focused the site is and how many different products or services the company offers. It's not just a question of getting the page to rank... If the page isn't about what the visitor is searching for, he won't click through when he finds it in search.
'Recently completed projects'
This is going to be invaluable for me, so may be of use to you guys also. Apologies to anyone whose ideas I have incorrectly paraphrased.
It is no longer a list for smaller sites - but nevertheless, here goes:
(in no particular order)
* Home page
A summary page - this needs to tell the visitor what you offer and detail what they can hope to find in your site. If a key phrase is important it needs to be mentioned here.
* Company History
Self Evident, but a good opportunity to mention all your key phrases again and to present your company as a 'solid' concern.
* Quality and Certifications Page
Any Qualifications, Certifications, Quality Awards, BS or ISO standards, Investors in People awards etc. Another chance to convince the prospective customer. This page can be 'linked to' directly from the main 'sales pitch' page.
* Testemonials Page
Testemonials from satisfied customers. A chance to convince the prospective customer. This page can be 'linked to' directly from the main 'sales pitch' page.
* About Us page
On a smaller site, this can replace a number of other pages, eg Quality, History etc
* Location Details
Address, Map, Directions etc
* Contact Details
Fax, e-mail, phone etc. Can include a mini-directory for all your departments or points of contact.
* Product/Services pages
For good search engine ranking, each distinct product or service should have its own page. For the smaller site, these pages need to detail every key phrase that it relevant. These can be your main traffic grabbing pages.
* News and press release page
An opportunity to communicate with your visitors. May include a link to your mailing list (if you don't have one, why not!). Another opportunity to mention some of the key phrases. May contain links to individual press release pages. This can be a "user maintained" page.
* Enquiry page
The most important page of the lot. Make the form easy to use but make sure you get all the information you need
* Mission statement page
If you have a mission statement, why not put it on its own page.
* Investor info
If you have investors and shareholders, use this page to keep them informed. Can include Annual Reports, strategy information, contact details for your Investor Relations Manager etc.
* Product comparison/cross reference page
Listing all of their major competitors products and showing whay yours is better.
* Privacy pages
If you are collecting data via enquiry forms use this page to tell your potential customers that you won't abuse the information that they are providing.
* Customer service page
If you already have a customer base using the internet, give them a page with an enquiry form to report problems, ask questions etc
* FAQ page
A good Frequently Asked Questions Page can be a valuable way of answering questions that might otherwise be an obstacle to a sale.
* Links page
Although called something like 'further information', 'trade associations' etc.
A chance to link to all the product manufacturers, trade associations and professional bodies. Also an opportunity to provide return links to sites that have agreed to link to you.
* Line card
A directory of the major brands stocked or sold. A simple bulleted list of the manufacturer's name and a listing of some of the brands they manufacture or distribute. If the manufacturer have websites, link to them. A simple page that will full of keyword phrases and brand names.
* Board of Director Info
A 'vanity' page that gets more visitors than most people imagine.
* Employment Opportunities
This can be another 'user maintained'page.
* Resources Page
Plant/factory equipment - important in the manufacturing industry. Another opportunity to get relevant keywords into the site.
* Prices/Rates
Another 'selling' page, and an opportunity to mention those products and keyphrases again.
* Recently completed projects
Details, pictures, background information. Why were you chosen, how did you use your uniques skills to solve problems and complete the projects etc.
* A page for any unique keyword phrase that is not already covered.
Some phrases cannot be 'shoe-horned' into the main site and still succeed on the search engines. If a phrase is very competitive, or very unique, build a page around it.
Phew - any other ideas are welcome
onya
Woz
Profit all round I hope
* FAQ page
A good Frequently Asked Questions Page can be a valuable way of answering questions that might otherwise be an obstacle to a sale.
When it comes to doing organic SEO, FAQ's IMHO are by far the most overlooked and underdeveloped tool available. The amount of mileage you can get out of competitor brand names can be incredible. The first key is not to put all the questions on one page. Use a separate page for each. The second key is not not limit yourself to questions people actually ask. :)
After all, frequncy is directly related to traffic volume, so I always tell clients to write down all the possible questions they might get asked if they were getting 10,000+ visitors per day.
It helps to have a lot of information about the company and the people behind it. This can inspire trust by letting the user know there are real people involved.
I haven't done it yet, but I am planning on offering this to one for my smaller clients. I plan to find articles related the various applications of their products and write a paragraph summary of the article. Per page I will have at least 5 summaries and each page will focus on only one application of their product.
I figure I'll get the following benefits from this:
1. Very easy to create.
2. Useful content for visitors.
3. Improvement in overall theme.
4. Nicely focused text filled pages to optimize and submit.
5. Quality outbound links.
Anyone see any problems with this? ...or have an easier idea to implement?
-Craig
Say you are selling computer speakers:
Super Xpo 100 watt speakers $99.00
- about xpo
- about "watt" ratings on speakers.
- types of sound cards needed.
- installation instructions
- software that comes with it - the software manual.
- hardware manual - pdf it.
- speaker cables.
- amp ratings.
and on and on. It's amazing how deep some people will click reading info. All that info? Food for da machine as well as the user.
That's why I came up with the article idea. I can easily create multiple pages for them this way, while I keep pulling at their teeth :)
I'm still looking for more ideas like this though. Anyone have other ideas for content that can be easily created without involving the client?
recommend this site to a friend:
Lets the user send an email message to a friend, with some added comment, plus perhaps some static text:
Here are their comments:
Hey Jack, really useful site i found, they have the
extralarge widgets at an unbeatable 9.99
This tells you about the user acceptance of pages, ie. why you need to rework certain pages
Premade scripts (php, cgi) for both applications are readily available. Doing the first by hand is a matter of like 20mins for someone who knows php
Skirril
