When faced with the daunting task of planning what to include 
on your website and how to write the copy, here are a few tips 
that will make the task easier for you.


1.  Visitor Friendly

The main thing to keep in mind is that your website needs to 
be visitor friendly.  What this means is that your customer 
must be able to find what they are looking for easily and 
quickly. And that means great navigational system.  Most 
websites either display their navigation bar on the left or 
at the top.  And since most people are used to this type of 
navigation, it's best to stick with it. It also helps to 
include your navigation bar at the bottom of each page to 
save your visitors from having to scroll back to the top. 


2. Search Engine Friendly

Search engines try to list sites that contain good content, so 
you need keywords and phrases on your pages that best describe 
your service and products.  For example, if you are a florist, 
use the words such as florist, online florist, virtual florist, 
wedding florist, florist in Sydney, florist on line, flowers, 
floral, bouquets, floral arrangements etc as many times as 
possible to ensure high search engine ranking.  To find out 
what keywords your customers may be searching on ask your 
family and friends or go to: 

- http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
- http://www.wordtracker.com

Once you decide on the keywords, use them in:

  (a) Your website's domain name
  (b) The title of your page - This is displayed in the top bar 
      of your browser window
  (c) The heading of your home page
  (d) The first paragraph of your home page 
  (e) Meta tags - Keywords, page title, description 
  (f) Titles of your graphics

Whilst it is important to use keywords as much as possible, it 
is also important you use them only if they are relevant and 
do not sound awkward.  If you spam your keywords you may be 
penalised or even banned by some search engines.


3.  Informational vs On-line Store

One of the first decisions you need to make is what type of 
website to have.  Will it be informational only or will it be 
an on-line store or a combination of both?  An informational 
website is like having an on-line brochure.  It does not sell 
products directly to customers, but rather provides details 
of your business, its products and services and occasionally 
features a printable order form.  

The other type of website is an on-line store.  It is a virtual 
salesperson who potentially never stops providing presales 
information to your prospects - and then making sales to them.


4.  Create a Plan

Before you start thinking about what to write on each page of 
your website, it is important that you create a plan, which 
lists all the pages you wish to include.  Below is a list of 
the most commonly used pages:

  (a) Home Page (First Page)
  (b) Products / Services
  (c) Contact Us
  (d) Pricing
  (e) Testimonials / Product Reviews / Before & After
  (f) Frequently Asked Questions
  (g) Response form such as "Subscribe" or "Enquiry" form
  (h) On-line Magazine or Newsletter
  (i) Resources/Articles
  (j) About Us
  (k) Guarantee
  (l)  Survey
  (m) Events Calendar
  (n) Search My Website Feature
  (o) Return/Refund Policy
  (p) Privacy Policy
  (q) Site Map
  (r) Copyright Information
  (s) Links
  (t) Media Information
  (u) News
  (v) On-line store


5.  Cross-sell / Up-sell as part of your content

If a customer is looking for a particular product, offer them 
details of related products.  By recommending other products, 
your customers will learn what else is available and in many 
cases it will translate to additional sales for you.

A company that does this exceptionally well is Amazon - 
http://www.amazon.com.  Search for a particular book and you 
will find information on what other people who ordered this 
book also bought. 

Make it as easy as possible for customers to complete an order 
by providing clear instructions.  Ensure delivery costs are 
outlined before a customer begins the ordering process.


6. Focus on the customer and their needs

Rather than trying to "sell your business", let your prospects 
know how your product/service is going to benefit them.  
Emphasize the benefits and solve problems.  Make this the 
focus of everything you write on every page of your site.  
Don't try to sell visitors your products or service, help 
them.


7. Remind your visitors 

Remind your visitors they can print out your content.  They 
may browse around your website while it's printing.


8. Use headlines and sub-headlines to grab visitor's attention


9. Offer value

Offer bonuses, free trials, discounts and prizes.  List the 
dollar value beside each bonus.  People will feel they're 
getting a good deal and it will increase the value of your 
product.


10.  Spell check and grammar check your website

Ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors.  Check 
that all links are working and graphics displaying correctly.

If you are still struggling with where to start, visit your 
supplier's or competitor's websites.  Be careful that if you 
use copy from their site that you do not infringe copyright 
laws.  If in doubt, contact the author or copyright owner 
and ask for permission.

Your ultimate goal is to turn a visitor into a customer.  On 
your website, this is done by providing premium content.  Each 
page should be its own mini site.  As you have no control over 
how a visitor enters your website, it is important they are 
able to easily work out what your business offers and navigate 
to other pages within your site.