above the fold (content strategy)

There are many reasons why great content is so important to the success of today’s websites. That's because it has grown to serve several purposes. The content on your website should do more than just welcome your visitor and tell them who you are. Your web content should be functional.

What this means is that the content on a website should act as a tool to accomplish the objectives you’ve set for your business’s online presence.

At iE, we create functional content on our client’s websites by using a multilateral approach.

1. SEO

Great content is engaging and shareable. But there’s only so much word-of-mouth, social sharing and brand awareness can accomplish. Website content should be mindful of using non-branded keywords, strategic anchor text, etc. so that search engines can accurately associate your website with the terms users are searching for. SEO sometimes gets a bad rap but writing content that is compatible with search engines is much different than content for search engines.

2. Extension of branding

Your messaging strategy should act as the instruction manual of your online content. It’s a place to refer back to your objectives, tone and audience. The content on your site is your chance to create a cohesive message and persona for your brand. Use it!

3. User-friendly guidance

Think of the content on your site as holding your user’s hand. Everything from page titles to headlines, and especially the nomenclature of your navigation should be user friendly. For example, I know you don’t want to be like everyone else but you must create a website that reflects the standard way visitors are accustomed to using them. Name the About Us page, About Us or something else that clearly states what the content is about.

4. Promote calls to action

Consider this tenet step two of the one above. Draw your user to your call to action. Think about the context in which your calls to action appear. Today’s web is all about personalization and giving users exactly what they expect. Set up your calls to action in their proper context. Think intuitively about what a user might want to see next after reading your About Us page and lead them there.

5. Bridge the gap

Great content acts as a bridge between what you want users to know (usually “everything”) and what they want to know (only what they “need right now.”) It can be difficult to strike that balance. But doing this successfully hinges on things like knowing your audience, understanding why they have come to your website and getting inside their head. Many times this takes including an objective perspective outside of your organization.

6. Reinforce the message

Imagery is a type of content. We are visual creatures. Images create emotion and emotions make decisions. Imagery and written content should work together to create a compelling and clever message that makes people feel something. But remember, the message should always drive the imagery, not the other way around.

Are there ways you approach web content to increase its functionality? Let us know in the comments below! 

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