Question: If your website isn’t valuable to your visitors, what is it?
Informational? No.
Helpful? No.
Interesting? Maybe. But how far will that get you?
Without value, your website isn’t worth much. Which means that of all the things you want your website to be, “valuable” should top the list.
Without value, your website isn’t worth much. Which means that of all the things you want your website to be, “valuable” should top the list.
Optimized? Yes.
Engaging? Yes.
But to be those things, there has to be value. In fact, all your efforts to drive and convert traffic will fall short if your visitors fail to find value in your site.
There are a lot of things you can do to create value with your website, and many will be specific to each industry. But everything comes down to the following three principles:
1. Be Unique
The first line of defense to offering value is to be unique. Searchers have to make decisions, and one of the hardest is to decide who to trust with their money. If what you offer is no different than the next guy, what makes you think they’ll choose you over them? But if you’re offering something unique or doing something just a bit differently, that can give you the edge in providing value.
Checklist for being unique:
- Find a niche product or service.
- Create a distinct site design that stands out.
- Provide value-add services that no one else offers.
- Showcase your expertise.
- Offer free support/advice.
2. Varied Content
Content comes in all forms: Written word, tools, videos, images, audio and more. Every visitor has a preference to how they want to consume information. The more content consumption options you provide, the wider your reach will be and you’ll have a greater opportunity to bring in visitors that you wouldn’t otherwise get.
Checklist for providing valuable content:
- Create tools for your users.
- Write from a particular point of view.
- Provide a unique insight to your industry.
- Publish content in a variety of formats.
3. Keyword Targeting
Search engine optimization plays an important role in creating a valuable website. Many look at SEO as the process of optimizing keywords into written content, but it’s so much more than that. SEO uses keywords to create content that meets searcher’s needs. It helps searchers find information and get solutions using their own words and understanding.
Checklist for using keywords to provide value:
- Look for non-industry terms that searchers may be using.
- Understand the intent of those searches.
- Create content that fulfills that intent.
- Be sure the content fully satisfies the query.
Following the steps above will provide the foundation for creating value for your visitors. These, of course, are just first steps. The rest will be up to you in how you decide to run your business.