An important but often forgotten step in developing your website is planning your content.  Your content tells your visitors your story, it answers their questions, motivates them to make decisions, sets their expectations, and ultimately builds their trust in your brand.

One of the most important things you can do for your visitors is to provide them with meaningful information, not just details about your products and services.  Content can be hard to formulate since it is often a moving target.  It requires dedicated resources to plan, develop, publish, and maintain.  To ease the burden, you should focus heavily on your business objectives and the information your visitors will find most valuable.

In considering your content, you may find that auditing competitor sites, surveying customers, and reviewing your assets, such as print materials and branding strategies, is quite helpful.  In the process, be sure to answer the following questions: 

• What content do we need? 
• Why do we need it? 
• How will we pull it all together? 
• What will we have to do to keep it up to date?

Below is a list of information to consider for your site:

• Information about your company, including its goals, objectives, history, executives, and key personnel
• Testimonials from your clients
• Awards and recognitions
• Staff photos, bios and resumes, email addresses
• Products and services offered, including price lists
• Restaurants should consider including an online menu
• Inventory for online sale
• Client portfolios including the services you provide to them and links to their websites
• Case studies to help illustrate your capabilities
• A calendar of events
• A gallery of photos
• Links to other sites that are helpful or that might be of interest to your visitors
• Phone numbers, addresses, driving directions, and links to third-party maps
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Articles you have written and published
• Do it Yourself tips for times when a professional may not be required

Finally, it is important to remember that content drives your search engine results. For this reason, you should also pay attention to the following things:

• Update your content frequently - at least once every few weeks
• Proofread your content, checking your spelling and grammar
• Keep your paragraphs short - 1 to 4 sentences each
• Use lists - both bulleted and numbered are fine
• Keep your sentences short - 10 words or fewer, interspersed with a few longer sentences