Creating a Website Content Outline (Part 2 of 3 Steps to Planning a New Website)

How do you even begin to start writing content for a website? Most people think of a website in “pages”… home page, about page, services page, reviews page…

There’s nothing wrong with this approach in the traditional sense, but what it leaves out is the opportunity to speak to the reason why someone is visiting your website in the first place. Ultimately, The Buyers’ Journey is the perfect way to approach content.

In its simplest form, Buyer’s Journey helps us understand the stages that your potential customer is going through in making a purchasing decision, things like 1) what problems they are experiencing, 2) what questions they are asking, and 3) what other options they might be considering.

This information can help us write to the pain points of the customer, and the reason why they are visiting your website to begin with.

You can get a guide to creating a Buyer’s Journey here!

Core Principles of Writing for Websites

It’s common to think that if you write something, even if you think it’s really profound (like this super profound blog article right here ;), it will be read. But the truth is, people only read 20% of websites. On top of that, they skim the content and take from it what they want to read.

With that in mind, follow these core principles when you write for your website:

• Keep it simple, save long form copy for blogs and pages you are trying to rank in Google
• Spend 80% of your time writing the headlines
• Offer them the content you want them to see the most, like reviews and call to actions

The Resume Principle: Show Them, Don’t Tell Them

I was looking for my first job. Right out of high school, I had no idea what I was doing… I didn’t know what to wear, or how to speak on the phone to potential employers… but I learned one principle that landed me the first job I applied for, with Kevin McCarthy (Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, yeah that guy). It was a nugget I learned from my dad:

"Don't just tell them you're amazing, prove it."

In other words, it’s not enough to just write down the things that make you special. You have to display your differentiators with your words.

Just like a resume, a website has an extremely limited amount of time to get someone’s attention. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

• Instead of “Our donuts are the best you’ve ever had”, try the headline “Crave the Glaze” and quote a regular customer’s 5-star review
• Instead of “You can rely on us,” try quoting a meaningful statistic proving your credibility.
• Instead of talking about how horticulture works, try showing potential customers photos of your lawns after you’ve implemented your turf care program.

The Affect Heuristic & How Our Brains Read Content

The Affect Heuristic is a mental shortcut our brains take to get through daily decisions. We make decisions all day long, and most of them are driven by the part of our brain that controls emotions. So how do you think our brain makes a mental shortcut to make decisions easier for us, less overwhelming, and less exhausting? We look for what we already know: social proof that someone has used it before or something else we can relate to.

Now, this is why branding is SO SO important. If you haven’t, read Step 1: Prepping Your Brand Assets. But the content you give them is equally as important.

There are 3 pieces of content you can’t NOT have on a website to address the affect heuristic:

1. Clarity about what you are offering: make it stupid simple and understandable
2. Social Proof – reviews, testimonies, etc
3. Your differentiators – what makes you different or greater than your competition? I recommend this value proposition headline.

The “Content Stack” Method of Writing Website Copy

Instead of writing page by page and pulling your hair out along the way, start with a stack of copy that you can repurpose and use where needed. Sure, you’ll still need to develop some specific pages for services or whatnot, but at least you will have consistent copy that is branded and will be effective when it gets read.

When I worked at a Hubspot partner agency, our writer would develop a content stack for each client, and also one for each new campaign. That way, everything would stay on brand and we would have headlines and descriptions to pull from anytime we needed it.

A content stack should include:

• Main headlines
• Sub-headlines
• Supporting bullet points
• Call to Actions
• Full descriptions
• Customer reviews
• Whatever else you need

Website Content Outline – Everything You Need for Effective Website Conversions

PART 1 – Am I in the right place?

The first thing your customer is going to ask themselves when they get to your website is this: “Do I belong here? Is this for me?”

Your job is to make it super simple and clear exactly what you can do for your visitor, and how it is going to make their life better. 

The first part of your website is answering the question: what does your customer want? Simply and clearly answer these two questions: 1. What do you do? 2. How does it make my life better? 

Write it down:

• Main headline as a Value Proposition
• Supporting Sub-headline 
• Supporting Copy and/or video
• Supporting bullet points: results your customer wants
• First Call to Action: what do you want your customer to do?

PART 2 – Social Proof

Write it down: The next thing your potential customer is going to want to see is proof that they should consider you. Show them reviews, case studies, and/or logos.

PART 3 – Solve their problem

Your potential customer is on a journey to finding hope that there is a solution to solve their problem. They are deciding if your solution “checks off the boxes” for the job to be done. 

First, identify the problem.

Write it down:

• Main headline answering: what is the main problem you solve that your customer is experiencing? What is the real problem and underlying pains of your customer?
• Supporting sub-headline, copy and/or video
• Specific examples of the problem that includes emotions 

Next, identify your solution.

Write it down:

• The surprising solution
• Evidence of why it works
• 3 steps to how it solves their problem
• How to get it 
• Benefits & features
• Why they deserve it
• How will their lives transform because of it?
• Call to Action: what do you want your customer to do?

Then, identify why they can trust you to provide the solution.

Write it down:

• Why should people buy from you?
• Why do you understand the problem?
• Why can yon be trusted?
• What sets you apart, makes your solution different?
• Credentials, history and about the business/owner

Last, give them a guarantee or promise.

Write it down:

• “Our promise to you” statement

PART 4 – Exploring

Your customer still may not be ready to buy. If they aren’t, that’s ok! You still want to try and capture their information so that you can start to build a warm, long-term relationship with them. When they are ready to buy, they will remember you. 

Write it down:

• Frequently asked questions
• 3-5 blog articles 

Go back to read the 3 Steps to Planning a New Website here, or just go back one step to Step 1: Prepping Your Brand Assets.