Websites are made up of three things: design, functionality, and content.

When creating a new website for your business, design and content are the things your website visitors will see FIRST.

And yet, most business owners have no clue of how to create website content that CONVERTS.

This is why I create a Website Strategy Workbook for each of my clients that helps guide them through the process of creating content for their website.

But what is a website strategy workbook?

The purpose of a Website Strategy Workbook is to walk you through creating content for your website.

It’s filled with a series of prompts to get to the heart of your business, your mission, and why and how you serve your clients.

Here’s how it works…

Step One: Define Your Aesthetic

Before any design work begins, I ask my clients what aesthetics they are drawn to and what inspires them.

I ask for examples of websites they like, and then ask what they like AND don’t like on those sites.

Other questions include:

• Do you have any web design pet peeves?
• What is it about your current website that just makes you want to SCREAM?
• What color palettes catch your eye? Do you like cooler tones like grays and blues, or warmer earth tones like greens and reds?

Step Two: Define Your Website Goals

What do you want your new web design to accomplish?

If your website was “successful” what would that look like to you?

What actions do you want people to take when they come to your website – submit an inquiry, sign up for your newsletter, purchase a product?

Step Three: Search Engine Optimization

All of the websites I create are set up with on-page SEO. It’s important to know what people will google or search for when looking for a company like yours.

• What keywords or phrases do you want on your website?

Step Four: Tell me your pitch

This is where we get to the heart and soul of your website content. These are the prompts I ask my clients in the Website Content Workbook so that I’m able to strategically write and organize the copy and content for their site.

• What is the heart and soul of your company? What is your mission statement? What do you stand for?
• What makes your business unique? How is your business different from competitors?
• What are the major benefits that your customer gets from working with your company?
• Who are your top competitors? Please leave links to their websites.
• Do you want the price of your service on your website? If so, list them here.
• What type of guarantee do you offer?

Step Five: What are your current website stats?

The only way to measure the success of a website strategy is to know what you’re starting with. We’ll use your current website metrics as a baseline to compare with the success of your new website.

What is your current monthly traffic? List unique visits and page views.

Example: Monthly pageviews: 10,000. Unique visits: 7,000

What is your current Bounce Rate?

Example: Home page: 50%. Blog articles: ~70%.

Step Six: Website Copywriting

After defining your design aesthetic, establishing your website goals, planning out SEO keyword and phrases, getting to the heart and soul of your business, and tracking your current website stats, THEN it’s time to start creating the content for your website.

In this section, we’ll go page by page in creating content for your website.

Every page has a purpose and when writing content for that page, that purpose is top of mind. That influences the call to actions we choose, how the content is laid out, and the questions we are asking throughout the copywriting.

Tips for Creating Website Content

• Be as specific as possible – The more you can write to your ideal client’s struggles and pain points, the more they will trust you and feel like you GET it, that you understand their needs.
• Remember your audience – The whole point of your website content is to create something that attracts your ideal audience. Keep them in mind and put yourself in their shoes when writing your website content.
• Remember your goal – you want to lead visitors to your primary goal. Keep this in mind when creating content for your website.  Every page has a purpose.
• Sleep on it – Create, review, and then review again the following days. 

The Bottom Line

Even if you aren’t a website wizard or a conversion copywriting pro, the Website Strategy Workbook will help guide you into creating content for your website. It also gives me a great starting point of what to work with when designing the site of your dreams.