Every web page should have a goal, and your content should be tailored to reflect this. Not only will it keep your readers sweet – they’re there for a specific reason, after all – but it also can mean the difference between being near the number one spot in Google’s search results or page two obscurity.

Goal 1: Raw Traffic

The aim of this is to drive the maximum number of visitors to a web page. This is the perfect strategy if you are generating income from advertising rather than selling. Content to attract traffic should contain interesting and engaging text that targets attention-grabbing keywords.

Goal 2: Direct selling

Direct selling is when you sell products or services directly from your web site. Content is sales copy written to encourage purchases. Pay per click advertising is a good way to attract buyers for particular items, but your content needs to be targeted at keywords that convert well to purchases.

Goal 3: Branding

Branding is about raising awareness of your business rather than directly converting visitors to customers. You want readers of branding content to remember your business and form a positive attitude towards it. Social media and blogging are good areas to focus on branding.

Goal 4: Lead acquisition

Lead acquisition is designed to attract enquiries. This content is not selling directly, but wants people to contact you about your company’s services or products. Lead acquisition content invites questions and dialogue.

Goal 5: Reputation management

If your business or business sector has had bad publicity, then reputation management content addresses this, so that readers view your business more favourably.

Goal 6: Ideological influence

You may want to influence public opinion, so influential content should appeal to people searching for information on a controversial topic. Politicians and political groups are influencers, but there are cases where businesses in divisive sectors need to influence public opinion, especially when restrictive laws are proposed.

Before you write content, you need to be clear about which goal your content is trying to accomplish for your business.

John Murray

John is every inch the wordsmith and loves a game of Scrabble above all else. With experience writing for newspapers, John’s time at university was spent studying Creative Writing – something which comes across in his love of the pun.