Now that you have worked through the other steps, created a design for you site and developed a working website it’s time to add in the content to your pages.

Using Your Content Management System

Hopefully when your website was developed you took my advice, and used a web programmer that added a content management system (CMS) to the backend of your website. The CMS will enable you to easily added/delete pages and put text and photos into these pages, then edit this content whenever you please. If not, then you will need some basic HTML skills to modify your website pages.

Formatting your website content

Content is king, but you have to format your content with some energy, fun and flare. Break up your copy with bullet points, use photos and icons, descriptive headlines and some quotes or testimonials. Don’t just slap some txt on the page and call it a day. Make it interesting.

Here are a few tips on making your content interesting and readable:

• Make sure your font size is at least 10pt or larger depending on your target market. If your target users are 50+ then use a larger font for better readability.
• Use short paragraphs that don’t go over seven or eight lines.
• Break up your content using bullet points, headlines and subheads whenever possible.
• Sprinkle calls to action on all the pages and written into your text. Make them stand out visually and textually.
• Don’t use a lot of white type on black background it ends up being hard on the eyes, and don’t use light type on a light background or visa versa. Its too hard to read.
• Use a consistent tone when writing the website text (copy) and if you need help use a professional copywriter. You will be happy you did.
• Keep any web forms simple and concise. Only ask for the information that you absolutely need, and nothing more.
• Double and triple check our spelling. Bad grammar reflects poorly on your company.
• Talk like there is a customer in front of you. Be natural in your writing. Don’t use words that your target audience won’t understand. If your talking to doctors or scientists then use words they understand. If you’re a doctor or scientist talking to the general public then you might have to dumb it down a bit.

Stay on course and don’t forget your website objectives and target audience

Be relaxed and professional so it sounds like a conversation, but above all keep in mind your target audience, website objectives and purpose of your website. Write all your content and feature any images or icons that support your site objectives. Stay on course and don’t go off track. If you stay on track you will have developed good communication with your visitor and motivated them to take the next step.

Website analytics and reporting tools

After the design and once it’s programmed so it’s a working website you need to have some type of analytics software installed on your site. The best free analytics are provided by Google click here. Any decent web programmer or designer uses Google analytics. There are other analytics software but why pay for something that you can get for free. Google analytics has all the reporting features and statistics that just about any website needs.

Once the analytics are installed on your site you will be able to track your traffic. Everything from where the visitors are going, coming from, page they’re leaving from, average visitor time on site, geographic ranges and so much more. Then you can use that data to revise the pages, content or calls to action on your website.

You could find out that after landing on your home page visitors are going to your about us page and then leaving. That tells you there is something wrong on your about us page. Maybe there are no links to other pages, maybe there are typos, maybe there’s not enough information or maybe your site is attracting the wrong visitors.

Analytics will be an important part of your websites success. The data will help you plan for other phases of your website, and make the necessary modifications to the design, text, layout, structure and any other part of your site based on the data you receive. Without analytics you’re making an un-educated guess.


I hope this has helped you get a better idea of what it takes to develop a good website. It’s a big task and I’m sure you’re up to it. Post any comments or questions that you have. We would love to hear them.