Your website is a powerful marketing tool for your business. A well-developed website provides information about your company, your background and your brand. More significantly, it can provide helpful resources that encourage visitors to return to your site, and purchase your goods and services. Website publications allow you to demonstrate your expertise, and provide your visitors with information, tools and tips that can enhance their performance. Five effective publications include Tips, Glossary, Frequently Asked Questions, Stories and Case Studies.
1. Tips. Tips are among the easiest and most effective website publications. They consist of a series of recommendations designed to improve performance in a specific area. Your tips should be brief (3-4 sentences maximum), and the first sentence of each tip should consist of an action statement. For example, as a lifestyle coach, one of my favorite tips is “Eat 4 to 6 meals a day.” I then follow this statement with several sentences that describe the benefits of this approach when it comes to losing weight and leading a healthy lifestyle.
2. Glossary. A glossary is another simple website publication you can use to provide useful information to visitors and to demonstrate your expertise in a specific area. Simply identify terms that are of interest to your market niche. For instance, as a cycling coach, I know that cyclists and multisport athletes are interested in learning about power-based training. So I can develop a website glossary that defines terms such as power, functional threshold power, critical power and power meter. The beauty of a glossary is that it is very easy to create and does not require a significant amount of your time. It will also give your readers the type of information that encourages them to return to your website. Just add a new term every couple of weeks to maintain interest.
3. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). FAQ can be used in much the same way as tips and a glossary. However, an advantage of FAQ is that you can use popular questions. Based on your experience, you simply include the questions you have been asked and provide answers for those queries on your website. For example, I am often asked questions such as “How can I increase my power on the bike?” and “What are the benefits of training with power?” By providing the answers to questions like these, I am able to demonstrate my expertise and increase the likelihood that visitors will use my services.
4. Stories. Stories are inspirational anecdotes that can encourage and motivate your visitors. Good stories provide useful information and serve as examples for people to follow. Your stories should be brief (1-3 paragraphs) and honest, and should include a lesson we can all learn from. For example, if you have a customer that overcame a very difficult situation, their story could serve as an inspiration to people dealing with similar problems. Of course, you need to get the customer’s permission before you use their story and you may need to protect their identity as well.
5. Case Studies. A case study is a real life example of a problem and the strategies used to solve that problem. The benefit to the reader is that your case studies will provide specific techniques and tools that can be used to address a variety of common issues and problems. The benefit for you is that case studies provide a very clear demonstration of your knowledge, expertise and effectiveness at dealing with a particular type of problem. Keep your case studies brief and make sure you highlight the key steps readers can take to resolve similar issues in their lives.
