Thinking of your website as a model home, you know how important the basic framing is: the foundation and walls, the programming and design. But after you build the house, you’re going to fill it before inviting people in. As a custom home builder, you want to show off your eye for detail and design, the perfect staircase or dramatic lighting that makes your potential home buyer gasp in amazement.  Think of your website content as home interior. And that’s why your website is only going to be as good as your content.

Content is what conveys your message, boosts online presence and traffic, and invites the home buyer in. Content needs to be fresh, and it needs to be convincing. We offer a few tips on writing and preparing good web copy.

Be personable. While professional, the atmosphere of company websites online are expected to be personal and relaxed. Very formal language is often looked at askance; you don’t want to be reciting your company history like a Wiki page. You want to tell them a story. Write in first, not third person. Even more important is avoid a pressured, sales-oriented tone.

Now of course you’re looking for sales. But sales are a second step. The first step is drawing interested attention. And that’s designed around giving your potential custom home buyer the information they want. Tell them what you can do for them! People highly distrust pressured marketing and advertising online, even moreso than they do in traditional print advertisement. Visitors want helpful and informative content that isn’t all in their faces. Your style will back up your assurances of honesty and customer service. Hype doesn’t sell.

Be organized. People scan when they read online. Studies show that they skim written material online far more than they do in traditional print media. You want to think like a newspaper, not a book. In fact, too much text will often push people away. Big bold headlines will grab attention and succinctly summarize the material underneath, so that your home buyer can flick through until they find what they need. Then nicely-written and well-organized paragraphs attached will offer them more detail.

And we’re sure you know this, but avoid caps lock. They don’t draw attention, they just feel like SOMEONE IS SHOUTING at you.

Enrich your text. Here’s where we think more about marketing. Using keywords in your copy is necessary if you want to draw in a crowd. SEO enriched copy is key. A balance here is important: use them throughout every page, but don’t over use them, as you don’t want to sound spammy or forceful. When creating keywords, think as the user. What words would you use to find your site? What terms would you throw into Google? Remember that they’re searching as a home buyer, not as someone already involved in the industry. So avoid jargon and use natural phrases.

SEO is crucial. If your website is the model home, and your content the interior design, then SEO is the map to it. If you build a beautiful custom home and no one sees it, what’s the point? You wouldn’t build a custom model home in the middle of the desert! You’d make it easily accessible and well-advertised. So too your website. As always, feel free to contact us with any SEO or web design questions.