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How many times have you accessed company websites and left them the same way you entered, that is, without answers. Or worse, with even more doubts than I had before
Know that they are many and in some segments, they are the majority. But the question that matters in this case is: “Is your site not included in this huge group?”.
If your site corresponds to that of a micro or small company, there are great chances that the content is similar to many others, even if you were concerned about some differentiation or that it had the “company face”.
Want to change it? Want your content to truly reflect the business? Even more, do you want it to actually bring customers?
So pay attention, because in the next few lines we will teach you how to do it…
The scenario of micro and small companies
Before we get into the tips and practical examples of how to create content for the website of a micro or small company, it is of fundamental importance to understand the scenario of these companies in Brazil and that if you are here, it is because you are included in it.
This is because many of the “formulas” that exist are either translations of concepts created by specialists with global recognition, or are quite adequate and applicable only to large companies and business groups, which in turn are also generally the focus of these specialists.
And well, you and the majority strive to do everything – or as much as possible – exactly as it appears in the various guides that promise to reveal all the “secrets”, after all they are the “gurus” of the subject.
But the reality of a micro and small company, can and usually is, quite different and for that reason, not everything that is valid for them is also valid for your company.
The obvious conclusion is that the results can also be quite different.
Another important point is the practical effect of this world of information that exists on the Internet about content creation.
It is likely that you have researched a lot about it, to try to apply at least some of the defended concepts and with that, obtain the success that the Internet can produce, is not it?
But at this point, we’re back to the beginning of this chat, that is, you didn’t understand a lot, or you understood, but you didn’t know how to adjust and apply it to the reality of your business. The truth is that the language used does not help. A lot of words and terms that most don’t know and the explanations that accompany this whole conversation, more confusing than clarifying.
Everyone says that the most important thing is to be very clear about who the persona is, but they complicate things too much when saying that a persona is nothing more than that consumer that you know in detail about him/herself and who represents the most typical customer of your company .
You don’t know why you ordered an extensive and complex – and also expensive! – search for a specialized company, but because you personally and frequently serve many of these clients, talk to them, some have been clients for years and there are even cases in which you are already serving the second generation of the family.
But despite all the knowledge you have of the segment in which you operate, the competition, the customers, the theory that exists in the mountains in the most diverse sites, does not explain how to combine one knowledge with the other and produce real results.
You get tired, you get discouraged, you find everything too complicated and in the end, you end up doing what all your competitors already do. We have already talked about this, especially in the “institutional website paradigm”, in the post on Content Marketing for micro and small companies, which we recommend reading, as it has everything to do with this one.
The result could not be otherwise. Your institutional website receives a few dozen – or not even that – monthly visits, half a dozen queries divided between e-mail and telephone service and no sales, or at least some that you can clearly identify.
It is obvious, after all, understanding Google Analytics, the website metrics, the much talked about Digital Marketing and SEO and the immense alphabet soup of the area and still managing to gather and apply everything, seems crazy!
If you saw yourself in this scenario, then the next topic promises to change the way of creating content for the website, without having to be an expert on the Internet and all its “secrets”.
7 tips for creating content for micro and small business websites
Before we get our hands dirty, it is important to highlight a few points.
Not everything is applicable in the same way, since the variety of businesses is immense. In other words, what may serve a retail establishment very well may be impractical for a residential service provider.
From the above observation, it is concluded that it is not possible to cover the variety of existing commercial activities with examples.
The idea is to “teach” how to think and see your business through the eyes of your customers and not your own.
1. Model or type of site
The first tip isn’t exactly about content, but it often affects your creation and that will soon become clear.
Your website does not need to follow any common template or website type. Don’t get attached to labels, because this to some extent limits your content.
Think of typical institutional websites. All of them – or the vast majority – have a basic structure, consisting of a home page, a products or services page, the who we are page, another contact or contact us page. Eventually, and depending on what the entrepreneur thinks is important to show his clients, some other one.
From this model, the vast majority think of content to fill each of these pages and end up falling into the same trap, that is, they change the words of the content, but say the same things. In fact, they say nothing of what potential customers wanted to find.
The reality is that most institutional sites are very boring, square, outdated and don’t sell anything to anyone. Almost dead weight!
Or do you really think that someone reads and those who read it feel impacted by the formal content, meticulously studied and full of words that are foreign to the popular vocabulary and that usually characterize the “who we are” page of many of these sites? Honestly no!
And here we go back to the beginning, because in the case of a large company looking for another capable of providing a service, this may be of some relevance, but that does not match the reality of a worker looking for a labor lawyer to represent him in a lawsuit against your former employer.
2. Use your experience and knowledge of your customers
The more experience working in a segment, the more knowledge you have of your typical customers (personas, if you prefer), which should be used to create the contents of the site.
What questions do customers most frequently ask in different service situations? What are the most common questions? What objections tend to occur in different sales situations? What happens most commonly in the post-sales? What needs and wants do the products/services matter most to them? Why do they choose to buy from your company over your competitors?
Of course, all of this must also be commonplace in relation to potential customers and, therefore, must be part of the content of the chosen type of site.
3. Google Reviews
Don’t have that much experience, or worse, are you just starting out in the area? Use Google reviews to find out what’s on your audience’s mind.
When searching for commercial establishments on Google and the companies in question have a “Company Profile”, among the information related to the business, there is a part reserved for “questions and answers”.
Note that added to the comments contained in the evaluations, as in the previous item (experience / knowledge), they constitute both commonplace and important questions for someone to give preference to a company over others.
4. Use images
The Web nowadays is much more visual than textual and content in the form of images is also informational content.
Consider a notebook, for example. Good images, in sufficient quantity and that explore the details of the equipment, can be as or more useful than just an extensive technical sheet of the model.
Not that technical content isn’t important. Yes it is. But only for one installment. And the laity?
Or maybe in the case of a restaurant, a situation in which photos of the environments, the dishes, the kitchen, are much more inviting than anything that can be said about the chef, the preparations, or any other issue.
5. Use your social networks
If your company is on social networks, take advantage of the content that is produced for them and also use them on your website, especially those that are more visual, such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Yes, because their videos are easily embeddable. Even if your site is based on WordPress, there are plugins that make the process easy.
In addition to saving work on creating exclusive content, it is possible to enrich the site with other content formats that many are more conducive to consumption, which is the case of videos.
This is an important precaution, because as we know, not everyone is on social media.
6. Create fast consumption content
It is necessary to bear in mind that more than ever, those who use the Internet are looking for simple, direct, objective answers that are often decisive in making their choice.
But there are also generations that have characteristics that literally distance them from certain types of content, such as text like this one. There are rare Millennials, Z’s and Alphas who “waste” their time reading anything that can’t be written in a line or two, except when absolutely necessary.
Instead, they prefer to look for a video, and even better if it’s a short or a reel, the well-known short videos on YouTube and Instagram.
But when, for whatever reason, text content is the only option, try to answer objectively and directly, similar to what is used in a FAQ. By the way, if so, it can be an important part of your website.
When this is combined with tips 3, 4 and 5, you get something that is a frequent difficulty for small businesses, which is the production of new content and positioning well on the results pages for certain searches. Also, it favors the next tip.
7. Frequency of content
The frequency and consistency in the production of new content is a factor that contributes to the engagement of customers / visitors. Know that no website, no social network account, which seems abandoned or whose content is old, manages to keep its audience.
Internet users are driven by novelty.
Therefore, do not worry about exhausting a subject in a post or in any publication, whether on the blog or on a social network. Study developments, other approaches, particularities and details about a topic that can generate new content.
This type of treatment, if combined with tips 3, 4, 5 and 6, will always allow you to create something new, interesting and attractive to a portion of your audience.
Conclusion
The production of content on the website of micro and small companies must take into account the particularities that differ from medium and large companies.
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