Last night I had dinner with a guy who owns his own business. We were talking about online business and the benefits and impact of social media on small companies and industries like the real estate business.
The purpose of him wanting to talk with me was because he knew that I have experience writing website content for companies and he's looking to redo his own website and wanted my feedback.
One thing stuck out on page after page
of his site, as I was going through it - paragraphs...and paragraphs...and more paragraphs. Tons of information that I assume, if I read it, was telling me all about him and his business. There was so much information, that the mere volume of information turned me off from reading any of it.
I felt like I was looking at an encyclopedia, not a website. I certainly didn't feel connected, engaged or like I was interacting with him or his company at all.
I told him the first place to start was to:
The same rules apply for blogging, really. We blog for business - so naturally, businesses use our software as a service to their company and their readership. When your writers are blogging for your company, are they writing blogs or are they rewriting The Odyssey?
The point is - when people search for information, they want information quick. They're searching, but they dont want to surrrrrrrch (note: this is the best way I could think to insinuate boring work). They want to find your blog quickly, scan it, decide whether you're giving them what they want, and move on with their lives.
Here's what you can do:
Check in with Compendium to see how simple blogging software and best practices can benefit your business.
The purpose of him wanting to talk with me was because he knew that I have experience writing website content for companies and he's looking to redo his own website and wanted my feedback.
One thing stuck out on page after page
of his site, as I was going through it - paragraphs...and paragraphs...and more paragraphs. Tons of information that I assume, if I read it, was telling me all about him and his business. There was so much information, that the mere volume of information turned me off from reading any of it. I felt like I was looking at an encyclopedia, not a website. I certainly didn't feel connected, engaged or like I was interacting with him or his company at all.
I told him the first place to start was to:
- take the amount of words he had on his site and cut them down by 75%
- Bullet them out
- Give the readers quick hits and tidbits of information
- Make it easy for them to do business with him. They don't want to feel like they have to clock in and clock out to find out more information on what he does.
The same rules apply for blogging, really. We blog for business - so naturally, businesses use our software as a service to their company and their readership. When your writers are blogging for your company, are they writing blogs or are they rewriting The Odyssey?
The point is - when people search for information, they want information quick. They're searching, but they dont want to surrrrrrrch (note: this is the best way I could think to insinuate boring work). They want to find your blog quickly, scan it, decide whether you're giving them what they want, and move on with their lives.
Here's what you can do:
- Say what you need to say in the least amount of words it takes to get the point across.
- use your keywords properly
- bullet the content in your posts
- engage your readers by providing links and calls to action - easy steps for them to connect with your business
- don't bombard them with your entire company in one post.
Check in with Compendium to see how simple blogging software and best practices can benefit your business.

When I think "range," my mind immediately goes to golf or guns. Not ovens. Actually, there's only one oven-looking device on the first two google image search pages when you type in "range." So it's not at the top of other peoples' minds either.
People don't check Webster's Dictionary or the phonebook before they visit search engines to search for your company's keywords. Sometimes they're going to misspell their searches and you want to win those searches - even if they're "wrong." Right? 





