This is the first of a 5-part Blueprint on building great content for your website.
My goal for this series is to provide you with new techniques and approaches for developing content for your website, while keeping them as actionable and succinct as possible.
This process of content creation will work if you are a nonprofit organization, a small business, or an individual looking to build a presence online.
And today, we start with a look at why you need a website.
1. Having a website shows that you are a serious and established organization.
If you have a website it shows that you have taken the time to establish yourself. You will be perceived as more reliable, more established, more legitimate, and as professional.
2. It is the online hub for information about you
Your website can be the ONE PLACE online for people to find out all the information they need about you. Having your own site allows you to publish all of the information needed.
If you are having an event do people need to go to Facebook, EventBrite, or Meetup to find the information they need. Wait do they need to have an account to access it?
Stop loosing people on the web. Having a site will make it easy for people to know where to find the information they need to support you or your cause.
3. You can control the experience
On Social Network platforms you really don’t have very much control over the way your page and content looks. You don’t really have a way to create your brand.
On your own site you have the ability to really create a space that shows off who you are. You are able to take control of how you are viewed online. You can tell the story you want to tell.
4. You have control of the content
Having your own website allows you to publish what you want, when you want.
On Social Networking sites you don’t know if people will see your posts. You are just part of a busy feed. And also, there is no guarantee that your content will even be visible to all of your fans.
You need to remember that Facebook is a business and one of the ways they make money is through sponsored posts, so if you aren’t willing to pay them, they are not going to help you get the word out about what you are doing.
Facebook and other Social networks are awesome and you should use them, but they cannot be the center of your online presence. A better model would be to use Social networking as a way to promote new content on your site and while they are visiting your site you need to encourage them to join your email list.
5. You don’t have to worry about it going away
Remember Myspace? Well, if you don’t it was all the rage and then collapsed when Facebook came along. If you have a website you don’t have to worry about all of your visitors disappearing overnight when the next ‘best thing’ comes along.
There are many many more reasons why you need to have your own website, but I think these are some of the most important.
In the next post in the content blueprint series, we’ll be delving into what pages you need and how to design an effective navigation menu.
If you have any questions in the meantime, just send a message via the contact form , I will respond personally.