I have no clue what's going on with poor Walter and assume he's at least somewhat OK given he's texting; hopefully he wasn't on the way to see me when whatever happened happened. Meanwhile, I'm selfishly bummed because I was pretty jacked up and ready to talk about his site, whose content I'll be spiffing up (I think I'll survive the wait).
If you need a host, bartender, coat-checker or anything of the sort for a party, Walter's your guy. But you wouldn't necessarily know that off the bat if you visit his Web site, OnlyTheBestInChicago.com.
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Content Strategy to the Rescue
Yet if I stumbled upon his site, I wouldn't know what his business could do for me unless I had the time to browse the pages -- and you can't assume I do. A strategic changes to the content, however, can help, and he wouldn't even have to change the structure of his site.
Take the home page, for example. The main thing I get from it is that he believes in customer service, is excited to have me visit the site and is dedicated to helping me.
It's all very noble, and those sentiments can definitely have a place on a home page. But what services is he selling? Yes, it says hospitality at the top of the page, but there are a lot of types of hospitality. And where are these services available? If I find his site and am in New Jersey, can this business help me?
Not only are these missing keywords making it difficult for the user to understand what his business can do for him or her, the search engines are equally confused. SEO will definitely be a part of the prescription.
The services page is much more on target in terms of content; a visitor can quickly understand what Walter's business offers, and those keywords help search engines too. That said, I'd like to see a conversational but short introduction to the page reiterating quality and customer service; summarizing the services; and telling me where he can help me -- all in about a sentence or two.
I like the bullet approach but would want to keep the construction parallel. Also, when I talk to him I'm going to see what services fall under the "and much more" category. I'm still wondering how large or small these events can be and who his partners, if any, are. There are other little tidbits to fill in, and all that info --the gist of it, that is -- we can use to clarify the home page too.
When I spoke with Walter initially he mentioned wanting to play up his 15 years of industry experience, which is a great idea for the About Us section. I like this page and think reiterating the team's commitment to quality is important here. Although, off the top of my head though I wonder what those hours are about -- customer service contact hours I assume, because I know his party services do not end at 5 p.m. :)
And finally, I'd like to work on the Contact Us page. I'd want to know as a site visitor what that form is for. Is it to schedule an appointment? Get more information? It says "to be added to a customer list," but at this point, there's no impetus to join any customer list and frankly, it turns me off as a visitor. I want info, not to join your mailing list if I barely know you.
I'm curious about the coding for his site and all other things SEO, and of course I want to know about his goals. Sure I can help him with the copy and strategy as it exists, but we can brainstorm other Web site features and social media reach that might be useful for his business too.
They're some of the many reasons I can't wait to finally get to talk with him -- after he's recovered of course. Content strategy is awesome, but we want him well first.
Related: The Gospel of Content Strategy: The Word's Spreading?
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