As anyone will tell you, your business website is your shop window for your company. So it needs to be enticing if you want to get customers through the door. Unfortunately, many people are so focused on telling visitors about their offerings and their company ethos that they forget to make it exciting - the equivalent of a storefront filled with black and white notices.
We get it - you want to be taken seriously as a business but that doesn’t have to mean you should be boring. In this article, we’re sharing four ways to make your business website content grab attention in an AI age.
1. Incorporate Authentic Customer Stories
These days, there are tons of things that AI can do - but there are still a few that it can’t. As great as it is, AI is still a little like Data from Star Trek in that it doesn’t always grasp the nuances of personality. For this reason, website visitors will tend to see right through testimonials that have been generated by artificial intelligence. Reviews and testimonials written by real-live people are relatable for one good reason -
people remember stories.
An example of this might be a furniture company which has a focus on sustainability and conservation. If this business includes real, relatable stories from its customers it automatically fires up the imaginations of website visitors and makes it much more likely that they’ll hang around and perhaps make a purchase.
2. Rely On AI Tools That Commit To Customization
As we’ve mentioned, AI can help us to get the job done in many many ways - and that includes building and designing your website. This can be a fantastic option for companies that don’t have teams of coders and designers ready to leap into action. AI can zip through the nuts and bolts of website building much faster than a mere mortal and can therefore significantly reduce the time needed to get your site running.
Not so fast though - not all AI tools are created equal which means that the results can be less than brilliant. Some content generators, including some streaming apps, use AI tools to churn out films, programs and other content at a rate of knots - resulting in poor quality, generic stuff that consumers don’t want. While this may be a cheap option for the business,
The Guardian argues that it’s counterproductive in the long run.
If you fancy getting onboard with AI to build your website, this is fine - as long as you pick a good quality tool that focuses on personalization and customization as well as speed and efficiency. This is a great way of keeping your content consistent as
Hocoos tells us that a website with great branding is considered credible and trustworthy by its visitors.
3.Spearhead New Research That Competitors Haven’t Covered
Way back in 2015, skincare company, Dove, decided to get nosy and find out how women felt about their own bodies - and the answers were illuminating. It turned out that a great many women had negative feelings about the way they look and many were particularly unhappy with their skin.
The company then launched its #SpeakBeautiful campaign which focused on being kind to ourselves as well as others and aimed to promote body positivity. This is a pitch perfect example of a company tapping into the stories of real people in order to fine tune its messaging and content.
It’s not all one-sided either. Needless to say, this massively successful campaign earned the company lots of new customers who found the content relatable and sympathetic - the core message here is that no matter how great your product is, your customer should always be at the heart of your business.
How to use research and out-of-the-box thinking
- A different angle - Instead of just focusing on your product or service, have a think about content topics that are adjacent and relatable to your audience.
- Partner up - Consumer research can be expensive and time-consuming and so a lot of companies choose to use a specialist agency who already has the know-how and the personnel.
- Getting social - these days, there are some fantastic monitoring and social listening tools available which, essentially, help you to snoop on what people are saying online - including about your brand and your competitors.
1. Be wary of relying on a TL;DR mindset
In our digital world, there’s a looooooot of information out there and the biggest mistake you can make is to publish reams of information that people simply don’t have the time or inclination to plough through. Often, “serious” businesses and organisations will churn out lengthy tomes of important information that simply does not get read - meaning that the message is lost.
Another problem is that, these days, people are increasingly distrustful of content that they find online due to bias, misleading information and
inaccuracy of content according to a 2024 report by Pew Research. This can often mean that content won’t be read or will be read and dismissed.
How to keep it real online
Publishing content online is a really valuable tool and there are a few ways in which you can balance interesting with accurate:
- Take your time - If you’re after long-form, informative and insightful content, thai should never be rushed. Take the time to properly research your subject and get your employees involved in order to gain different perspectives.
- It’s all in the planning - Failing to prepare is preparing to fail and so it’s not enough to throw together some content and then chuck it onto social media. Make a proper content strategy and mix it up with long form, short form content and a handful of statistics.
- The secret source - Always always check and double check your facts and statistics as this is the only way to remain trustworthy.
AI + humans = success
There can be a great deal of distrust around when it comes to AI - not helped by scaremongering by the press. In reality, AI is going to be a big part of our future when it comes to getting things done and keeping costs down.
This does however require a balance. While AI can take over an impressive number of jobs, it doesn’t replace humans. Your content is your store front and so you need to make sure that it's grabby, interesting and informative if you want to keep your business moving forward.
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