SEO Blog

As I’ve said before, all websites are just a collection of inter-connecting pages. Each page is optimised independently to achieve its own rankings and perform a certain duty. However, just because each page is, fundamentally speaking, unique it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be looking for consistency.

If your design completely changed from one page to the next your site would resemble an online patchwork quilt. There would be no identifiable theme and users might think better of venturing any further. The same though can be true of your content.

Maintaining a continuous theme right throughout your site, and any other online/offline literature can help bridge gaps.

If you’re going to start off with a punchy and witty homepage, visitors are going to become slightly confused if they encounter some serious, technical copy later on. This kind of personality transplant throws a user’s attention and leaves pages without any common bond.

In most instances, the type of content written is fairly consistent purely because it holds a reasonably neutral style. That isn’t to say that it is dull, but quite often a steady pace is maintained so as not to rock the cart and because you’ve used a single writer (or well-briefed team).

It’s hard to ignore it though when a site does stray off course. Whilst you might expect it in the product descriptions, many products demand their own unique style, the top level pages are there to guide people through. Just as with your design, you don’t want to provide any excuses for people to think twice or question your professionalism.

A website is there as a marketing tool remember. So create a personality. Develop a style that is recognisable as being associated with your brand. Don’t just pump all your time into getting it perfect on the homepage, go deeper too. If you send email newsletters, make sure you maintain that tone. Do the same on your blog and printed mailouts.

Whatever you’re writing for and in whichever media it may be, getting audiences to recognise and relate to it is vital. If you decide to mix and match styles it might go unnoticed, you may not have any negative effect whatsoever. However, if branding is important to you and having people recognise your work is a target, then consistency is key.

It’s the seemingly small things like this that can make a big difference. Your ability to persuade visitors to become customers is vital to continued online success and content will play a big part in securing that. Simply bashing out copy on demand and with no real insight into the style and flow of the rest of your businesses literature will leave your pages acting as standalone features – bearing little or no resemblance to everything else.

Tone provides personality. Without a consistent personality, your website will lack any kind of textual focus. Whilst you might see content as a purely SEO feature, used only for adding authority and context for search engines, you can’t forget your visitors. They need reassurance and they have to be able to trust you. Don’t add confusion or give an excuse for mistrust just through your copy.