The Art of Layering Content
By Ashley Ludwig
You have made the decision to have a Web site to promote your business. You know the particulars of what you do & sell better than anybody; now, it is time to put it all down on paper – so to speak. The question is where to begin?
A copywriter will start by asking you about the goals of your business. These goals reflect what you want to accomplish with your Web site. Chances are that you want to show what makes your business unique; you want to explain why customers should seek your advice, buy your products, or book their vacation online from you.
So, how are you going to make sure that people don’t get overwhelmed by too much content, or move on to another site because you haven’t provided enough information?
Through the layering of your content, you can provide people with information at their level of need – giving them a broad understanding of what you are selling, who you are, and how to contact you. Content can be layered through providing key links to more in depth information.
That way, you meet your customers at their level of need. If they are just scanning, the key link will provide the main idea. If they are truly researching, following the links to more in depth information will make sure they are not disappointed by lack of information.
Following well-layered content will keep your customers clicking through your site until they are sold.
Layering Content breaks content down to its core purpose of existence, by asking the following questions:
1. What is your primary objective?
2. What draws someone to your website?
3. What do they want to learn while they are visiting?
Once you have answered those questions, you can arrange your content accordingly. Putting everything and then some on the home page is not the best way to go, however highlighting key areas, directing people to your main ideas, products, or services by providing sidelights and/or call outs can be very beneficial in driving people through your site, and keeping visitors in your site for longer.
To that same effect, if you have captured someone's attention within the first 30 seconds on your home page, chances are they will go looking somewhere else. Standby techniques are still important in drawing the user's eye:
• Bold key words
• Italicize quotes
• Underline text links
• Use bulleted lists
If you were just scanning this page, more than likely you stopped to read the above words. Caught you! With proper use of call outs, formatted text and content layering, your audience will find what information interests them within a click or two - no matter which area of your content they are interested in!
More than just breaking down main ideas into bullet points and linking underlined bits of text, layering content arranges primary issues in a hierarchy of information that compels the user to dig deeper, and cover not only the depth but also the breadth of your site.
A copywriter can be very beneficial in the organization of your information and the narrowing down of your text, but if you wish to organize your own content and don’t know where to begin, start by visiting the sites of your competitors. See what is successful or fails with them.
What draws your eye?
How difficult is it to find what you are looking for?
Take notes and return to your own content to write an outline of how you want to proceed. You’ll find that layered pages are much less threatening to the eye, and a more compelling way of providing content.
Through successful layering of content, the user is met with only as much content as they are prepared to digest at any given time. As they discover points of further interest, they choose to dig deeper, and learn more about the information that compels them. Chances are, they’ll stay and become customers.