Communication is everything when you are advertising or running your business online. Your online content must be clear and concise so you do not confuse consumers. It is important that consumers do not leave your website before they fully and easily understand what it is you are offering.

There are a lot of ways that businesses confuse customers with their content. Let’s look at some of those ways so you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Inactive Twitter Accounts Or Other Social Media Accounts

If you use social media to keep your customers informed about your services and products be sure to keep those accounts active, by posting frequently.

Hashtag Overuse

If you are using social media and every other word you use is a hashtag, that’s hashtag overuse. If your consumer doesn’t find your hashtag meaningful they will feel like you are wasting their time.

Hyperactive Brand Name Tracking

It is a savvy idea to track how often your brand is mentioned across social networks. It is also smart to interact with consumers online. You don’t have to reply to everyone who mentions your brand, but respond to selected ones where you can offer the most information.

Write In Terms Your Customer Will Understand

If the consumer doesn’t understand what you are selling they are not going to trust you with their hard earned cash. At times writers do not realize they are writing in terms others cannot easily comprehend until someone points it out to them.

Never Use Vague Headlines 

Your headlines should always be clear. You wouldn’t order off a menu if you weren’t sure what the meal offered. Don’t hint about your product, just be clear. Potential customers find vague headlines to be frustrating and misleading.

Never Make Assumptions

Never base content on assumptions about your targeted market. Customers will walk away from information that is directed at them, but does not in any way apply to them.

Mystery Links

Hyperlinks can be major distractions. It is difficult to focus on the content when hyperlinks are distracting the reader. Every time you use a link make it relevant.

Always Appreciate Customer Needs

It is important that besides sharing content that you address your customer’s problems, needs and questions. Let the customer know that you value their input and want to help them find solutions to their issues.

Don’t Hide Your Contact Info

If you are providing the consumer with an anchor link to your contact page, make sure that your Contact Us page is visible somewhere close by. Customers who want to contact you online can get confused and give up if they cannot easily access your contact information.

Stay Focused

You can cater to different targets, but remember that no matter how much you may want to you cannot provide everything to everyone. It is better to focus on one subject per blog content than to confuse customers with multiple subjects.

Follow Up Quickly And Professionally

Customers want to feel your company out before committing. By providing consumers with an automatic follow up that is built into your page, such as a newsletter or offering a more information link you are giving them the confidence that you care about their questions.

Make Sure That Your Offers Are Timely

Far too often businesses send out offers that by the time consumers open them through an email they are expired. Don’t ever send out a discount offer that expires within 24 hours. Give the consumer time to decide if the offer is right for them.

Offer Consumers Repeat Business Incentives

If a consumer gets a quality product and good service there is a chance they will be a repeat customer. If you want to ensure they will be back offer them 10% to 15% discounts to come back and purchase again.

If the content you offer consumers is clear and your product or service is top quality you’ll have no problem getting consumers to purchase from you on more than one occasion. Being clear in your content is a prime key in keeping consumers happy.

Picture by David Duprey