For various reasons I visit a few business websites each week.
I might be looking for a business to write about for the blogging analysis series.
I might be looking at an app or tool to help Ghost Blog Writers.
Or I might be simply bumming around the Web looking for cool things.
When I’m looking around I often see some really great websites. The design on many of today’s websites is great. It’s visually appealing. There are all kinds of cool things that make the experience of browsing a website enjoyable, entertaining, educational and more.
But one thing that frustrates me, and it happens too often, is that I’m confused by website headings.
Website Headings: The Basics
So let’s cover the basics first.
A heading is the main title on a website page.
In this instance, the first and most important heading on the page you’re reading now is the title of the blog post.
Blog post titles aren’t easy. Different things can work, but usually you want to give readers insight into what they’re going to get from reading the content on the page.
Regular website pages can get trickier.
The purpose of the page isn’t always worked or or decided upon. And that can lead to some confusing headings.
Confusing Headings
I won’t have any examples for this section or for the post. I don’t want to call anybody out and really that isn’t even the point. Coming up with good headings can be difficult especially when you know what your business does so well. It’s hard to think about it from the perspective of the customer.
But some of the confusing headings I see on websites include:
- Meant-to-be funny or clever quips
- Overcomplicated names, phrases, descriptions
- Industry terms
- Weird sliders
There are lots of other types of headings on homepages, product pages and other business website pages. I see those most often along with some other odd things.
The common denominator with them all is that they’re confusing.
I think the most frustrating two on the list are overcomplicated names and industry terms.
These can happen when you’re very involved in your business. It’s easy to use terms that are obvious to you and those that are deeply involved in the industry like you.
But to your website visitors the terms don’t make any sense.
Let’s say you’re a software company and the heading on your homepage is the name of your software package. Chances are that won’t mean anything to a potential new customer.
The same would be true if you used a heading that tries to describe what your software does, but uses too many industry terms.
Good Website Headings
Good website headings tell a visitor, in as simple of terms as possible, exactly what they’re going to get from the rest of the content on the page.
If someone is on your homepage for the first time they want to know what they should expect.
Let’s say you’re a social media services company. You have teams that manage entire social media efforts for growing businesses.
You could have a heading on the homepage like:
Social Media Done For Your Business
That’s pretty straightforward. There might be a few better variations, but that’s not bad.
You can also get creative with headings and sub-headings with something like:
No time to handle your social media marketing?
We do it for you and we’ll get the engagement you want.
You’re looking for headings that immediately speak to the visitor. When they see that question above the right person, your target customer, will say:
You’re right. I don’t have time to do social media. I need help.
But you have to be a little careful with that approach because most visitors want to know what you do and it’s crazy how many businesses don’t state in simple terms what they do on their websites with headings.
Conclusion
The last tip I want to leave you with from this post is that you want to state, in as simple of terms as possible, what your visitor gets from you with your headings.
Answer that question.
Your visitor is asking:
What do I get?
Your answer is often the heading your looking for.
So in the case of GBW the answer is:
Blogging Services for Businesses
And one final final tip – always look to tweak the heading. Not all the time, but every once in a while. Take a look at the headings on your site and tweak things. See if there is a better, clearer way to say what your visitors get from your business and the content on your website.
Take that approach and you’ll find that your website should convert better because your visitors will be less confused.