Workshop: Create website content that captivates your target audience

To reach your potential customers and engage your target audience, your website is the most crucial platform. Therefore, it’s important that the content on your website is eye-catching and purposeful. 

We have created a workshop with various tasks to help you think through how the content of your company’s website can be optimised to meet – and perhaps even exceed – your audience’s expectations. 

A website with content tailored to the target audience has a greater chance of: 

• Standing out from the competition 

• Increasing relevant traffic to the site 

• Enhancing brand loyalty 

• Sparking curiosity among potential customers 

• Increasing engagement from existing customers 

• Boosting conversions and sales 

Once the workshop is completed, you will have several great ideas on how to strengthen the content on your website in a way that resonates with your target audience. 

Are you ready to be inspired? Then let’s get started with the workshop! 

About the workshop

The purpose of this workshop is to generate ideas for optimising your website with exciting, well-crafted, and thoughtful content that resonates with the people you are trying to reach. 

The workshop is ideal for those of you who: 

• Have a professional website 

• Have a blog or a website where you share your passion with the world 

• Have a online shop 

• Have a website for your restaurant 

• Are just starting to create a website or online store  

If you don’t have a website yet and are about to embark on your digital journey, you can also use this workshop as a guide for what to consider when creating content for your website for the first time. 

At one.com, you can generate a complete website in seconds with our AI website creator. After that you are, of course, free to add and change the content as you wish. 

The workshop can be completed in its entirety, or you can select the tasks that suit you. It can also be done both together with colleagues and alone. Completing the entire workshop will take approximately 3.5 hours. 

Workshop part 1: Gathering information and inspiration

Welcome to the Workshop! Are you ready to fill your mind with creative ideas for a content-rich website that your target audience will remember? 

The first task in this workshop involves gathering information and inspiration that will be essential to have, not just in the back of your mind, but right at the forefront as you embark on creative work. 

No house is built without tools, so to get the most out of this workshop, we need to bring along a toolbox. We will gather necessary information and set our minds to creative mode. Get ready to be both informed and inspired! 

Task 1: your competitors

It’s always acceptable to draw inspiration from your competitors. Having a good overview of who your competitors are is strategically beneficial for several reasons. It gives you: 

• An understanding of the kind of presentation and content your target audience is being exposed to by others besides you. 

• Knowledge of the choices made by businesses or individuals aiming to reach the same people as you. 

• Insights into what you can do to stand out in the crowd. 

This insight will also help you become more familiar with your target audience since you now know the range they will experience when deciding which company they want to engage with. 

Let’s get started with the first task! 

Task 1A: Identify your competitors

Estimated time: 25 minutes 

Identify the websites of three competitors each, or five if you are working alone.  

If there are many participants or you don’t have many direct competitors, you can also choose companies or websites that are not direct competitors but operate in the same industry, both nationally and internationally. Spend about 15 minutes on this. 

Present the competitors you have found to each other, or write down your findings if you are alone:  

• Who are they? 

• In what way are they competitors?  

Consider whether it is easy to understand whom your competitor is trying to reach on their website. 

Task 1B: Analyse competitors’ websites

Estimated time: 20 minutes 

After the presentation, each of you can choose one competitor’s website. If you are working alone, you can choose three of the five you found. Then, spend 10 minutes to: 

1) Identify three types of content on the competitor’s website that you can draw inspiration from. 

This could be a well-organised homepage, well-crafted texts, effective use of images, a clear and explanatory video, or easy-to-navigate design. 

2) Identify three types of content that have potential for improvement. 

Discuss together or write down your findings. Consider: 

• How can you be inspired by these findings to create similar content for your own website? 

• How would you make the content with improvement potential if you were to create something similar on your website? 

Once Task 1 is complete, keep the list of competitors you have identified. This list will be useful to monitor ongoing trends in the industry and to see what choices your competitors make in the future. 

Task 2: Your target audience

To create content for your website that makes your target audience remember you, it’s important to have a clear understanding of who your audience is. 

If you have already identified and defined your target audience, you can complete this task easily: 

Spend 5 minutes refreshing your memory by reviewing what you know about the audience you aim to reach. Consider: 

• What motivates your audience to make a purchase? 

• How do the segments your audience is sorted into (e.g., age, geography, interests) influence what they value in a brand? 

If you haven’t looked closely at your target audience yet, this is the opportunity to get to know them better! Since this workshop focuses primarily on creating content for your website, we’ll take a quick approach. 

If you wish to delve deeper into understanding your target audience, we offer another workshop where you can develop a tailored communication profile for your target audience. 

Task 2A: Find your target audience

Estimated time: 30 minutes 

Open a new document on your computer or set aside a page in your notebook. Spend 20 minutes finding out as much as you can about who your target audience is. 

Remember that most businesses have more than one target audience. Perhaps some of your services are suitable for teenagers, while other services are better for retirees? Are some of your products more suitable for beginners, while others are better suited for experts? 

Consider if it makes sense for your business to have a few different target audiences. 

Here are some tips on where to look: 

• Customer history: What customers do you already have? What are their common characteristics? 
   
  This could be age, geographic area, an interest or lifestyle that creates a need for your products or services, or perhaps they share a common challenge that your brand can solve for them. 

• Business idea and vision: What is your company’s original purpose and vision? 
   
  The business idea often explains what you aim to sell and who you envision these products or services are for. This is a very good starting point to identify the company’s target audience and to reflect on whether this has changed over time. 
   

• Competitors: Who are your competitors trying to reach? 
   
  After having a good look at your competitors in the previous task, you might have a sense of who they are trying to reach. Since these are the same people, you want to reach, this can also be a good starting point for identifying your own target audience. 

Task 2B: Presentation of your target audience

Present your findings to each other – or organise them neatly in your document if you are working alone. Consider: 

• What motivates your target audience to make a purchase? 

• How do the segments your audience is sorted into (e.g., age, geography, interests) influence what they value in a brand? 

When the presentations are finished, gather all the information you have found so that you now have a comprehensive list of who your target audience is and the key points about them that are worth remembering when creating content for your website. 

Task 3: What is a good website?  

Let’s take one last round to fuel your creativity before diving into your own website! No matter the size of your budget or how much content you have planned for your website, it’s always okay to be inspired by a truly great website.  

Set aside any thoughts of “unrealistic,” “expensive,” and “difficult to achieve,” and get ready to be inspired. 

Task 3A: Examples of great websites

Estimated time: approximately 15 minutes 

Spend 10 minutes finding the two websites you like the most. Or four if you are doing the workshop alone. 

What constitutes “a good website” is entirely up to you! Maybe they have some great graphic elements that inspire you, or they write in an engaging way that makes you smile? 

If you don’t immediately think of any websites, feel free to browse around for good websites, preferably within your industry. 

As a little cheat sheet to get started, you can check out the winners and nominated websites for the Webby Awards 2024. 

Task 3B: Create the ultimate website inspiration list

Estimated time: approximately 15 minutes  

Present the websites to each other or write down what you’ve found if you’re doing the workshop alone. Consider: 

• What is it I really like about this website? 

• How does this website stand out from others? 

• Is there anything on this website we can be inspired by when we work on content for our own site? 

After the presentation, gather all the presented websites in a document, or if you feel like it, make it in the format of a mood board or something similar! This piece can now be used as an inspiration list that may be worthwhile going through when you need to get creative.  

Be sure to give yourself a pat on the back when the inspiration list is done, because that also marks the completion of Part 1 of this workshop!  

Workshop Part 2 – Content for your website

Congratulations on successfully completing Part 1 of the workshop!  

With a thorough overview of your competitors, a clear idea of who you are creating content for, and a good dose of inspiration from some of the best websites, you have all the tools you need to dive into Part 2. 

In this part of the workshop, we will move on to focus on your own website! Whether it has been around for a while or was just created, you are in the perfect mindset to take a fresh and unique look at its content with new eyes. 

Part 2 of the workshop consists of five tasks, each addressing a specific aspect of content for your website. Choose the tasks that are most relevant to your website. 

To complete these tasks, it’s time to channel your inner method actor! If that sounds a bit intimidating, don’t worry. There’s will be no need for a hat or fake moustache. 

Preliminary task for part 2: Your target audience 

Equipped with the results of Part 1, imagine that you are part of your own target audience. Spend a few minutes envisioning your daily life, your age, where you live, and what your interests are.  

Pay special attention to how your daily life creates a need for the product or service your company offers. Consider that you, as part of your target audience, have already visited all of the competitor websites.

In this task, feel free to be as creative as you like. If you are working in a group, you can present yourselves to each other with a fictional name and share about “yourself.” If you are working alone, you can create a small note describing who “you” are. 

Describe who you are, where you come from, what your daily life is like, and why you are looking for the product or service your company offers.  

The point is to really immerse yourself in the personas of the people you are trying to captivate with exciting content. 

Once your new, temporary persona is ready, it’s time to open your website! 

Task 4: Placement of information 

Estimated time: 10 minutes 

As a person in your target audience, you need the products or services that your company sells. You have already seen several alternatives from your competitors, but at this moment, you stumble upon your company’s website. 

Open your website and try to visualise that you are seeing it for the very first time. Spend ten minutes browsing through it and note down: 

• As a part of the target audience, does the most important information come across clearly? 

• Does the homepage make you interested in learning more? 

• Is there anything missing on the site that would have sparked your interest? 

• What creative solutions that haven’t been implemented on the site could be added? 

This task and the next can be discussed together, so once you have finished noting down your observations, you can proceed directly to the next task. 

Task 5: Visual elements

Now that we’ve looked at the information on the website, let’s focus on the visual elements. 

A good website often uses visual elements to create a certain mood for the target audience and to present information in an exciting, creative, and engaging way. Visual elements can also make it easier for the audience to absorb information.  

This can include using images, illustrations, or simply whitespace to break up text, presenting information through videos or images, or placing elements in a way that makes the website feel calm rather than chaotic. 

Task 5A: A picture is worth a thousand words

Estimated time: 15 minutes 

Open your website again, keeping your temporary persona as someone from your target audience. Spend another 10 minutes browsing through the site. This time, note down the following: 

• Are there any visual elements on the site that immediately catch your attention? 

• Is any of the information difficult to understand? If so, would it be easier to understand if it were presented with, for example, some images or a video? 

• Are there places on the website where it would be nice to supplement with images, illustrations, or videos? 

• Have you seen any websites where they have solved the presentation of similar information in a way that could be interesting to implement on your site? 

When you have finished reviewing, spend a few minutes discussing your findings. Write down any areas on the site that seem ripe for a refresh, along with any suggestions for improvements. 

Task 5B: Alternative pages 

Estimated time: 20 minutes 

Now imagine you have been tasked with creating a new version of one of your pages on your website. It should contain the same information, but the information should be presented in an entirely different way than it is today.  

You can choose which page to use, or you can distribute the pages among yourselves if there are several participants. 

The goal of this task is primarily to explore different ways the information on the page can be presented. It’s more important to do something completely different from what is currently done than to find the perfect answer. 

It’s entirely up to you how the new version of the page should look, but to get started, here’s a list of common visual elements on a good website: 

• Images 

• Illustrations 

• Icons 

• Videos 

• GIFs 

• Infographics 

Elements such as colour usage, typography, and the placement of elements are also important on a good website. 

Feel free to make a quick sketch on a piece of paper of how you envision this could look. Remember, this is just a sketch, and you don’t need to have all the right answers right now. 

If you are doing the workshop with others, present the new version of the page to each other. If you are doing the workshop alone, keep the sketch for further consideration.  

Task 6: Your blog

There are many reasons why a good website will benefit from having a blog. A blog serves as a platform where you have the freedom to share relevant information that can be useful to your target audience. 

It can also be a great arena for allowing your audience to get to know your business better, answering common questions that potential customers might have, and demonstrating your expertise in your field. Not least, a blog will help strengthen your website’s SEO, which is important for your organic traffic. 

In this task, we will focus on your website’s blog. If you don’t already have a blog, this task can be a perfect kickstart to get started with one! 

Task 6A: Your company’s blog 

Estimated time: 10 minutes 

As part of your own target audience, visit your blog page and evaluate your first impression. If your company doesn’t have a blog, reflect on whether this is something you, as a part of your target audience, would appreciate. 

Spend 10 minutes noting the following: 

If your company has a blog: 

• What articles are on the page, and do you feel inclined to read them? 

• After browsing through the blog, are there any topics or articles you feel are missing? 

For both companies with and without a blog, consider the following: 

• Do we have products or services that could be well-presented in blog posts? For example, how to use the product or service, how it has helped existing customers, or situations where the product or service was crucial in creating a positive experience. 

• What’s the most common questions our customers have? Could the answers be explained thoroughly in a blog post?  

• Are there any industry topics relevant to your company? For example, a construction company discussing its use of locally sourced materials and the suppliers behind them. 

• Could a blog be a good platform to share more about the company, events, or professional development days the employees have participated in, or to show potential customers what an employee’s day looks like? 

Task 6B: Idea circle

Estimated time: 15 minutes 

If you are doing the workshop with others: 

1. Sit together in a circle. Bring a small ball or something else that can be thrown around (if nothing is available, you can also use your finger to point).  

2. Set a timer for five minutes. 

With the findings from Part 1 fresh in mind, do the following: 

• The person holding the ball shares one idea for a blog post. It doesn’t need to be a long explanation; just briefly describe what the post would be about or what the title could be. 

• The person with the ball then throws it to someone else in the circle, who does the same. 

The exercise should be quick, with the goal of throwing out as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time without extensive discussion. Challenge yourselves to see how fast you can pass the ball around (safely, of course). 

If you are doing the workshop alone: 

Open a document on your computer or find a notebook. Set a timer for three minutes. Use the time to quickly jot down as many ideas as possible for blog posts on your website. The more ideas you come up with, the better.  

The goal is to fill as many pages as possible without thinking too much. There will be time for further evaluation later – for now, just type as many ideas as possible! 

Task 7: Your “about us” page

The “About Us” page on a company’s website is the ideal place to provide authentic information about the company: who you are, what the company’s vision is, and how the company’s products and services can make the target audience’s lives better. 

However, it is often not the first page one thinks of when creating content for the website. 

If your company is one of the many that take this page a bit too lightly, this is a golden opportunity to refresh it and make a fantastic first impression for everyone in your target audience! 

Task 7A: Interview 

Estimated time: 15 minutes 

If you are doing the workshop with others: 

Divide into two groups where one group continues to hold onto their temporary persona as a member of your target audience, this time with a genuine interest in getting to know the company well. The other group can now be very enthusiastic employees of your company. Do the following:  

• Pretend you are at a café together, and the person in the target audience role finally has the opportunity to speak directly with the company. 

The person in the target audience role can now ask anything they want to know about the company, its products and services, the employees, the company history, and anything else they can think of.  

The person in the company role must then answer the questions as best as they can, preferably with great enthusiasm. 

If you are doing the workshop alone: 

Open a document. Continue in the role of a member of your target audience, now with a genuine interest in getting to know the company well. Pretend you finally get to meet an employee from the company and prepare the questions you would ask. Spend 10 minutes writing down as many questions as you can think of. 

Spend the remaining 5 minutes of this task going through the questions, in the role of an enthusiastic employee of your company. Write down the answers to each question. 

Task 7B: Comparison

Estimated time: 10 minutes 

After completing the interviews, look at the “About Us” page your company has today. In which format did you learn the most about the company? Was anything mentioned in the interview that you haven’t shared on the page? 

Also, think about different ways this information could be conveyed: Are there any images or videos that could make the information easier to digest, or is there something about your company that is more fun to show than to tell?  

Perhaps there is room for graphic elements like a timeline or an animation? Or maybe it would be a good idea to use storytelling techniques to write about the company? 

Write down ideas if you see that the page is ready for optimisation. 

Task 8: New features = new opportunities

We have now looked at several important parts of your company’s website, hopefully with a fresh perspective and in a creative mode. Now it’s time for the final sprint before we finish; we are ready for the workshop’s last task! 

The digital world is constantly evolving, and new opportunities for optimising website content are continuously emerging. Are you good at staying updated on the features and opportunities available to you? If not, fear not! The opportunity is here! 

The best website providers are, of course, focused on continuous development so that you have fantastic opportunities to create the best website possible! For instance, our AI writing assistant that creates exciting and high-quality texts for your website.  

If you have a website on WordPress, there are many plugins you can implement on your site, regardless of the type of website. 

For example, if you have a target audience that spends a lot of time on YouTube or is interested in learning something you know a lot about, maybe it would be a good idea to implement courses or training programs on your website? 

In this task, it’s important not to exclude any possibilities. Focus on being creative, and don’t worry too much about limitations. 

Task 8: New opportunities for your website

Estimated time: 15 minutes 

Based on who hosts your website, spend 15 minutes finding out everything you can about new and exciting plugins or features that you have available but haven’t used yet. 

Find a feature or a plugin that you’ve never heard of or thought about using and think about an exciting way to implement it on your website. Feel free to be creative, fun, and maybe even a little humorous. 

If you are doing the workshop with others, choose two features or plugins to present to each other. Points for the most creative idea! 

Summary

Congratulations on completing the workshop! We hope you have had the opportunity to view your website from a completely new perspective and take away both valuable information and inspiration for the future! 

We also hope that some of the ideas you’ve generated during the workshop will help ensure that the content on your website showcases your business in the best possible light! 

If you need more inspiration, feel free to dive into our Academy; it’s packed with tips, inspiration, and guidance that will be invaluable for you as a website owner or creator.