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5 Tips for Writing Website
Content - That Gets Results!
By Brandon Cornett
I'm going to ask you to use your imagination for a moment.
Think of a topic that interests you. Maybe it's your favorite sport or
hobby, for example. Now imagine that you're searching the Internet for
information on that topic.
The first article you come across is related to the topic you're researching,
but it doesn't offer much in the way of value. It's too general and full
of pointless "fluff." It makes obvious points that a third-grader
could grasp. And it fails to offer any related information or resources.
The second article you come across is much more in-depth. It explains
several aspects of your topic with refreshing insight. It is helpful and
useful, and it links out to many related articles and resources on the
subject.
If you could only bookmark one of these pages for future reference, which
one would it be? It would be the second page, right?
You, like most people, would probably prefer the second page to the first.
It's an easy choice, and that's because the author of the second article
understood (and delivered) the most important concept of website content
development -- the value factor.
5 Benefits of High-Value Web Content
This kind of content has value for the reader, obviously. But it also
benefits the author / publisher. Here are the top five benefits of creating
high-value website content for your small business website:
1. It keeps people on your website longer.
2. It makes people more inclined to trust you.
3. It encourages readers to recommend the site to others.
4. It encourages other webmasters to link to your content.
5. It helps you improve your search engine ranking and visibility.
All of this sounds great, you say. But how do I create that kind of small
business website content? Here are the top five guidelines for creating
high-value website content.
5 Steps to High-Value Web Content
1. Choose the right author.
2. Choose the right topic.
3. Address all sides of the topic.
4. Add supporting graphics, pictures, etc.
5. Link to related resources, both on your site and elsewhere.
Let's look at each of these steps in greater detail.
1. Choose the Right Author
I once worked for a company who let their web programmers write the instructions
for their online ordering process. Big mistake. If their audience were
programmers as well, this might be okay. But most of their customers had
limited technical skills. So when these people encountered online instructions
such as "Validate parameters before advancing" ... the customers
would often become dead in the water.
This is a prime example of choosing the wrong author for web writing.
Sure, the programmers' input is important. After all, they built the thing.
But they should not be the voice of customer guidance. A skilled web writer
(someone with usability experience) would have "translated"
these instructions to say something like "Please fill in all required
information before moving to the next screen."
Here's the key to this. The best author for your small business website
content is not always the person who knows the most about the product
or service from a technical standpoint. Often, it's best to have an in-house
writer who plays the go-between role of "consumer advocate,"
getting the information from one group and translating it for another
group.
2. Choose the Right Topic
If your small business only offers one product or service, then that
will likely be the topic of your web content. In this case, I would focus
on choosing the right angle as well. Don't tell people what you want them
to know -- this is an outdated way of thinking about public information,
especially when it comes to small business website content. Instead, find
out what people want to know about the types of products you offer, and
use your web content to address those questions or concerns.
If you are writing web content for a company that has many products or
services, you will have to spend more time choosing topics first and choosing
your angle second. In this case, it becomes more about topic organization
than anything. Large websites with many topics are ideally suited for
a category and sub-category system: These are our products >> And
this is product 'A' >> And this is a web page that explains product
'A' in detail.
3. Address All Sides of the Topic
Whether you're writing about one of your products, or you're creating
a tutorial of some kind, you need to cover all the angles. There's nothing
worse than website content that leaves the job only half-done, telling
you why a certain thing is important but not pursuing that lead.
When you are close to a certain topic -- as is the case with people who
create a product or service -- it's easy to assume everyone else understands
it as well as you do. But the opposite is usually true, so you need to
explain all sides of a topic when you write content for your small business
website.
Want to keep your pages relatively short for easy reading? You can do
that while still offering complete information. That's what hyperlinks
are for!
4. Link to Related Resources
Here's the key to developing great content for your small business website.
Try to create authority documents that others in your field would link
to and recommend to others. One of the key criteria for a resource document
is that it links to plenty of supporting information, both on the same
website and elsewhere on the web.
In addition to being good for your readers, this kind of useful content
will make other webmasters more inclined to link to your website. This
adds to your link "popularity" and can further improve the search
engine ranking of your small business website.
When writing a particular web page, try to think of it as "the ultimate
guide to [blank]." This is the first step to creating the kind of
authority documents that eventually dominate the search engines and drive
endless web traffic for the authors. But it's rarely possible to create
an "ultimate guide" to anything in just one page, so be liberal
about linking to other sources on your own website and elsewhere (as long
as they are not direct competitors).
5. Add Supporting Graphics, Pictures, Etc.
Reading online can be hard on the eyeballs. You can make the reader's
job easier in two ways. First, you can format your content appropriately
for web reading (short paragraphs, narrow text columns, lots of bullet
points, headers, sub-headers, etc.). Secondly, you can add supporting
images and helpful graphics.
Well-placed graphics can improve website content in a number of ways.
Images are more enticing than text upon first glance, so they can help
attract and retain readers. They also help you clarify your message with
visual reinforcement.
Conclusion
I have a motto I use regarding website content. "If it's not worth
putting online, don't put it online." This is my reminder to myself
that I need to use the techniques outlined above to create superior website
content. Because that's the kind of content that leads to online success.
Apply these lessons to your small business website and watch your own
success increase!
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