Quality content is the single most important thing for your website.
The higher the quality the better you will do in search, your visitors will return more often and they will spend more time while they are there. But what is quality content? It’s different for everyone but it has one essential element, it has to be valuable to your visitor. To create quality content you need to develop a strategy.
Content strategy gets a lot of attention in web development journals like UX Magazine, Marketing and A List Apart. Those articles are full of great ideas and techniques but they are all aimed at an audience of web designers and developers that have large teams and budgets.
Here is a simple how-to for small businesses that need the same quality content but have to do it with much fewer resources.
#1 Know your audience and talk to their needs and interests
You may make the best widgets in the world, but your audience is much more interested in how you are going to solve their problem. Writing from your audience’s point of view helps you be a partner not just a vendor.
#2 Have a Plan
Throwing things at the wall to see what sticks works great for pasta but not so much for web content. Have an audience-focused reason for everything you add to your site. Then create a schedule for creating and publishing the content.
#3 Delete, Delete, Delete
Just like your desk, things tend to pile up in websites. Create a regular review of your site to find and get rid of outdated, redundant or just plain boring content. In this case less is definitely more.
#4 Set Measurable Goals
Page views don’t tell you much about how well your site is working. Set goals for measurable actions such as downloading a PDF, subscribing to a newsletter or filling out a contact form. Then use that information to refine your site.
#5 Stay Up-To-Date
It’s important that your audience knows you are up on all the latest. Your site should reflect the most current trends in your industry and your content should always be fresh.
#6 Remember Your SEO/SEM
Search engines place great value on your headlines and subheads. Try to include key search terms in them while still writing in an impactful way.
Following these simple steps will keep you ahead of the game and your audience happy.
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