Building Strong Site Content
Of all the things you need to pay particular attention to on your web site … content is probably the most important.
Your business will be judged by your site’s content. If it’s remarkable, your business will be seen as remarkable.
If your site content is nothing but scraped or rehashed dribble, well, you site will be viewed in the same way.
Besides your content being “good” it also needs to be timely (updated often), targeted to the niche you have chosen, and of sufficient “uniqueness” that it separates itself from the content of other web sites in your niche.
Prospects and customers need to have a reason to keep coming back to your web site.
Here are ten suggestions on building strong site content:
- Develop your own personal writing style. Create a style that is “you” and no one else. Let your readers see your personality and your life experiences. Get personal!
- Create great content that can’t be found anywhere else. Offer content that other sites in your niche will want to give to their readers – not as scraped content – but as a resource that folks in the niche want.
- You will begin getting lots of links from other niche sites. Don’t get too caught up in niche or industry jargon. Keep your content easily readable by your prospects and customers. That mean don’t use “thousand dollar words” of overly technical terms. Remember that you will have “newbies” at your site constantly.
- Post content that will help you become the “authority” in your field. Your content, therefore, must be very targeted, appropriate, “meaty” and always helpful to your customers.
- Be especially sensitive to feedback about your content. Offer your readers a way to comment on what you are writing. Offer feedback forms, suggestion boxes, content surveys, etc so that you can see what needs clarifying, what content you’re missing, etc.
- Avoid the temptation to sell something with every piece of content. If you blatantly oversell, your customers will get the sense that you’re only after their money. Your content can help you to sell by building desire, but it should not be a constant “pitch fest.”
- Always give content that is beneficial to the readers of your niche. Your purposes can be varied (industry news, entertainment, product reviews, editorial comments, etc) but you should never leave the reader wondering why he spent time with a particular piece of content.
- Don’t be afraid to link to outside expert sources. Obviously, that shouldn’t be the only thing you do (using other people’s ideas), but your work will be much more authoritative if you direct readers to other expert content off-site.
- Stay in touch with your readers. Answer their questions. Give of your knowledge in specific situations where a customer has a question or needs help. Part of the popularity of site forums with owners is that they are a way for the owner to get knowledgeable members to help answer the questions of others.
- Offer multiple types of content if possible. Give your customers audio, video, and interactive content besides the written word, if possible. You will be seen as an expert if you do. Sometimes these other formats can be linked to (off site).
Whatever you do, take pride in your content and work to make your site the most “authoritative” place in your niche. If you do, you will end up having to spend less and less on advertising to get new customers.
