Content is one of the most important parts of your website. There's a reason why many people say "content is king." There are other important factors, and your website won't thrive without things like traffic, but what your everyday website visitor will notice most is your content. It has to be good. How do you make sure you're offering great content to your visitors?
1. Know What Your Visitors Need From Your Content
Great content isn't always paragraphs of information. Graphics are content. Lists are content. The information on your page in general, however it's presented, is your content.
It will never be great unless it's what your website visitors need. If you're selling a physical product, for example, words on the page are rarely enough. Pictures of the product, possibly including the ability to look closely at the item and at multiple angles, may make the difference. Videos can also be useful.
Don't, however, rely excessively on pictures or videos. Not every visitor will be in a situation where they can watch a video, and you can only learn so much from pictures. As much as possible, make sure information in your pictures and videos are available in print. Transcripts are a good idea for many videos. Link to a transcript on another page if it's too much to put on the same page for any reason.
If it's information you're providing, make sure it answers your website visitors' needs as best you can. You can't predict all needs, but you should have the information your site claims to offer. If it's an information product, include information to help your visitor decide that it's the right purchase. Your content should reflect the needs of your audience, not your own needs.
2. Include References When Appropriate
You don't know everything, even when you're an expert in your niche. Linking out to appropriate references makes you look better. It reinforces that you know what you're talking about. It's one thing to quote a statistic, for example, and quite another to show where it came from. When you're using information from elsewhere, don't just quote it, link to your source for it if at all possible.
3. Pay Attention to Popular Content in Your Niche
You should know what's happening in your niche so that you can take advantage of it. You need to do this not only on your own website, but on the sites of major competitors. This information has become fairly easy to gather as many websites clearly display the number of Facebook likes, tweets and other social media shares a particular page has received. That's highly useful information.
4. Set High Standards For Your Writing
Writing isn't as easy as some people think it is. Coming up with the right words takes time and tweaking. Not every writer can sit down and crank out the perfect article or marketing material in a single shot. Many find it far better to write, put it aside, and edit later from a fresh perspective.
If you hire others to write for you, set a high standard for them as well. Whatever appears on your website, reflects on your website as a whole. Allow a lot of low quality content to appear and your website won't impress visitors as a great resource.
5. Keep Trying
You may not learn the tricks to providing great content to your niche right away, no matter how well you know it. It takes time to develop your writing style and to get accustomed to what works online. The less you work at it, however, the longer it will take to master.
Writing every day is a good place to start. You may not feel that all of it is worth publishing to your website, but no one says you have to. Put the stuff that just isn't quite working aside - somewhere down the line you might find a use for it, even if it takes a complete rewrite to make it happen. Take the good stuff and polish it until it's good enough for your website.
Stephanie Foster blogs about running an online business. Learn about social media mistakes that can affect your business at her site.
