5 Tips for Writing Website
Content - That Gets Results!
By Brandon Cornett (c) 2008 |
I'm going to ask you to use your imagination
for a moment.
Think of a topic that interests you. Maybe
it's your favourite 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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
