What is Website Content?
Simply put, website content is the information presented on your website. This can be in the form of text, video, images or audio. One particular type of image that has become a popular way of sharing information is an infographic. A great example of this is at https://www.customermagnetism.com/what-is-an-infographic. It's good to have a variety of ways your content can be consumed as people are all different in how they like to receive it.
According to Wordful, content serves four main purposes - to inform, educate, entertain and connect people.
Why Having Good Content is so Important
Content is all over - websites, books, TV, etc. People have come to expect great content when they go looking for information on a particular topic. If your website doesn't provide valuable content, you will lose your visitors. They'll go where they can get what they want to know.
If you are selling products or services on your website, providing great content is a must. Think about when you want to buy something. Many times, if it's a first-time order or a product, you will want a lot of details about it. Some things you will want to include in the description of a product:
- what the product is used for and its effectiveness
- size
- colors
- customer reviews
Let's look at an example. We'll say you sell womens' handbags on yur website. What will women want to know about them before they can decide to purchase one or not? They will want to know the size of the handbag, the color (s) it comes in, and how many compartments it has. They will also want to read reviews from other women who have already purchased the purse to see if they were happy with it or not.
All of these types of information will make it much easier for someone to make a decision on which handbag they want to buy. If the information is missing, two things can happen. First, you may receive a lot of unnecessary inquiries that you have to respond to. Secondly (and even worse), they may get frustrated with the lack of information and purchase the handbag elsewhere.
Not only is good website content important to your visitors, it's also important to Google. They read the content on your website, and decide which search terms it is relevant to. Then they will display your site when someone types in those search terms. If your site lacks content or if it's confusing, Google won't know where or how to rank your website in their search results.
Good quality website content also builds trust and authority. Your web visitors will see you as an authority in your field if you provide them with great information. This also helps build trust, which, in turn, will encourage them to do business with you, not your competitors.
Content Strategy
In their article "How to Create Great Content for Your Website, " Entrepreneur states that there are three main elements that need to be in place for an organization to be successful online.
- Design - you need a professional design (no homemade sites!)
- Content - your content needs to be focused on your visitors and answer the question "what's in it for them?" How will your product/service make their life better or easier?
- Strategy and tactics - what should your business look like and what internet resources do you need to make it successful?
Again, we see that content is critical to the success of a business online. Give a lot of thought to who your target customer is, what issues they may have, and what questions they would like to ask about your product or service. Then write your content with them in mind, giving them the information they would want.
Don't skimp on any one of these three elements - all have to be present and working together to have a successful online presence.
It can be helpful to keep a content calendar, giving ideas of when and what you will post on yur site. You may also want to get a team of people involved in producing the content, so it can be fresh and not all fall on the shoulders of one person.
Keep Updating Content
You need to continually update the content on your website. Otherwise, your visitors and Google will wonder whether your business is still active or not. I just had that experience. I went to a website that I haven't visited for more than a year, and it looked exactly the same. No new anythiing! This is not good.
How can you keep your content updated? First of all, if you are selling products, make sure the descriptions are still current. Then, you can add some customer reviews about the products. This is really helpful to those who are considering buying from you but are still on the fence. I always look at the reviews for things I am thinking about buying. If they are good and give some specifics on using the product, it helps confirm my choice to buy.
Secondly, you can write blog posts and regularly add new ones to your site. Consider writing a new post every week or every other week. Of course, you will want to write about things that are relevant to your target market.
Website content is one of the elements that can make or break your business. Make sure it's current and answers the questions that your target markets has. And, it probably goes without saying, but please proofread it so it is grammatically correct.