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Content_Content_Content
| Content, Content, Content
A lot has been written and said in Internet marketing circles
recently about the importance of “good quality content” to both
web site visitors and natural (crawler based) search engines.
Many factors go into making up the content of your web sites
pages but how do you define what is “good” from what is not? In
this article we will establish what good content is and how to
write content that will appeal to both your web site visitors
and the search engines.
Read any Internet marketing article, forum or tutorial these
days and you will find that the one thing all the experts agree
on is that you need to have lots of good quality content on your
web site. It sounds like good advice doesn't it? But what
precisely does it mean?
Simply put, content is all the text copy and graphics on your
web site. Good content can be defined as information that your
visitors will find helpful and that is relevant to their needs.
Good content will also enable search engines to crawl and index
your web site under the key phrases that your customers are
searching on. After all, there’s no point in having a
brilliantly written sales message within your web site content
if your potential customers never find it!
Good content will mean different things to different businesses
and exactly what constitutes "good content" depends largely on
the goal of your web site and the products or services you
offer.
Web site content can be loosely divided into the following page
types: Core Web Site Pages These are the mainstay pages of your
web site. These are the pages that explain who you are and
detail the products, services and information that is available
through your web site. The best place to start with "good
content" is making sure these pages are as complete as possible
and answer all of a user's potential questions. Typical pages
that visitors expect to find on every web site are: ·About Us
·Products and/or Services ·Contact Us If you aren't experienced
in writing sales copy, it is worth considering hiring a
professional copywriter to write (or rewrite!) the text for your
web site pages. A well-written page tailors the style and voice
of your message to appeal to your particular customer type. It
can make the difference between just getting web site visitors
and getting visitors that convert into paying customers.
For more information on writing content for your web site
download our guide “Writing Text That Sells”. To read an excerpt
click here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_3.html
Make your web site’s core pages your first priority before
looking at adding other content. Ensure that they are clean,
concise and easy-to-read, complete and informative. Ask yourself
the questions that your customers may ask, do these pages answer
these questions, or at least clearly lead to additional
complementary pages that contain the answers to these questions?
Complementary Pages Complementary pages are the pages that
enhance and expand on your core site pages. These are the
“additional information” pages that are your opportunity to
really set yourself apart from your competitors and help you
make a sale.
For product sites, you could include independent product
reviews, printer-friendly product specification pages, product
comparison tables, customer feedback and recommendations and
help pages that go exceed customer expectations.
For service sites, these pages might detail your expertise,
experience and qualifications, your proven track record,
existing customer testimonials, common myths and misconceptions
about the services you offer, or do-it-yourself tips for
situations where a professional is not needed.
Complementary pages can also offer additional information about
industry recognition, associated bodies you belong to and awards
you may have won. They can include mission statements or even
statements of your commitment to customer service, lowest price
guarantees, etc. These pages aren't critical to the operation of
your web site, but their content can help differentiate your
site from others in the field and establish credibility with
your visitors. The object is to give them reasons to choose to
do business with you rather than your competitors.
Writing Content for Search Engines It is well known that if you
optimise your web sites content well, the lion's share of your
visitors will come via the search engines. We also know that key
phrases and links to your site are the two things that affect
your ranking in the search engines. Your key phrases tell the
search engines what you do, and the inbound links tell them how
important you are. This combination is what determines your
relevance. And relevance is what the search engines are after.
There's a lot of information available about how to incorporate
keyword phrases into your HTML and Meta tags, and how to
establish inbound links to your web site. Both topics are
covered in depth in our guide “Start at the Beginning” (click
here for an excerpt:
http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_2.html). But that's only
half the battle.
Search engines do look at your tags, html coding and links, but
they also look very closely at your text content. If the key
phrases you have used in your tags and links aren't used in your
text copy, your site won't be indexed for those key phrases and
your customers won’t find your web site listed under the key
phrases they are using.
But writing key phrase rich content without compromising
readability and flow isn’t easy. Readability is paramount to
attracting and retaining visitors and after all, it's the
visitors that buy your product or service, not search engines.
By following these simple guidelines, you'll be able to overhaul
the content of your web site and ensure that it's pleasing to
both the search engines and your visitors.
1. Divide and categorise. Once you have decided which pages
constitute your core pages and which are complementary, further
divide your complementary page into categories. For example,
divide your products into types (i.e.: digital cameras) then
subdivide them into smaller groups (Konica, Fuji, etc). This
way, you'll be able to incorporate very specific keyword phrases
into your text content, thereby capturing a very targeted
market. If you're working on an existing web site, re-title each
page with its key point, offering, or benefit using your key
phrases. For further information on the best way to select
targeted key phrases, download our guide “Start at the
Beginning”. Click here to read an excerpt:
http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_2.html
2. Use Key Phrases rather than Keywords There’s far too much
competition to waste time trying to optimise for single keywords
and they are rarely, if ever, really indicative of what your web
site is about. Research has also shown that Internet users are
becoming more search-savvy and are searching using more and more
specific key phrases. They're learning that by being more
specific, they find what they're looking for much faster and
don’t have to wade through oceans of irrelevant results to find
it.
Although using key phrases rather than single words may mean
that you get fewer visitors, these visitors will be looking for
exactly what you are offering and are therefore more likely to
convert into customers.
3. Pick the most relevant Key Phrases Don't try to include every
key phrase on every page. Focus on one or two key phrases on
each page and make sure that they are relevant to the product,
service or information content that is being offered there. Try
to include the full key phrase in the copy using the words in
the correct order but don’t over use each phrase and don’t let
them detract from the overall readability or flow of the text.
4. Use Key Phrase text in Links If you use your key phrases in
text links to relevant pages within your web site, when the
search engines look at your site, they'll see that the pages are
related. So on product page A, include a text link to product
page B. For example, on a page displaying Fuji Digital Cameras,
you may add a link at the bottom of the page that says, “You may
also be interested in Konica Digital Cameras”. If you link this
text to a page entitled “Konica Digital Cameras” the search
engines will see this as a “vote” from page A for page B’s
content about Konica Digital Cameras.
5. Use Key Phrases In Headings Search engines, as well as
customers, rely on headings to scan your web sites information.
Headings are given quite a lot of weight by search engines when
categorising your web site, so although it sounds obvious, make
sure your headings are in text rather than graphic format and
try to include your primary key phrases in them. If possible,
also break up your content using subheadings through out your
page. This will not only improve the readability of the page,
because it will help customers scan your information, but will
also provide some secondary key phrase opportunities. Just
remember not to overdo it. It's not easy to find the balance
between content written for search engines and content written
for customers, but if you take the time to implement the steps
above, having well written content on your web site will pay
huge dividends over time.
About the author:
Is your web site driving high quality, targeted customers to
your business? Our proven Internet Marketing solutions make your
web site work harder for you. For a complete range of Internet
marketing and advertising resources to improve search engine
positions visit Enable UK. Stop losing customers to your
competitors and make more money from your web site TODAY.
www.enable-uk.co.uk
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