Prerequisites of effective web content
Every web site is conceived and designed keeping in view a particular purpose to serve. The aim of a web site may vary: some web sites intend to showcase products or services of the company they belong to, some provide information to their target audience, and some just expose their company on the web in a brand building exercise. This is to note that whatever be the nature of web site, web copy plays its own crucial role in furthering the interest of the site.
Web sites basically disseminate certain sets of information to their users in pursuit of their set objective of promoting business, generating sales or facilitating information. Therefore, it is imperative that web content is easy-to-read, easy-to-find, and easy-to-understand.
Mind it, these three prerequisites have got their own vital significance: the easy-to-read aspect of your site points out to its readability; the easy-to-find aspect indicates the need of a good presentation of content to boost its findability; and the easy-to-understand aspect suggests the need of crisp, lucid, and persuasive content.
How does content degrade to harm you?
Notwithstanding its importance, webmasters often spoil things when it comes to right and paying content deployment. More often than not, webmasters do it without even realizing that due to some reason or other, content is on the receiving end. For example, effective content is badly tampered with in an attempt to secure higher search engine placements. Unfortunately, this is not all. There are plenty of instances where graphics are used indiscriminately severely affecting the quality of content, and hence the promises it has to offer.
Moreover, content on the web site happens to be just mindless clustering of lengthy and tiresome text, often insufficient and irrelevant, which sends chills down the spine of users. What is worse, it is not hard to find fundamental errors in terms of grammar and spelling on many a web site, which invariably portray a poor professional image.
How does content deliver the goods?
Content quality matters to SEO as well
‘Content is king’ is an oft-repeated buzzword in the web industry and it seems that people practice it in its right earnestness. But actual practice has got something else reveal – web folks do take it for granted. Nothing is so ostensible than short term search engine optimization techniques, which override the quality of content. Since search engine optimization necessitates the need of certain keywords or key phrases, so people in their strong urge to get higher placements tend to use such words rampantly. Not to mention, such frequent use of keywords or key phrases in content just make it lose its sense and essence.
Remember here that it not a working strategy any more for search engine optimization to use keywords with such alacrity. In order to bring traffic and hence customers to your web site what matters in the long run is not writing with certain frequency of your keywords or phrases, but rather writing about the keywords users are searching for. Never ignore this fact that this approach to serve users better is going to be liberally rewarded by search engines too.
Simply put, attracting traffic to your site can get a new height if and only if you target them with relevant, valuable, informative and need-based content. It is always a better sustainable strategy to back up your keywords or key phrases with creative and compelling copy. Therefore the bottom line is: Write for search engine users, not for search engines.
Persuasive content can give your site a new lease of life
Once users happen to be on your site, they must have a strong reason to extend their stay. This is only possible when you provide what users came looking for, and at the same time you provide it in a persuasive manner. The need of persuasive content is even greater for web sites which are into selling online certain products or services.
Persuasive content has to be backed by call to actions feature on web site. Call to actions, depending upon your nature of web site could be anything like: making users swing into action for filling out a form, divulging personal information or credit card numbers, scrutinizing product descriptions or service offerings, making online purchase etc.
There is an interesting finding in this regard. Researchers conclude that the likelihood for people to click on links somewhere within the copy is greater than off the copy. It has got implications for calls to actions links: Increase the clickthrough rate on your links by placing them in the running copy. This way you can win your way to facilitating more users to do the desired actions on your site.
How to go about making your content adapted to web medium
Enhance the readability of online content
Readability of your content on your web site is a big issue, which can make or mar online success. Readability of content is basically dependent on how your content is placed and presented on your web site. Presentation of web content is all the more important in view of the fact that how people read on the web is drastically different from how people read offline.
People generally do not read on the web, they just scan. So, it is not difficult to understand how major blocks of text go unnoticed or overlooked. This is primarily because it is painful, irritating to read thoroughly on the web, further constrained by time and patience factors. Here the art of content deployment on the web comes into picture, which aims to make your content readable enough for users. Below are a few of them:
- Divide the text of web page into short, comprehensible and easy to read paragraphs.
- Use titles and sub titles wherever possible to give a wholistic view at a glance.
- Provide a summary of important sections of your web page so that people do not miss out on major thematic areas.
- Bold significant points on your web page to emphasize, and to get noticed.
- Use bulleted point to break a long paragraph so that crux of matter gets the attention of users who is hurriedly scanning.
Keep your web site content updated and fresh
Placing content on your web site at the time when it became live does not put an end to further content needs of your web site. On the contrary, a web site needs regular content regardless of whichever business you are into, or whatever purpose it does serve. As the latest from the SEO marketplace suggests that regular content updating is taken quite favourably by search engines and eventually has a say in the end rankings.
The freshness of your content is highly useful in many respects. The newer your content is, the more likelihood there is for the users to think of your web site as a professional one. There is no one debating or disputing the fact that it is the freshness of content on site, which entices users to make repeated visits. Thus, by taking adequate care of the freshness of your site, you can draw a lot more traffic to your web site. As is obvious, your business is to experience encouraging results sooner than the later if you manage your content well.
Add to your site freshness
There are several ways to add to your site freshness. Starting with the updating of existing content, make it a point to cross check whether all descriptive information on your products or services in such aspects like price, features, schemes, offers, market comparisons, new launches etc, reflects the latest change.
Moreover, you can upload some write-ups on the industry trends, latest technologies, expert opinions, and the like that can add value to your customers, and positively influence your image as a progressive company. The possibilities of newest content addition do not stop here; you can think on your own how to further enrich your content.
A slight push to your head will enlighten you that you may well go for newsletter on your web site or some sort of discussion form or chatting session. Evidently, there are many options to choose from. But remember while taking your pick give some thought whether these options are meaningful content value additions to your site. If not, do not skip the options; rather devise ways and means to make them highly relevant and meaningful.
Lesson: Clarity of goal can help you get clarity of content.
Believe it, once you have clarity of goal and a sense of purpose, options finds their ways to you. Up to now you know what to do and what not to do with your web content. So, go ahead and make a difference.
Good Luck!