The importance of quality content on your site
Content can be described as the text and images you send to us when we set up your website for you. But how often do you think in detail about the content being displayed on your website? After all, people will be visiting to look at what you have to offer and if there isn't enough of interest on the site it won't matter how aesthetically pleasing or easy to navigate it is, they will leave and look elsewhere.
If you are a small or medium sized business having well-written, informative content is vital for your success. What many people don't realise is by having good content it not only keeps your visitors interested but it can also help you to promote your website.
By having good, related content on your site pages you will increase the site "stickiness". This simply means that visitors will generally stay on your site longer and return more often.
Quality content will also make it much more likely that websites will link to you (for example, as a good way of providing information to their own users) and this will bring in even more visitors to your site. Links to your pages will also boost your ranking on Google, which counts links to your site. It will also make it more likely that human-edited directories such as Yahoo!, Open Directory, and About.com will list your website.
Increasingly search engines are looking at the visible content of pages and giving it greater importance than in days gone by. For your site to rank well it's important to have the keywords and phrases in your content as well as in the header code as search engines like Google now read the whole web page and use it to generate matches. It stands to reason that, the more pages and relevant words you have, the more chance you have of being returned as a search result.
Things to consider when writing up content for your web pages:
Generally people don't read all of the text on a web page, they scan it looking for the information they are after. So, you need to take this into account when writing for the web.
Think about your target audience and why you are writing for them. Is it to get them to register, persuade them to buy something, deliver information to them or get them to subscribe to something?
Use headlines. The main heading on the page provides a brief overall view of what the page is about. A well thought of and clear headline can generate four times the interest of a poor one. Headlines shouldn’t be fairly short and written in the present tense. Also avoid starting every word with a capital letter in your headings.
Use clear and simple language and make sure that any unclear terms are explained. Avoid the use of acronyms or jargon. Avoid the use of ALL UPPER CASE in your copy- studies have shown it takes about 57% longer to read.
Limit each paragraph to one idea. This allows the visitor to easily scan through each paragraph and get the general gist of what the paragraph is about. Keep your sentences short. If they are too long then the reader will lose interest.
Minimise punctuation as best you can. Punctuation marks can be difficult to discern on screens, especially semi-colons, so try using commas or shorter sentences instead.
Make your copy digestible by using sub sections, headings and lists where appropriate. Lists are easier to scan, less intimidating and usually more succinct. If you do use lists don't make them too long.
Use bold text to highlight important words that describe what the paragraph is about. When site visitors scan through the screen this text stands out to them, so do make sure the text makes sense out of context.
Think about the order of your text. Prioritise it so that the most important points are near the top. Use the headline, Sub heading and first paragraph to get your main points across and put any less important points near the bottom.
Proof reading and editing should be a matter of course when it comes to writing. If a reader spots an error it will immediately break the connection between them and your site- so checking spelling and punctuation should always be done as a matter of course.
