Easy functionality is essential. Zippy Design is important, but it is the actual content which brings people to the page. There is no doubt that unique, vibrant and interesting content is the cornerstone of your web-site that not only informs potential customers, but goes a long way to keeping your website alive and vibrant.
Good content is worth investing the time and effort. However, there are a few common content pitfalls. Small mistakes that take the value out of the script and wording on your site. Here are some of the common content errors that can adversely affect your website.
Update me
The most common mistake with a website is thinking that it is done! Change the content on your website on a regular basis. Add news, special offers and a cute new image every now and again. Link to your regular blog (Of course, you have a regular blog!). Keeping things fresh will assist with the ranking of your website and is a key component of an good SEO Strategy. Staid and old content does not reflect well on your business in general.
Plagiarism - write your own stuff!
Yes, we know there is nothing new and amazing in the world. No unique revelations or wondrous new words, stories and facts that have not been uttered, retold or rehashed. But if your website content does not register as new, Google will disregard it or even worse, attribute it to the original writer (and rightly so, write your own stuff!). Over 60% of the text on your site must be completely new and unique.
This is not as hard as it may seem. You can get ideas from other sites, blogs, magazine articles and Facebook posts and then just take some time to write it in your own words. You can rehash your old content by taking it out and updating it for a re-post. Keep an eye on the most popular items and use it as a guide to choosing subject matter.
Keywords
Identify the keywords for your industry or services. These magic words should be liberally sprinkled across all your writing. Don’t be afraid of overusing words similar to your keywords. Literally mix it up so that you have a better chance of ranking. Competent keyword research is a complete tutorial and workshop all of its own, but in simple terms, it means using every word and phrase that you feel our customers will search.
Spacing it out – designing it out
The way in which people read websites is different than you may think. Basically, you are best to space out the information and content in easily readable sections. Design it out in bite size pieces. Don’t waffle. Keep it relevant. Less is more, as long as the less is relevant, smart and interesting. Remembering how the reader’s eye works and cognisant that they are scanning rather than reading will keep you on-point.
Spelling errors bad edits
Use the spellchecks folks! There is nothing that screams inefficiency and sloppiness like a badly edited piece of work. Run your content through the spell check, but don’t stop there, as spellcheck cannot tell the difference between ‘their’ and ‘there’ or whether you meant ‘form’ or ‘from ’! So it’s a good idea to enlist the help of a pedantic friend, preferably one with freakishly correct grammar tendencies, to edit your work.
By adding fresh and new content we are telling the search engines that the website is active and keeping our regular and our potential clients interested and engaged. It is worth the time it takes to create new site content, so keep that steady stream of articles, blogs and images flowing for successful search engine optimisation.