Important lesson in marketing 2|Create Content that is Effective

The Internet is designed to be changing and dynamic. People who visit

your website want to see content that is new and filled with ideas and

business promotions. If people visit your website and don’t see new

content on a frequent basis they’ll think that your site is stagnant and has

been abandoned without any customer service there for them to rely on. 

The home page of your website is one of the most important aspects of

your online marketing strategy. It’s the content of your home page that

gives your business a brand. The more useful and professional the

information on your home page is the more credit you bring to your

product or service.

The Internet is one of the best places for consumers to find out about new

products and services. This places the net above television, radio,

magazines, and newspapers. When you use the Internet to promote your

product or service you have the opportunity to reach a multitude of

potential customers anywhere at any time. The web is one of the most

powerful mediums for reaching and influencing people and the decisions

they make about business. 

Components of Good Content

One of the key ingredients to success on the Internet is creating website

content that Internet users want to read. When you have content that is

(1) interesting,

 (2) factual, and 

(3) well written, you have some of the

main tools that you need to get the desired traffic to your online website.

Writing Decisions: When you first start writing content for your website

you’ll find yourself facing many decisions before you even sit down at

the keyboard or pick up a pen. As you begin to develop the content on

your website pages you’ll find that you’re often changing many of your

first instinct decisions. This is all part of the process of writing. But how

can you most efficiently sort out all you need to think about so that you

develop website content that users want to read?

It’s important that you find out what it is that Internet users are looking

for on the Internet so that you can focus your website content on these

issues. Take some time to study at the top hits in the search engines for

products or services that are similar to what you’re selling. Even though

these top ranked websites are most likely using Search Engine

Optimization techniques you can still read what it is that they’re using to

draw in the crowd. Take some of these concepts and include them in the

flow of your web content….but ONLY if these concepts enhance what

you’re writing and are entirely relevant to the products or services that

you’re selling. 

Keep in mind that although one website may be at the top of the search

engine rankings today, it won’t take them long to fall back into the ranks

of “mediocre websites”. Websites that rely on SEO techniques don’t

give people the information that they’re looking for to keep them coming

back. How many times have you yourself searched a topic in a search

engine only to find that the top hit is filled with articles and web content

that has nothing to do with what the website is all about?

People who use the Internet are looking for one or more of the following

components:

 Entertainment

 Information

 Community issues

If your website provides at least one of these components you’re on your

way to attracting potential customers and repeat customers. Websites

that contain valuable content not only bring credit to your business but

also position your company as an expert in your business industry. 

Keeping your website fresh with new content doesn’t have to be an

overwhelming task. There are cost-efficient and time-saving techniques

you can take advantage of to keep your website up to date at all

times…without having to hire hundreds of people to help you!

Dynamic Home Page: One way that you can have an ever changing

home page is to design five to ten unique pages and then rotate them

every month. Take a couple of weeks to design different ideas for your

home page. Create random page promotions that include a message that

is timeless or that have seasonal images with announcements such as

“Holiday Specials”. When you design different features for you home

page all at one time you’re forced to look at your marketing strategy for

at least one year. This will save you a lot of time since you then won’t

have to think about your home page content for about 12 months. A web

developer can put your home pages on a rotating script or use an

automatic timer. 

You can then rotate your home pages to highlight a new tip every month

or to promote a featured product. The home page of your website is

much like the front cover of a magazine. People want to see a home page

that has different photos and content at least every month. You won’t

want all of the content of your website to be featured on the home page

as this will overwhelm your website visitors. Choosing one or two

features to highlight each month is much more effective. The rest of

your website content should be well organized within the rest of the

pages of your site. When you’re ready to update your home page all you

have to do is grab content from other web pages. This way you’re not

always having to create new content but are reorganizing your current

content so that people think it’s new.

Changing your Home Page Too Often: Even though you want your

website to be new and dynamic you also don’t want to change it too

often. People who surf the Internet take comfort from their favorite

websites and want them to be familiar. If you change your home page

too often you may confuse people who come to your website on a

frequent basis. 

You also run the risk of compromising your positioning in search engines

if you don’t maintain some type of consistency on your home page. 

When you’re updating the content on your home page you want to make

sure that you don’t confuse people. When you make changes to graphics

or content it shouldn’t change the way your website looks and feels. 

Regular visitors to your website should be able to find the same

information that they’ve always found on your home page. 

In short, the headers and navigation tools on your home page shouldn’t

ever change. Change content and images with other content and images

while maintaining the sites original functionality. Home pages that are

consistent lend a feeling of comfort to users. If your customers learn to

expect consistency they’ll also learn to rely on your quality customer

service. If you’re a small online business, gaining your customer’s trust

is synonymous to dependability.

Search Engine Positioning: Search engine positioning can be affected by

the changes you make to your home page. There are some search

engines that “spider” websites anywhere from three weeks to three

months. These search engines take a look at all aspects of your website

from the home page content to the tags you have for your graphics. Your

website will be ranked higher the longer your keywords remain

consistent. You need to find a balance between keeping things on your

home page new and exciting while at the same time keeping things

familiar and similar. The best way for you to achieve this is to keep most

of your home page the way it is and change only a portion of it. This

allows visitors to your website to see new content and you won’t have to

worry about your website disappearing from search engine rankings.

Benefits of a Flexible Home Page: Once you’ve mastered the technique

of updating your home page, while at the same time keeping the core

content the same, you’ll be well on your way to recognizing the benefits

of a flexible home page. A flexible home page lets you test your offline

marketing efforts. Before you spend money on a magazine or newspaper

ad you can test it out on your website. You’ll be able to see how people

react to the ad. Your home page will let you determine which featured

products attract the most interest. You can also determine which

graphics generate the most attraction. You’ll need web tracking software

to get this type of information. Tracking software lets you obtain

marketing data that is detailed and precise. You’ll be able to see which

graphics people have clicked on as well as what web page they were on

just before they left your website.

Content if You Don’t Write: If you don’t write, or know how to take

photographs, there are still some things that you can do to generate

content for your website:

 Buy content: You can buy images a

nd photographs that are of

high quality without spending a lot of money. Spending a few

hundred dollars on some great images will go a long way in giving

your website a professional look. There are many websites on the

Internet where you can find images and photographs that relate to

your business. It’s not recommended that you buy written content

for the simple reason that it’s not cost effective. Many of the

services on the Internet that supply written content are geared

towards large online companies that have a big marketing budget. 

The goal of content on your website is to make your company and

product appear credible. You can accomplish this by having a few

well placed articles on your web pages.

 Let customers create content: You can have your customers

generate content for your website. One way to do this is by

creating a section entitled “Frequently Asked Questions”. Here

your customers can ask you questions about your product or

service and you can list your answers. You can rotate this type of

information and feature a different question every week. Another

way to create content is by holding a contest by asking customers

to send you stories about how they enjoy your product or how it

has helped them in some way. You can offer a special prize such

as a coupon for free product. You can take the best written stories

and post them on your web pages. Not only is this type of material

great content for your website, it also acts as a testimonial.

 Links to other content: Another way that you can get updated

content for your website without having to write it yourself is by

posting headlines of related news items to your website. Then

simply provide a link from the headline to the original article. 

Content for small businesses on the Internet doesn’t have to be

original. It should, however, be useful to the people who are

reading your website. The content you choose for your website

will show your customers that you care enough about the

information that you’re providing them with to post links to

original articles. This information can include anything from

health issues to new items to information about family. Make sure

that you accurately quote your sources and never copy articles

without first getting permission.

The Importance of Communication: One thing that you need to

remember as you make the decisions about what you want to say on your

website is the importance of communication in anything that you write. 

These days competition for communication on the Internet is difficult. 

The sheer volume of information being routed on the Internet is a huge

communications barrier. Every day people on the web are bombarded

with websites and businesses lobbying for their attention.

People are busy and time is short. So it’s all the more important to know

how to get your marketing message across. The key aspects of good

customer communication inclue:

 the ability to read customers

 the ability to understand which communication style your

customers are most likely to pay attention to, and

 the ability to adapt your website content for your customers.

When you communicate with your customers through the Internet you

have only one shot at communicating your marketing message. You need to keep in mind that those customers, and potential customers,

reading your marketing message don’t have a long time to read what you

have to say….so you better say it fast, accurately, and in words that they

want to hear. Learn how to keep it simple and direct.

There are some basic ideas that you should keep in mind when you’re

writing website content that customers want to read:

 Identify and clarify the marketing message that you want to get

across to your customers. When you pinpoint your focus you have

the ability to zoom in and give your customers content that they

can rely on and trust.

 Gather information. Don’t just write website content for the sake

of filling up your web space. Find out what customers want to

read and then write for them

 Evaluate the information that you’re writing about. Make sure that

the information that you’re basing your website content on is

precise and reliable. Does the information represent the points of

view about your online business that you want to get across? Is

the information fact or opinion? Many times a combination of (1)

fact, and (2) customer opinion, go hand in hand for writing web

content that people want to read.

 Consider the alternatives and implications of what you write. 

Make sure that you draw the appropriate conclusions from what

you write and that your readers will draw the same conclusions

about your web content. What are the costs, benefits, and

consequences of the content that you have on your website? Take

the time to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of moving away from Search Engine Optimization techniques and instead

focusing on writing what people want to read.