Custom Content
Studies reveal that up to 80% of decision makers prefer reading company information through articles rather than advertisements.
What is Website Content?
Imagine a store with a sign out front that just says “The Store.” You know they sell things, and you want things, so you go inside. There seem to be things on the shelves… but the lights aren’t on. It might be worth it to go through every aisle using your phone’s light to scour the selection, but there’s a Trader Joe’s next door and you know the lights work there, so you leave. That’s what a website without content is like.
Content, in the context of websites, is the sections on each page, as well as how they are displayed and connected. Pretty much everything worth looking at on a website is considered content. As websites develop into experiences, content now includes pictures and even custom videos. Each piece of content, and how it is executed, has a direct result on how the website ranks overall, which has an immediate impact on the success of the business. That level of detail can be overwhelming. However, a website with top-notch content will increase its rankings, visibility, and ultimately drive revenue for a business.
Why Does My Website Need Content?
Content on a website doesn’t just need to be great, it needs to be intentional. Good content for a website should consider the business’s target audience and then provide them with exactly what they need. When content is done correctly, search engines will recognize its value and react by showing your website to more new customers.
Content needs to be formatted in a way that not only provides value to visitors but is easy to categorize for search engines. The strategies for making your website rank well are referred to as SEO; you can read more about SEO here.
The return on investment for content can be difficult to quantify. A website with excellent content is likely to have a variety of pages that are all valuable to its target audience. It is likely that visitors of the aforementioned website use it as a resource and visit it regularly. Because of this, it can be difficult to draw a line from one piece of content to its monetary value over time. That is why it is important to have metrics for defining success that addresses this. Having specific measurements will help a business decide on whether their website’s strategy is working and gives insight into how to proceed.
The Cornerstones of Successful Content
Successful content is unique to a business, its target audience, and the success metrics it has defined. However, a piece of content’s success will likely be determined by whether or not it addresses the following 5 key components:
Credibility
Quality content is more likely to be credible content. There are a number of ways to establish credibility. Citing sources might not be something you do every day, but pointing to a source shows transparency, builds trust, and allows the source to lend some of its credibility to your content. Credibility can also be established by speaking to your target audience in the way they prefer. Presenting information using relevant jargon in a tone that resonates will establish your content as a member of the audience. Making this content informative will elevate the content from an audience member to an authority on the subject.
Informative
No matter what your product or service is, it should be backed with relevant information. Informative content should feel natural. It should help to answer questions website visitors have. When content is broken into logical chunks, each section can have a similar structure; this will likely follow a pattern of introduction followed by an explanation. Sections should include, and often explain, relevant keywords.
Keywords
Keywords are terms relevant to the topic. They are important for searchers and search engines. For searchers, the use of keywords will be necessary for their experience on a website. Content without keywords isn’t informing or speaking a visitor’s language. For search engines, keywords allow them to index a website. Categorizing the words on a page and how visitors interact with them provides search engines with data on how relevant a page is; that is important data for them, as it indicates user experience. Part of the user experience is now related to how keywords are organized. One part of this experience is represented by their intent. This often manifests in the form of a long-tail keyword. The organization of keywords now has to address the rise in conversational keywords.
Voice Search
Voice searching as a method of search differs because spoken commands are more likely to be formatted conversationally. With the use of voice search rising as well as the increase in devices capable of performing voice search, optimizing content for voice search is growing in its importance. Since a large portion of voice searches have local intent, businesses need to anticipate searches from local patrons. One way to do this is by formatting headings and subheadings as questions prospective clients are likely to ask.
Quality
Quality content addresses the needs of two audiences: searchers and search engines. In addition to the above metrics, content should be intuitive to interact with and satisfying to experience. Intuitive content is organized in a way that is easy to navigate. Content that is satisfying to experience is perfect for your target audience; it addresses the reason they came to visit your website and conveyed the information in an enjoyable way. For search engines, quality means performance scores. Search engines like Google score a page’s quality with the intent of prioritizing websites that display authority and trustworthiness.
One of the Big Issues with Content: Duplicate Content
Content on your site that exists elsewhere across the internet(whether you know about it or not) is detrimental to your rankings. To see if your content is duplicated, put 1-2 sentences (maximum 32 words) in the box below and see how many results appear. Having trouble picking content to copy and paste? Give us a call and we’ll walk you through it.
Content with Second Nature
Having a partner for your business that understands the dynamic between you and your customers is essential. We take content seriously. From custom-written services pages to video packages that boost the efficacy of your website, Second Nature makes sure all of the content representing your business exceeds your expectations. If content has been a headache for your business, let us be your solution. Find out if we’re a good fit today- call us at 888-772-4393.
Content FAQs
It’s true that beautiful websites are nice. We love them, too – we create them! But in order to maximize a website’s ability to rank well, a nice-looking website that provides a great user experience needs to be paired with an unbeatable content strategy. One that is specifically written to align with Google’s system for evaluating the words on your website. At Second Nature, we have a team of writers that each have years of experience optimizing website copy for high Google rankings and creating new clients.
You could write content for your website. But to do it right, you would need to do learn about SEO and how excellent content fits into a website strategy. You would need to write content that matches your brand’s voice and fulfills keyword requirements for ranking. Most of the time, we suggest consulting a professional. In the long run, not only will it save you money, it will make you money.
Content should be relevant to your business and useful to your visitors. It could be the services you offer, details about the work you do, current hot topics in your industry, or updates about your business. Stories, highlights, and spotlights of clients/customers you’ve worked with or projects you’ve worked on. Self-help articles / how-to / educational articles.