Content Is King

We have all heard the term content is king, but what does this really mean?

Your websites content can have different appeals for different people. No two people are alike; therefore what is useful for one might not necessarily be what another individual is looking for. Why we say content is king is because if your website does not provide information that is being sought by your target audience they will make a quick exit looking for one that does. It is of utter most importance that your site provides content that is considered valuable to your target audience. The best way of figuring out what content should be included is to think like a customer. Consider what information you would seek when buying a product or a service. Most likely this would be about products or industry facts, statistics, reviews, tutorials, or educational information related to a specific industry.

Make Your Website Content Rich

When creating a content rich website, you should think of ways to give your website a unique appeal. Try to think outside the box. What is unique will naturally attract more attention than the mundane and more common content concepts. Over the years research has shown that it is unique content that has captured the most attention.

Here are some ideas on building a content rich website that will have more appeal to your visitors.

Calendar of Events

If your website is directed at a specific target audience maintaining calendar of events relating to specific regions or a topic can have a wide appeal to your audience.

For example if your site is selling a destination, you can maintain a calendar highlighting the major tourist events. This type of content can help visitors to your site plan their holidays to coincide with events that might be of interest to them. Providing useful information might also make your website a point of reference in the minds of your visitors.

Sponsorships and Contests

Everybody wants to win! Running a contest on your website can be a great way to entice the crowds. You can attract visitors to your site by asking them to vote on different topics in exchange for a chance to win a prize. Such competitions can relate back to the content of your site, encouraging visitors to explore the information on offer. For example you may ask visitors to vote for a favourite product, product feature, service or destination or to answer a content related question. Depending on the type of campaign, voting campaigns will also help your site attract new visitors.

Website Content of Product Reviews and Testimonials

Consumers often look for product reviews and testimonials from other visitors as unbiased opinions of products or services offered on a website. Having product reviews on your website will help in many ways. Some important benefits of having product reviews and testimonials are;

1) High visitor confidence on your site will give you a higher conversion rate.

2) Attract new visitors from referrals of satisfied customers who recommended your site.

3) Attract new visitors who are looking for unbiased descriptive and informative content on products or services you have displayed on your site.

Manufacturers can display product reviews on related or complimentary products. Unbiased product reviews explaining both negative and positive attributes of the products offered can help increase the credibility of your site in the minds of your consumers.

Using Forums / Newsgroups as Your Websites Content

User generated content is an ideal way of capturing the keyword long tail. Forums and newsgroups provide the best and the easiest possible methods of capturing user generated content.

Using Blogs as Content

Blogs are food for search engine spiders. Why? Because they have the ability to regularly provide relevant and updated content. Blogs are an ideal way of communicating with your audience.

Using Maps as Content

Depending on the type of business you do on the internet, maps can be used to give the visitors to your website a visual representation or directions to surrounding communities or local events.

For travel websites, maps can help show the global or regional locations of the tour packages on offer. Maps can also show regional attractions, hotel locations, airports etc. Providing such detailed content will always be rewarded by a higher number of visitors who will keep coming back to your site as a trusted source for vacation information.

Having Photo and Art Contests as Your Content

Carrying out contests on your website can be a great way to interact with your target audience. Contests are a great way of getting viewers to return to your site as participants will repeatedly visit the website to check their position, or determine if they are a winner. Often participants will link to the content from blogs encouraging their readers to enter. Contest can attract some much-needed attention.

Ask the Expert / Knowledgebase / Q&As

FAQ’s have given way for a more modern approach of questions and answers. Build a comprehensive knowledge base of related information.

Having Articles as Your Content

Write articles about what your website visitors want to know, i.e. write for your audience not for yourself. A content archive of articles will gradually expand your site while providing you with an ability to optimise for a wide range of phrases. A collection of articles will also help educate your target audience.

Website Content for Niche Markets

Websites targeted for niche markets have long been popular on the web. Authoritative sites with specialised content for visitors with special interests can ensure a devoted visitor base with a higher conversion rate. Content of a Niche sites can display such helpful tools as niche blogs, popular news stories, industry specific terminology, and industry resources.

Avoid Content Duplication or Copying

Having the same content as other similar websites will bury your site in the crowd. This is true with the search engine crawlers as well as with the visitors to your site. Having unique content is what makes a site rise above the rest. Duplicating content in your website will frustrate and turn off visitors searching for genuine and original information.