Posted on | September 28, 2009 | View Comments
Content is the most important peice of your website. Of cousre, great content can be burried beneath an unattractive site design but there is no doubt in my mind that even with strong content under that ugly skin your page will generate traffic. It may not be optimal or efficient as can be but it will still play a large role in generating visitors. It is easy to get caught up in flash design and eye catching aspects, but if you want your site to be succesfull it needs meaningful content.
If you ever want to build a powerful base of readers (and the purpose of your site does not revolve around reporting late breaking news), the first thing that you want to stay away from is chasing the news. Unless you truley are an industry specific news page with few competitors this is going to have you spinning your tires. For the big stories, all the major players will have you beat each time. You dont have the staff or the dedication to match it. Industry specific news may be well off the radar, and still acheivable if you have enough contact and day to day interaction with it. It is important to remember that solutions to questions talked about in the news will result in increased traffic generated from search engines. It does make perfect sense to align posts and site updates with relevant big breaking news items.
Your readers will appreciate a single post a week, or even one a month as long as the content is rich. Quality over Quantity. Just like in sales, it is far more expensive to gain a new client
The Ladd @ flickr
than it is to retain an existing. The same concept applies to your readers and visitors. It’s difficult to put a standard gauge on how often is too often, because it really depends on what your site is covering. If your platform is a blog, it makes sense to make sure that all date and time information is found at the bottom of a page because some biased readers may see old material and immediately bounce right back off your site. The information they were searching for may be right there in front of them but they get turned away if they feel it is old information. Another valuable recommendation would be to show links to related articles or posts on the page. If using WordPress, there are a number of plugins that will allow you to do this automaticlly. If your reader is on your page for a specific reason, why not entice them with other relevant information that may lead to more time spent on your page. Take notes whenever you have an idea. Don’t let it slip away. Popular products like Evernote can help you organize your notes and access them anywhere.
The bottom line is spend time on your posts. The investment in time will pay off in the end. The drafts feature of WordPress is there for a reason, and many writers probably have several, if not hundreads of drafts written out that may never get published. Meaningful content aligned with proper SEO practices, marketing/advertising inititives, and social media efforts will play a large part in the sucess of your website.
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