Content is King
2/8/07
Jessica Munday, President
Some of you might have already heard the phrase, "content is king." For those of you who haven't, we're referring to the Web and particularly YOUR Web site and the information on your site, as "content."
The Internet is the information super (doper) highway and the majority of individuals use it to gather information about a particular topic or subject. Generally the more useful and interesting the information on your site is, the more successful your Web site will be. This is because your site is like your company switchboard. Folks call in looking for someone or an answer to their question. If your operator is unable to answer their question or direct them to someone that can answer their question, your caller gets frustrated. The same goes for your Web site. If your Web visitor comes to your site and the content is old or they are unable to locate the information they are looking for they become frustrated with your organization and typically leave.
Think in a traditional sense. Is that the type of customer service that you want to provide? Would you have someone walk through the front door of your office and look them square in the eyes and say sorry I can't help you. That is exactly what you are doing when you neglect the content on your Web site.
A Web site is a living, breathing tool for your organization. It is something that should be cultivated and managed. The best part about a Web site is that you can also change the information at minimal cost, unlike your printed material. Once your printed material is outdated you have to spend a good bit of money to get everything reprinted.
The more you update and change out your content, the more likely your clientele or stakeholders will return to your site. They will view your Web site as a resource and more importantly this interaction will help strengthen your organization’s brand with this person.
Now you know content is king but do you know what good content is? The first thing you must do is create good content. Content that will have a specific appeal to your target audience. So first determine who your target audience is, what they turn to you for and how you can use the Internet to better connect with them and turn them into loyalty customers.
Here are some suggestions on ways to create content for your site.
- Make sure you have someone who can create the content. In theory content
coordination is great but it's only successful if you dedicate the resources to it. Either have someone on your team develop the content or work with an outside firm to develop the content on a regular basis.
- Identify content opportunities for your Web site. What type of information is your client base interested in? Some typical ways to add new content include news releases and articles about your industry.
- Consider adding a blog to your site. Blogs are fast becoming practical communication tools in every day life. If you have issues, trends or opportunities within your industry that you can talk about - consider a blog. It's a great way to increase traffic to your site.
- There is a lot of free content out on the Web. Type in your keywords in any major search engine and see what comes up. You'll be surprised at the amount of free content you can get, especially with the growing number of RSS feeds (i.e. news/content syndication for the Web).
- Remember before you publish your content always check for errors. There is nothing worse than bad content. Misspellings and poor grammar create a perception of being unprofessional. And, if you aren't good at developing content then hire someone to do it for you either on a project basis or as needed. In the long run you'll be glad you did it because you're making the most out of having a Web site in the first place.
