Quality Website Content Beats Site Aesthetics

Internet marketing and web content is constantly evolving to meet the new and ever-more demanding needs of a growing marketplace. One thing that remains consistent however, is the importance of not just content, but quality content. In general, ensuring good site content is even more important than website aesthetics. Here are four tips to make sure that your content always stays up to snuff and that your business’s content marketing plan remains a powerhouse in a world of flashy sites and tricks.

1. Quality Control. This seems obvious, but if your content contains typos, grammatical errors, and even broken links, you automatically lose a lot of credibility. Why would a potential customer choose your business if your website contains glaring errors and mis-spellings? Always have at least two sets of eyes proof everything before it goes live on your website, including a good editor, preferably someone who hasn’t written the piece.

Print the article or piece of content and go over it with a red pen – this time-tested way is sure to help eliminate grammatical mistakes and ensure that your site stays pristine and up to quality standards. Make sure that all content undergoes the same scrutiny- blog posts deserve the same level of attention to detail as does the content that goes on the front page of the site.

2. Valuable Content. If something is of value to your customers (or potential customers) it deserves some real estate on your website. Make lists with your content marketing team of various ideas and topics that need coverage on your site, including FAQ’s, blog post topics, and even new pages of site content. Make sure to keep in mind the particulars of what speaks to your audience, or the audience you are hoping to gain. Is this article something that your site viewers are likely to learn from or relate to? If the answer is “no” to either of those questions, re-evaluate the direction of the piece.

Numerous websites mistakenly place all their eggs in one basket – that is, they trust expensive graphics to take the place of valuable content. Graphics are appealing, and yes, important, but good, relevant content is what will make your site rank as an authority in internet searches from month to month. Avoiding “thin content,” or poorly written web content that acts as a bad disguise for keywords, is painfully obvious, and can’t be cured with even the best graphics or web design that money can buy.

3. Research Every Article. Putting out incorrect information is even worse than publishing grammatical errors and typos. Thus, the importance of researching and understanding every topic your team writes about is vital. Depending on the size of your team and the goals and deadlines of specific content, it may not be possible to assign a week’s worth of research to one 500-word blog post. Setting realistic deadlines is important here. Talk to your team about how to best manage time so that each article receives a sufficient amount of time devoted to research and legwork. Also, determine ahead of time which pieces might require more research and time to write, versus ones that aren’t as lengthy or complicated.

4. Engage Your Audience. One thing that well-written web content can do beautifully is engage the viewers of your site.

Even more so than a fabulous infographic or image, engaging copy that involves the reader is not only likely to get them to return to your site again and again, but it can make them a loyal customer.

How do you engage an audience through web content? By using industry-specific terminology, by making it easy to share and distribute through social platforms, and by making it crystal clear what your purpose is, as well as (of course) making sure that the writing style is unique, informative, and possibly even humorous. Add a clear call to action that inspires them to pick up the phone or fill out a contact form, and you have just created a strong piece of online content that sizzles with SEO value and will drive more potential customers to contact you than any stock image ever could!

To ensure that your website pops with engaging content, contact Directory One by phone at 713-465-0051.