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Publish the right stuff

I’ve already mentioned that you need to make your content relevant. Your site’s purpose is to get more customers, members, donations, exposure, traffic, etc. Figure out what you want to say about those things and make sure everything you publish is geared towards your goal(s).

I know, it seems a little elementary. But, I can’t drive the point home enough that your content needs to be focused specifically on the stuff your (potential) customers need to know about you. You need to figure out what that will be ahead of time. I always suggest building an outline before you ever write a single word of copy.

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Constructing your content

Writing for the web is a little different than, say, writing an ad or a term paper. We know the #1 rule is make it about the consumer. So, to that end, here are a few ideas about writing for the web to make it EASY on your visitors to find the information they are looking for. And, remember, users scan pages for words that will alert them to what they are looking for … don’t forget that.

Your pages or articles should be constructed similarly to this little outline.

• Page or Article titles need to be descriptive and simple (3 to 5 words)
• Opening paragraph summarizes what the page is about
• Paragraphs need to be short
• Opening sentence of each paragraph summarizes what the paragraph is about
• Images need to be related to the content on the page
• Write for a 6th grade reading level
• Make it flow. Make transitions from one concept to another smooth
• Don’t ‘fluff up’ your content just to make it longer. Concise is good

Use the right words

As I said earlier, people scan information for words that tell their brains, “This is what you are looking for.” Using the information above will help make sure they can get those messages in their brains when they read your website. But, there is more to it. You also need to make sure that you use the right words in your content so people can find your website when they are on Google or Yahoo! searching. (Yes, people will do that … a lot.)

So, just how does someone who is on Google looking for “knoxville dry cleaner” find your site? Easy. You have those words “knoxville,” “dry,” and “cleaner” in your text. Search engines have computer programs called spiders that find all the content on the Internet. When it visits your website to see what it is about, or if you have added anything new (called ‘indexing’), it will see those words in that order on your web page. Since it checks out every page, it will conclude your website is for a dry cleaner in Knoxville.

The key, however, is knowing which words to use. This is where finding keywords is important. Keywords are words that people use on search engines for a particular topic. One of the most important things you can do is discover just what those words are and incorporate those words into your site. Most of the words will be natural to include (as in the example above). However, knowing what words are used and in what order (as in a phrase) is invaluable when writing your content.

If you don’t know how to research keywords for your niche (subject, services, products), find someone who does and hire them to help you. It is that important.

The benefits of doing it right

Putting so much effort into your content does two things. First, it makes it all about your visitor … and hopefully helps convert them into a customer. Second, it makes your pages seem like valuable resources to search engines. Which, in turn helps you reach more customers.

Do not skimp on the content for your site. Get help if you need it. Also, you would not hire a 10 year-old to write copy for your print ads. Make sure the people you work with on the content for your website knows what they are doing.

image: _Star_Dust_

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Do you have questions about what how you can leverage the Internet to improve your customer experience and boost your company's performance? Just ask.