Effective Content Creation

Writing for the Web

1. Use blogging software. I am a personal fan of WordPress and use it for everything, for the simple reason that it’s beautiful to look at, easy to use, and Google likes it. But there are alternatives.
2. Make sure the font on your website is readable. Don’t use pale gray font that is difficult to distinguish. Don’t use tiny font that no one can read, and don’t use white on a dark background for large tracts of text (for many this is a design no-no).
3. Use a spell check: sounds elementary but so many people have spelling and grammar mistakes all over their pages–it doesn’t look professional and it puts people off.
4. If you have doubts about your writing skills, either get others to write your content, or at the very least have someone check over what you write before you publish it.
5. Write about what  you know. It will ensure that you come across as an authority. Still research everything though.
6. Find a resource, or more than one, that will help you make sure you keep up-to-date with the hot news in your field. Twitter is great for this. Follow the thought-leaders in your field and you’ll be sure to always have a good supply of information for new copy for your website. Some excellent resources might be Quora, Pearltrees, Google+ and Stumbleupon.
7. Research your articles well. Spend a little time making sure you have your facts straight and that you link out to other articles/blog posts that together will make your piece a fantastic resource.
8. Invite guest posters to write for you, and make sure that you give them the byline they want as well as a link back to their own site.
9. Make sure your copy is broken up by useful and interesting sub-headings. It makes your web copy easier to read and facilitates scanning, which most of do when we’re reading. It also has the other advantage of helping Google categorize your post.
10. Keep your paragraphs short No more than three sentences each.
11. Use images to add interest. Human beings are pretty visual creatures–we like pictures!
12. Don’t ramble on for pages and pages. You need to have enough content to say something worthwhile, but most people using the Internet have a limited amount of time, so don’t make them wade through 10,000 words when 1,000 would have done it!
13. Don’t use words that the average person is going to need a dictionary for, but on the other hand don’t write for morons either. Keep it average and comfortable. Don’t make your readers work or they’ll go somewhere else.
14. It’s not for everyone, but opening up the comments on your blog can actually provide further great content for your readers.
15. Here’s Yahoo’s styleguide for writing on the Web if you want to do some further reading.
16. Unless you want to commit to constantly updating your web posts, consciously try to limit content that will date your piece. Sometimes its unavoidable, but for the most part it’s a good plan to try to write information that will be as timeless as possible.
17. On the other hand, it is worth updating your best pieces as and when things change, or new information becomes available.
18. Use visual cues to help guide your reader through your content: in addition to images you should have bullets, numbers, quote boxes and more to make it all look good.
19. Don’t forget to link out to other sections of your own content that will enhance your pages.
20. Don’t obsess. You don’t have to create masterpieces to provide reading material that is informative and interesting. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by setting your standards too high–you’ll simply never write regularly enough.

Search Engine Optimization makes for great web content!

We’re still seeing a great deal of heated discussion online about what makes for good web content so I thought the subject is worth revisiting.

It’s all very simple really. Websites need words, whatever their reason for existing, they need words.

Each and every website is created to attract visitors–that goes without saying. But in order for people to see it, that website has to first impress the search engines because if it doesn’t, the search engines will never throw it up in a search. So unless you’re doing an obscene amount of Pay Per Click or you have other concrete sources of traffic, the search engines need to love you, and most important of all the search engines is Google because they have the lion’s share of the search industry. Period.

So let’s look at what the search engines look for first:

1. The title of your page needs to clearly define what the page is about. If you’re wondering what I mean by that, take a quick look at the top left-hand corner of this page. See what I mean? Lay out for your visitor exactly what the page is about in a way that will make them want to know more.
2. The main heading of your page also needs to contain your major search terms. This is different from the title as it’s seen actually on the page. To pick the right search terms, or keywords, make sure you do adequate keyword research using a reliable keyword tool.
3. The first paragraph should talk about your main focus (major search terms). Your most important content is what comes above the fold (what’s seen on your page without someone having to scroll down). It’s rather like writing for newspapers: you have to grab your audience in the first paragraph (in this case digital and human visitors) and then add the less-important facts lower down.
4. Sprinkle well-chosen sub headings throughout your text and link out to relevant content using your keywords in the anchor text (the words you click on in a link). Simple but effective.
5. Arrange for links from other pages of your website using those relevant keywords as anchor text.
6. Arrange for links from other websites, again using your chosen keywords as anchor text.
7. Don’t make the huge mistake of trying to target too many keywords. Just pick four-six really good ones and leave the rest for another page. There’s no limit to the number of pages you can create and doing it this way is a powerful way of making your website into a valuable resource for your target market.

Even if you don’t want the search engines to love you for some strange reason, you still need to get your human visitors to love you. Quality web content is the only way to do it.

Some kind of content management or content development strategy should therefore be high up on any webmaster’s list of priorities. If you can’t do it yourself, good content is well worth paying for even if it’s not on a regular basis. A decent SEO copywriter can put your website on the map.