Web Content Strategy 101

Your web content makes or breaks the profitability of your

site. Here’s how you can develop a strategy to make the most of

your site’s content.

 

Your content is what gets you in search engines, speaks to

visitors, and ultimately decides the success or failure of your

site. Meanwhile, your content has to be updated at least once a

month if you want to get return visitors and search engine

traffic. You need to have a web content strategy for your site

to succeed.

 

Web Content Strategy Components

 

There are four basic ways you can get content for your site.

 

Free-reprint content that you can publish on your site in

exchange for putting a link to the authors' site under the

article. The main benefit of this kind of content is that you

can build up your site quickly.

 

Original content contributed freely by your visitors, such as

message boards and guestbook-style comments. The main advantage

of this content is that it costs nothing and gives you insight

into your visitors. The disadvantages are low quality and the

constant vigilance needed to police it for misbehavior.

 

Original written content that you allow other sites to

republish in exchange for a link to your site. This content is

usually informational articles, whitepapers, and sometimes,

press releases. Exchanging content is an essential component of

getting links to your site.

 

Original written content that's exclusive to your site. You

should have some content that you hold back from republication,

to avoid giving visitors or search engines the idea all your

content can be had somewhere else. This can include FAQs,

"about us" pages, case studies, testimonials, and other content

that other sites would not want to reprint anyway.

 

What Kind of Content to Use

 

So, which of the four kinds of content should you use on your

site? Ideally, all four. That way you'll maximize the amount of

quality content your site can have.

 

Just be careful not to rely too heavily on free-reprint

content. If most of what's on your site isn't original to you,

you'll suffer in credibility, both with your visitors and the

search engines.

 

Here's a good starter content strategy:

 

One-quarter free-reprint content.

 

One-quarter content contributed by visitors.

 

One-quarter originally written content you let other sites

reprint in exchange for a link to your site.

 

One-quarter originally written content you do not redistribute.

 

Scheduling Content Updates

 

Search engines, especially Google, seem to give pride of place

to sites that regularly update their content. Regular content

updates also give visitors a reason to return.

 

In short, if you have thirty web pages worth of content this

month, it's better to post one page each day rather than put

them up all at once. To make sure you do this, schedule an hour

each day for updating your site's content.

 

One way to get regular content updates for your site is to

start a blog, a "web log" in which you write your thoughts and

post news. The one disadvantage is that many web users are

getting tired of blogs, which are often not well written and

contain more opinion than information. Search engines, too,

seem to be featuring blogs in their results less often.

 

Identifying a Content Provider

 

Ever wonder how Bill Gates keeps the MSN and Microsoft sites so

content-rich? Doesn't he get RSI from writing a thousand or more

pages a day?

 

You guessed it: Bill Gates does not write the content for any

of the Microsoft websites. Nor should you write all your own

content. All successful website owners have someone else write

a large part of their content. This person or company is called

a "web content provider."

 

Your web content provider has to be a person or company with

proven experience writing content for the web, rather than just

print content. Ask to see writing samples. You might even ask if

you can commission just a single page to start with, for

evaluation purposes.

 

In short, your web content is too important to leave to chance.

Make sure you have a strategy for getting the best content.

Contact a content provider to develop a web content strategy

today.

Joel Walsh, a professional content writer and
founder of UpMarket Content, recommends you check out their
site to learn more about what you can get from a web site
content provider: http://upmarketcontent.com

Article Source: http://www.articlepros.com