Building Better Content

Everyone who has a website has been smacked in the head about content. You need more content, you need to update your content. They are all absolutely correct!

You've done all your research. You've researched your competitors. You've researched your keywords. You've drawn out and planned how and what you want to present on your website.

Now, we start writing content. Your website readers will generally fall into 2 categories.
1. They have somehow landed on your site from another site or link.
2. They have gone directly to your site.

Let's start with the visitors who have somehow landed on your site. How did they get there?
These are called unique visitors. I also call them potential new business. We all know it is harder to get new business that it is to sell to current customers. We want to WOW them. We want to keep them on YOUR site to buy our product or to send us an inquiry about our services.

So we have a list of the main areas/products/services we want to concentrate on with our business. Start writing around these key elements. They found you because they were interested in what you had to say. They were informed or curious. You now have to position your self as the foremost expert in this area. HUH? Start writing what you already know or even the normal questions you get from clients and buyers. If one person had that question, chances are there are many others who have had the same question. Now, educate. Research more if you need to or add what makes your products and/or services stand out from all the others. This should keep you writing for awhile. I always suggest you do not FORCE yourself to write content.

If the urge strikes, then go with the flow and write as much as you possibly can. Don't worry about spelling or grammar. We have technology for that these days. Write what you know, write what you believe in, write to educate your customers and clients.

Now that I have given you a lot of ideas, next time I will talk more about your customers that have come directly to your site.

Yes, I know you want traffic to your site and you want to be listed on the first page of Google. It will come, baby steps.

Need more help? You can always contact me through my VA website. I answer every email personally.

Research, Now What? What Does This Have to do with SEO or Getting Traffic to My Website?

By now you should have all the tools neccessary to revamp or even start designing your website. If you already have a website, look at everything you've written down and researched. Do your goals and thoughts match your website? Have your services or products changed since the site was last updated?

Another idea is to send your url to someone who understands what you really do and have them review it. Your good friend or your spouse/significant other should be able to help you out. Don't let them look at your notes! You want a fresh objective opinion. DO NOT submit to a site review forum unless you are prepared to cry for hours. Webmasters are harsh and we are not looking at functionalty or design right now. We are looking to see if you are able to communicate your goals and what you sell to your customer. We will work on design and functionality later. Just look at the content.

Write it all down. Everything you see that needs to be changed, updated, or deleted.

Next, review your goals and services with what you wrote down.
Draw out as much as you can. It doen't matter if you want to draw boxes or an outline.
You want to organize your thoughts and the way other perceive your site. Try to group like categories and services together.
I ususually start with a big long rectangle as my home page and go from there.
Once you see on paper the general idea of your site. You'll be better able to see what you want and need to change.

If you don't have a website yet, look at competitor sites or even sites you like. Write everything down you like about them. Start drawing out your vision of your site.

A lot of people get so caught up in, the backlinks, the pagerank, the traffic, and the google listings, they miss the basics. Baby steps. You'll get there and you will be proud that you learned how to do something new and saved thousands of dollars. Hey, really I promise this SEO thing is not that hard!

Need more help? You can always contact me through my VA website. I answer every email personally.