This is a two-part article. I will try to locate the second half if possible, but this was so good I decided to run it here on the FTR.
There really are a lot more ways to build good content into a site than most people think.
Robin has done a great job getting some great ideas for quality content together!
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25 Ways to Add Quality Content to Your Web Site (Part 1)
. . . Using ideas that cover at least 25 different industries!
By Robin Nobles (c) 2006
We’ve known for a long time that quality matters to Google. In a
post Senior Google Engineer Matt Cutts made to his blog
(http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-press-day-2006/), “quality”
was mentioned several times as being important to Google. Quality
matters when it comes to content, and it matters when it comes to
links.
However, building content and links doesn’t have to be painful.
Web site owners tend to think of content in a very limited way.
So, let’s open up our creative minds and think of all sorts of
ways of adding quality content to a Web site.
A few things to remember:
- You’re only confined by the boundaries you set for yourself and
your Web site. Allow yourself to think in a totally different way
than you’ve thought before. - Your Web site content should be written for your buying
customers . . . not for you. Your Web site content should not be
written for the search engines. The search engines are not your
target audience. - Think of the overall picture of your site, as if it were a
living, breathing entity. After all, Web sites should continue to
grow on a constant basis and never be stale or stagnant.
Let’s Get into the Fun Stuff: Quality Content for Your Target
Audience
1. A calendar of events. This is ideal for sites like real estate
sites to show upcoming open houses; book stores to promote
upcoming book signings or writers’ meetings; collectors’ sites to
show meetings across the country, etc. Be sure to allow visitors
to send in their own event to be posted to the calendar.
2. Maps. Consider real estate sites, hunting or fishing sites,
camping sites, hotels, or any outdoor recreational sites for
maps. Be sure to add content at the bottom of the map that
describes the map and outlines its purpose as it relates to your
site.
3. Before/after experiences. This is perfect for products or
services you’re selling where customers can write in and discuss
how this particular product or service helped them. These could
turn out to be mini articles, or use them as testimonials.
4. Pictures from your customers. You could set up a special place
where past customers could post their pictures and journal
entries on your site. This is ideal for vacation sites,
recreational sites, wedding sites, baby sites, photography
studios, etc. How could you use this idea on a Halloween site? On
a flower site?
5. Online coloring sheets. Use your imagination here. If you set
up some coloring sheets about your vacation property, kids could
color those sheets and post them online before their trip in
their own special online area. After the trip, their parents
could post pictures and a journal of their trip. This is their
“Web site” about their trip, all hosted on your site as a perk
for booking through your vacation site. What are they going to do
with this information? They’re going to tell their friends,
Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Edna, etc. They’re going to link to it.
You can use this perk as part of your USP (Unique Selling
Proposition) when differentiating yourself from your competition.
You’ll be building one-way links from your past customers, plus
visibility for future customers. Win/win situation. You’ll think
of many ways of adding coloring sheets (or similar creative
activities for kids) to your site, if your site is the type that
would work for kids.
6. Blogs or forums certainly add fresh content to a site.
7. Articles or new pages of interest to your target audience.
Write new content on a regular basis – once or twice a week
should be your goal.
8. An expert Q&A on the main page of your site. Get an expert to
answer questions, and post one question/answer a week (or a day –
whatever you can handle) on the main page of your site. Have past
Q&A’s in a searchable archive on your site.
9. Product reviews. If your industry has products or software to
review, consider writing candid reviews of those products.
Publish the reviews on your Web site as well as publish them in a
few of the online publications. Readers are always interested in
totally candid reviews, where the writer lists the positive as
well as the negative aspects of a product. If you have a
landscaping business, how could you use this idea? What products
do you, as an expert, prefer to use, and why?
10. Short tips. If your product or service lends itself to short
tips, write up a series and publish them on your Web site. Send
them out in your newsletter. Get your readers to send in tips as
they use the product. Offer a discount off additional products if
they submit tips.
11. FAQ’s. FAQ’s are content – content that your target audience
wants to know. As you get questions from your readers, add
additional Q&A’s to your FAQ’s to keep them current.
12. How-to guides. People love “how to” guides. If you sell
online plumbing parts, why not have a “how to” guide on
installing a new toilet? Make it easy on your customers, and
they’ll come back to you again and again. Create a series of “how
to” guides. Be The Toilet Guy on the Net. May not sound too
glamorous, but if you’re highly visible on the Net and are
converting traffic to sales, you can afford to be glamorous OFF
the Net!
(Continued in Part 2)
Robin Nobles conducts live SEO workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) in locations across North
America. She also teaches online SEO training (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). Localized SEO training is now
being offered through the Search Engine Academy. (http://www.searchengineacademy.com)Â Sign up for SEO tips of the
day at mailto:seo-tip@aweber.com.
Copyright 2006 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.
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