Distinguish yourself from  your competition with content building.

When you compare your website to a competitors’, it’s a given that you want to appear above them search engine rankings. With hundreds of variables to take into account, achieving such a task is never an easy feat. However with a consistent search engine marketing plan and a bit of perseverance, you can definitely improve your search engine results.

Where do you start?

Step #1 – It’s all about quality content.

You probably read it all the time, but you’re about to read it again. Quality Content is King. Your website visitors care more about relevance than they do about sources. They want information that helps them make decisions. And the presence of quality content or lack thereof will greatly impact any SEO effort. No two websites have the same content, and a website rich with quality content will almost always outrank a site with poor content. Quality content on your site is extremely important as it gives search engines the sense that you are as much a destination for information as you are an enterprise trying to sell something. When users like a site and the information it provides they are more willing to share it with others. So, take the first step and develop quality content that has value for the visitors you seek.

Distinguish yourself from  your competition with content building – Step 2.

Last month we discussed how to use consistent content building to improve your search engine rankings. Step #1 covered the importance of quality content because quality content on your site gives search engines the understanding that you are a destination for information and knowledge. What do you do next?

Step #2 – Keep it fresh.

The wide open web is ever expanding and constantly growing, is your website growing as well? Every day thousands of new sites launch, and that means fresh competitors presenting information in new and interesting ways. Content freshness helps web sites as it offers the benefit for users to have a look at new and useful information. Keeping your web site fresh is worth the extra effort, with the addition of new content, your website is adding value to the end users. While the “freshness factor” is very important to search engines like Google, what’s even more important is that your website continues to grow through content building. If you have not read your website’s content in the past few months, take a closer look. Is it still representing your company in the way that you think it should?

Last month we discussed how to use consistent content building to improve your search engine rankings. Step #1 covered the importance of quality content because quality content on your site gives search engines the understanding that you are a destination for information and knowledge. What do you do next?

Step #2 – Keep it fresh.

The wide open web is ever expanding and constantly growing, is your website growing as well? Every day thousands of new sites launch, and that means fresh competitors presenting information in new and interesting ways. Content freshness helps web sites as it offers the benefit for users to have a look at new and useful information. Keeping your web site fresh is worth the extra effort, with the addition of new content; your website is adding value to the end users. While the “freshness factor” is very important to search engines like Google, what’s even more important is that your website continues to grow through content building. If you have not read your website’s content in the past few months, take a closer look. Is it still representing your company in the way that you think it should?

Spend some time planning the web site layout and design, before you create a web site or e-commerce web site. Plan your website design with your business objectives and target audience in mind. Clearly define if you will use your new web site as a vehicle to provide information, or will you build an e-commerce web site to sell your products and services?

A simple way to create a web site is to use index cards to map out each potential web page. Index cards are easy to rearrange to help you with your web site design. Whatever your objective is for the web site design, plan to build your web site professionally, and remember that it is most important to have your site very well organized with simple navigation and clear “calls to action”.

With your web site design, keep your site’s theme colors appropriate to your business topic. Colors are representative of your business image. Do not use too many different colors when you create a web site. All of the colors you choose need to compliment each other. Photographs and images can help you personalize and promote your ideas, products, and services. In the website design, make your site text easy to read using text colors that contrast well with your website background.

When you create a web site, web content is extremely critical. The web content must be suitable to the planned purpose of your web site design theme. The web content needs to target your desired audience and support your web site objectives.

It is best to use a single subject or theme per web page in the website design. Each page should contain at least 250 words, but do not overwhelm your target audience with too much information. Create a web site with a simple layout and graphics that clearly communicate your message with a clear calls to action. Build your website home page to be responsive to the needs of your target audience. Start building your website or e-commerce website today!

Understanding that content and written articles meant for business print does not invariably render suitably to the online universe of effective writing for the web. The rules that work on writing organic web content for online business websites are different than those for business text articles; excellent content created off-line does not consequently measure up to quality natural web copy for the small business website.

Three keys for writing successful natural web copy:

1. Be brief. Because most web readers skim through pages, write less content. Independent research has shown that many readers prefer to scan an article before reading it thoroughly. Keep your organic web content short, less than 500 words; this may allow more people to read the complete web content, perhaps resulting in more returning visitors to your business website. Include only the most vital points or calls to action that you want to make; text is more difficult to read online, so keep it short and sweet.

2. Make the most of headings and lists. People are willing to scan natural web copy and web articles instead of reading them verbatim from the first word to the last. Produce content that is easy for the visitor to find what they’re looking for by using headings, bold type, and lists. Understandable cleanly written lists makes it easier to skim through web content and let them read only what they are truly interested in.

3. Create clear “calls to action’ and links. One of the main tools that breeds successful writing for the web is to take advantage of the reality that print writers don’t have is the ability to link to other applicable sources. Organic web content such as text or images; can be linked to other web pages, photos, videos, sounds, and other significant natural web copy. Make your links stand out by making them obvious. A universal way to highlight a text link is by using a different color from the standard text and by providing a hover effect, such as underlining the link and changing it’s color, when the reader’s place their cursor over the highlighted link.

Using the steps highlighted above and including links to resource pages, news articles, audio and video, forums, and white papers helps develop meaningful natural web copy. Your website visitors can decide which links to follow and which links to skip using your web article as their basis of information on that specific topic. When successfully writing for the web, your readers should feel that reading your organic web content enhanced their reading experience!