How to Generate Great Content for Your Website
By
Donald Nelson, copyright 2006
If you want to achieve lasting success with your website, then the best
route to take is to build a content-rich site. A site that has
varied and informative articles and information will be big
hit with viewers and search engines alike. In case you have
writer's block or are not sure how to go about creating more
content for your website. Here are some tips to help you get
moving.
1. When building content try to solve the problems of your
viewers without making them buy something
Of course you have set up your website in order to either make
money or "get" something out of it, but it is not productive
to build scores of pages with hard-sell messages. People are
coming to the net to find solutions to their problems. Provide
articles, information and answers to these problems and you
will win the respect, and trust of your readers. This is known
as "pre-selling" and it is just as important as selling
itself.
So, before you start tapping on your keyboard, keep the
interests of your readers in mind and then begin.
2. Write about what you know and share your knowledge with
your readers
If you have set up a website it means that you know something
about your particular field, or have some special interest in
it. For example, suppose you are selling digital cameras, why
not write some articles reviewing the available cameras that
are on the market. Or why not write an article explaining what
people should look for when they buy a camera. There are a lot
of people out there who don't have the foggiest idea about
digital cameras and they would sure be happy to get some
unbiased information before buying something.
3. Do research and turn dull reports into interesting
articles
You can build on what you know by doing a bit of research on
the web. Make a keyword search for "digital cameras" or
whatever your field is, and you will find some web pages
giving information. Often the information is just listed in a
point-wise fashion in bulleted lists. Take this information,
and blend it with your own experience to create new articles.
You can quote or cite the other articles (with hyperlinks)
that you find on the web if they are particularly useful. In
fact this is the original idea behind Google's system of
PageRank: web pages that are particularly good will earn links
or "votes" from other sites.
4. Let your readers help you to create content
If you are not sure what to write about then why not ask your
web visitors to submit their questions. These questions will
stimulate you to provide answers in the form of articles. A
good example of this approach is the site
http://www.askdavetaylor.com . Dave Taylor is a
technical "geek". If you have any question about computers,
software, html, Mac, linux, unix and related technical matters
you can just go to his site and ask a question. Dave's answers
comprise hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages of solid
information. In fact, he has 29,300 pages indexed in Google!
You don't have to write hundreds or thousands of pages, but if
you follow Dave's example you can certainly build up your
site, and easily overcome your "writer's block."
5. Reprint the articles of experts in your field
There is no sense in recreating the wheel. If someone has
already written something good about your particular field,
you can reprint it. You will have to provide a link back to
the author, but if the article really fits in with the theme
of your site, then it is worth it. You can find free reprint
articles at sites such as
http://www.ezinearticles.com and
http://www.goarticles.com
or our article directories:
http://www.a1-optimization.com/articles ,
http://www.a1-articledirectory.com
6. Let your readers create content directly
Blogs with their "comments" sections are now one of the most
popular ways of allowing web visitors to add their thoughts
and ideas. You can also set up a bulletin board or forum using
the phpBB software (which is pre-installed with many hosting
plans). If you have enough traffic and an audience that is
passionately interested in the themes of your website, then
your own readers will create pages and pages of interesting
content. You will of course have to moderate the forums or
blogs, but the reward to you in terms of useful content will
be worth it.
So, if your site is a bit thin on content, think about these
six tips and take steps towards providing information that
will make your site a place where people can come and find
solutions to their problems or answers to their questions.
Donald
Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has
been working on the Internet since 1995, and is currently the
director of A1-Optimization (http://www.a1-optimization.com),
a firm providing search engine optimization and copywriting
services.
(If you wish to reprint this article on your website,
please keep the article intact and include the author
information paragraph (directly above) with the article.
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