How To: Update Your Web Site's Content
3rd Q, 2006 Internet
Marketing Newsletter
by Alli Denning
 You know you need to
update your web site’s content. You know all the reasons why it’s so
important. And yet, it just doesn’t happen, or not very often, anyway.
The search engines love
content and the only thing they love more than content is new content.
They reward sites that regularly update their content with higher
rankings. Users love sites that regularly update their content and
respond by visiting more often. There is only upside here. So, let’s
give them what they want.
Here are ten great tips
and ideas about ways to make regular updates to your site as painless
as possible.
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News Column – These can
include: new product/service announcements, new contracts secured, new
hires, internal promotions, notice of new web site content,
announcement of awards or certifications received, and notice of
newsletter posted or sent. Best of all, these updates can be very fast
as they can be just a few words/lines of text that link into the
relevant page of your site.
-
Portfolio of Projects –
Each time you complete a major project, you can showcase the work with
an online portfolio page. This will also help in subsequent marketing
as you can lead your potential customers through the site and talk
about the work you have done with a great visual aid.
-
Blog – A blog can be a
great way to stay in close contact with your site users. A blog can
added to your site for little or no cost – try this link to learn
more: http://wordpress.org.
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FAQ Section – You are
likely asked the same types of questions by customers and potential
customers over and over again. Write out your answers to those
questions and update the list regularly as new issues arise.
-
How-Tos – People are
online looking for information and solutions to the issues they face.
By writing how-tos related to your business, you are providing the
valuable information users seek and establishing yourself as the
expert in the field. (see this article as an example)
-
Before & After Stories –
What is better than a before and after story? People love them. They
can be a very effective and interesting way of demonstrating in
concrete terms the benefits of your product or service.
-
Case Studies – Case
studies are the perfect way to feature your business’ successes. You
can state the challenge you faced and detail the solution you
provided.
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Monthly Newsletter -
Many businesses write some type of regular newsletter to their
customers already. Make sure that the newsletter gets added to the
site regularly and that an archive of past issues is maintained. If
you do not already write a monthly newsletter – this would be a great
time to start! You can communicate important information while
maintaining regular contact with your customer/client base.
-
Statistics Related to
Your Business – Statistics are interesting and people like them. They
can make your business or industry more real to your customers and
highlight the importance of your products or services.
-
Customer Stories – These
can add a concrete and personal touch to the site’s information about
its services /products. You simply feature a customer, interviewing
them about their use of your service or product and its impact on
them. This idea has the added benefit of contributing to great
customer relations.
Making it Happen
The best way to ensure
that these content-building ideas get past the idea stage is to assign
it to someone in your office – make it a line item in someone’s job
description about which they must regularly report. You’ll want to
choose a good writer, someone that enjoys doing it so that there is
plenty of enthusiasm for the project, and someone that is in the thick
of what is going on with the organization to help stimulate ideas and
ensure that the important issues are covered. Set concrete goals for
content delivery, such as one new piece every week.
If you have no such
person on your staff and you know that it just isn’t going to be you,
you can always hire a professional copywriter to help you out. We are
happy to recommend some great ones. If you have an ongoing contract
with the copywriter, you will have a built-in schedule for the
updates. Keep in mind, though, that a copywriter does need input from
you, the business owner or manager. So you will need to allot some
time for that.
Final Hint: Take
this article as an example. It serves the same purpose for my site
that the above ideas would for yours. It helps my clients and other
web users by providing useful and relevant information and it keeps my
site fresh with new content.
If there is an Internet-related thing you have always wondered how to do,
let us know. We are always looking for new ideas for our How-To
Guides.
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