Eight Steps to Web Success - Step 1: Provide Excellent Content
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Fresh content is what drives the Internet. Newspaper publishers learned this lesson many years ago, shortly after the printing press was developed. People, our customers, want to come back to our site every day. But you have to give them a reason to spend time with you.
If your customer comes to your site and doesn't find something new, then that customer may never come by to see you ever again. What can you do to provide new information? What is it about your business that is exciting and changing? Do you have a new product, a new business process, new people working for you, or even a new client that might be exciting to current customers or potential customers?
My son-in-law runs a recording studio, Apocalypse Cow, and for him, it is the bands that come into their studio every month that is newsworthy. Who is in recording? What kind of music are they playing? Does the band have a new CD out? Is there new equipment in the studio that clients/bands can use or might be interested in? Tell everybody about it. Put it on your website. That is new content and that is what people want.
New content drives customer traffic to your site. If you enjoy reading comic strips like Dilbert, then you understand the term "new content". Everyday, first thing in the morning you want to see what crazy idea the pointy haired boss has hatched. If Scott Adams were to quit developing new comics everyday, you would quit going to his website, right?
I can hear you now, "Ken, it is easy for you because you're in the computer industry where there is always something new. If you were in my industry, you would really have a problem." What industry are you in? Gardening? Maybe you consider that a hard to find new content industry.
Let's analyze the gardening industry. I see four seasons happening in the garden industry. When spring comes, people are preparing the soil for planting. Do you have new tools to share with your customers? Are there new hybrid seeds that are stronger against insects and disease? What plants flower in April, how about May and then June, July, see where I am going with this? Every month you are preparing, harvesting or enjoying some aspect of your garden. Tell your customers. They truly want to know about it.
Make it easy for them to find the new content. Sometimes Web masters hide the new content and make it so hard to locate the new stuff. Put it right there on the first page. Forget the beautiful pictures of you hard at work. Show us the new stuff. If you are in the travel industry, maybe those photos are important, but for nuts and bolts industries tell me what's new and show it to me right away. Don't make me hunt for it. I am busy.
So step 1 is to create new content on a regular basis. Depending on your industry and your competitors, that could mean daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. Personally, I think if it is longer than monthly, you aren't trying hard enough.
Next: Step 2: Develop Links with Other Sites >>
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