When you think about what to write and share on your website, do you know exactly what your audience wants and needs? Or are you simply writing for yourself and hoping others will follow? The latter may be good for a personal journal or blog but it may not be the thing you need to get your readers to take action.
“Content that is valuable, informative, educational and/or entertaining will attract and retain your audience better than anything else you do online.”
Content is the way to differentiate you online, to stand out, to market your products and services. One of the things that seems to stump most website owners/bloggers is what is good content? WE think good content is a combination of elements.
Good content reflects the writers personality. By that I mean it shares the persons experience with the topic.
Good Content is original, different, unique. Take this article for instance. A lot has been written about content on the internet. So what makes this different? Again going back to the above example it should show our experience and how we have learned from that experience. There are basic principles that internet marketers and web entrepreneurs know will result in a good experience for their reader and get the search engines to take notice. Regurgitating the same stuff over and over may be good for pounding in a principle but it does not make your site stand out. In the big scheme of things, if you only share what everyone else does, why would the search engines feel compelled to give your site priority over another.
“To create content you need a laser sharp focus, discipline, and an audience to serve“
Know your audience, your customers. Knowing your target audience will give you a greater chance of writing and sharing material they want and need. For instance, Women in Ecommerce™ is all about doing business online. That means our content should be about internet marketing, ecommerce, search engine optimization and topics that will ultimately help our readers do just that. Business online. WE also know that our readers like to read about themselves and other women success stories so we include their stories in our content. This goes back to the unique factor. No other site has exactly the same content as Women in Ecommerce™ shares.
Use Good Grammar. if you want to maintain credibility, it is important to cross your t’s, dot your i’s, spell correctly and use proper punctuation. You do not need to use a $3 word when a $1 word will do, but you do need to make sense. Your readers should understand what you are saying without getting out a thesaurus or dictionary (unless of course, your site is about that topic).
Quick tip: Have an idea journal and carry it around every where you go. When you get an idea of what you could write about, put it in your journal. I have a tabbed journal and use it for all my projects. This way I can quickly review the ideas listed and as I use them, either cross them off or tear out the page. If you prefer, get a small audio recorder you can keep in your purse so you can record the idea. Either way, when you do record your ideas either in writing or audibly, expand on the idea by writing down as many points that come to you at the time. When the time comes to use the idea, you will be better able to recall just what you were thinking at the time the idea came to you.
In the next article on Women in Ecommerce™ we will discuss how to come up with content for your website, blog and other social media platforms.
By the way, if you are in South Florida May 26th, be sure and visit us when we present: Content Is Queen… How to Leverage your Website/Blog Content . We’d love to see you there!
