What do you want your web content to do?

Web content is a pretty wide-ranging field, encompassing everything from on-site text and blog posts to whitepapers and videos.  With so many practical outputs to be considered as part of a content strategy, the first question needs to be: what do I want my web content to do?

Unless you’re in it just for the laughs, this should be a business goal of some variety – although sometimes those goals will be delivered indirectly (i.e. raising your social media profile can lead to new sales enquiries, improved customer service etc…)

With that in mind, I decided to pick out 7 business goals that web content can help you achieve – and a brief note about how you might go about each. It’s not a complete list by any means but these 7 points do cover a lot of ground.

1. Get Found Online (SEO)

   Search engines love great content – for two reasons. The first is pretty obvious – the text on your website can be indexed by search engines, so if it’s written with your keywords in mind, you’ll perform better in the rankings. But search engines also love lots of inbound links, and great content gives people something to link to: like cool videos, informative articles and useful resources.

   Try: Text is still the number one choice for SEO. Use blog posts to keep it fresh and target your key search terms.

2. Fuel a Social Media Strategy

   Social media is based on conversations – and conversations need to be about something. That something could be what you had for lunch but if you want to use social media for business then that something should be in some way business related. Creating great content provides that topic of conversation.

   Try: Again, fresh content in the form of blog posts is a good idea – remember strong titles and sharable formats (like lists).

3. Attract New Prospects

   There are quite a few websites out there. More than anyone could possibly visit in a lifetime. So to compete you need to give people reasons to visit your website rather than someone else’s (i.e. the competition). Education and entertainment both work well, so by creating informative and interesting content you give people reasons to visit your website and take the first step in becoming customers. And if you consistently produce good content you give them reasons to come back and start forming a relationship with you and your brand.

   Try: Consider what kinds of information will make your prospects’ lives easier. Use a combination of simple formats (whitepapers, articles, detailed FAQs) alongside formats that allow for a little more entertainment value (infographics, video tutorials, audio interviews).

4. Demonstrate Your Expertise

   Increasingly expertise is the competitive advantage that businesses are looking for – but finding ways to let your prospects know how smart you are is the tricky bit. Web content can play a big part in this process and give you the opportunity to put your smarts in front of the people who matter.

   Try: People absorb information in different ways – deliver your content in a variety of formats and you stand a better chance of getting through.

5. Differentiate Your Business

   Expertise can be a competitive advantage – but you still need to attract attention and set your business apart in order to get people to listen to you in the first place. So while most businesses continue producing standard websites which focus on design over content, putting content first can help you create a distinctive web presence, communicate your USP (see below) and show off a little personality.

   Try: Be the first to try new media formats. Re-purposing text content into multimedia formats can give it a new lease of life.

6. Communicate More Effectively

   Getting your point across can be hard enough at the best of times so picking the right communications tools can give you a massive head start. Some ideas are best communicated in text but others come across better visually, in motion, aurally, in diagrams or from a third party perspective. Using all the content tools in your arsenal can make a big difference to how well you communicate with your prospects, customers and the world at large.

   Try: Pick formats on the basis of how well they communicate your ideas. If something would benefit from a visual example, use video or diagrams. If it’s better coming from someone else, use outside experts or case studies as content sources.
   

7. Create New Revenue Streams

   And content can even be profitable in its own right. People will – and do – pay for online content all the time. Online training courses in particular are huge business, as are subscription-based membership resources, niche online publications and downloadable information products.

   Try: Don’t be afraid to experiment with new business models online. If they are well-planned the investment needn’t be huge and you can often partner with others to deliver the concept. Online magazines, membership programs and elearning are all within the grasp of even the smallest organisations.

The great news is that even at this stage, if you’re considering how to best use web content for your business, you’re still way ahead of the game and have the chance to achieve considerable competitive advantage.

But it’s not going to stay that way for long.

Pics: Flickr Creative Commons [1] [2]

The British Library houses over 25 million books and an astouding 150 million items in all. It’s second only in size to the US Library of Congress with 32 million books (and interestingly over 6000 comic books).

Even your local public library probably has thousands, if not tens of thousands, of titles in stock.

Why?

Well the idea of a library is that you can find whatever kind of information it is that you’re looking for. If you want to learn about fly fishing, there are books on fly fishing. If you want to know about the Civil War, there are books on that too.

But the minute that you can’t find the information you’re looking for, the library is no longer any use to you. You’ll go elsewhere.

And it’s the same with your website.

When someone visits your website they are, by and large, in search of some kind of information. It could be as simple as your address or as detailed as the best way to plan for the tax inspector’s visit. If they find the information they need then there’s a decent chance they may stick around or bookmark you for a future visit.

If they don’t, they won’t.

So first and foremost your website must be an effective information resource, just like the library. The good news is that you don’t need miles of shelves to store your content online, but you do need to give it some thought.

Libraries are big because they have to plan for the needs of their users. Your website might not need to be big, but content should be equally important in your site design.

Imagine it’s your birthday.

You’re just about to turn ten years old and have spent the last 2 months pestering your parents for a shiny new bike.

You know exactly the kind you want. It’s red. It’s got cool ‘go faster’ handle bars. It’s exactly the same as the one all your friends have been riding around since their birthdays.

The big day finally rolls around and your parents present you with a huge box. It looks great, it’s got tons of wrapping paper and the kind of expertly tied bow that you only ever see in the movies.

Needless to say, you’re pretty excited.

So you dive in, rip off the paper, discard the bow and stand back, ready to admire your gorgeous, envy-enducing, red bike.

Except, there isn’t one.

No shiny new bike. No go faster handle bars. Not even a hint of ‘new bike smell’. Nothing. Just a beautifully decorated box with a shiny bow.

Life sucks.

All Packaging No Content

OK, so you’ve probably got the analogy already. Gorgeous wrapping is great but what we’re really after is what’s inside the box, content.

We’ve all had the experience of looking for information about a product, service or company, only to find a beautifully presented website – with bugger all content.

Great design and slick functionality can help create or solidify a brand image, but unless you’re selling design services, it’s all just wrapping for what should be the focus – your content.