Content, Content, Content

” Please Sir, I want some more. ” There is one thing people and search engine spiders have in common. They both want good quality content. They want a reason to keep visiting your site.

Think about the sites you visit every day. Why? Chances are you visit because there is always fresh new content to read, quality information and data. That is considered “Site Stickiness”. The longer the visit and repeat visits equals the stickiness. Now think about the sites you have come across and left as soon as you saw there was no good information to hold your interest. That is considered a “Bounce”. It is the Internet equivalent of a customer walking into a retail establishment and leaving immediately without looking at the merchandise for sale.

One of the best things you can do to boost your search engine ranking is take a good look at the actual content of your website. Now take a look at a competitors website and its content. Is there a similarity? Are you both the best darn widget seller this side of the Mississippi? What information supports that claim?

What exactly sets you apart from the competition? Why should a customer choose you instead of the other guy (gal)? Your website is your number one sales tool. It’s your 24/7 tireless sales rep & it doesn’t ever want a vacation or a raise. Your content is what will either keep someones interest or bore them.

Almost every time I work with a client they are afraid to put information on their website. Even if it is common knowledge in their industry. Now I don’t recommend you put trade secrets on your website. That certainly wouldn’t be a good thing. But why can’t you put up facts and common misconceptions to help educate a visitor? Articles about how to choose the best widget. Or data about the widget. Or even what a widget is. Things like that give site visitors information that can lead directly to a sale. On the Internet this is known as a “Conversion”. Conversion is when a site visitor does exactly what you wanted them to do.

For instance you might want a visitor to:

• Make a Purchase
• Sign Up for a Newsletter
• Become a Repeat Visitor
• Comment on a Blog Post
• Click on a Advertising Link

Many people are a little bit overwhelmed by the writing process. The advice I always give clients is to just do it. Don’t over think it. Just put a few important points down. You can always change it later. It is easiest if you just get it up there. Then it becomes less daunting of a task.

Every time I have worked with a client to boost the content of their site they were not only amazed by increased traffic to their website, they were amazed by the length of time potential customers spent on the website reading the information. And this directly resulted in new customers. The quality of the content not only brought in more traffic, but it brought in traffic looking for information. Information decreases reasons to not make the purchase. Lack of information is what leads to a customer going elsewhere in search of information that will compel them to buy.

Users spend the most amount of time on the product detail page over any other page.

Think about the last purchase you made in a retail store, on the Internet or a resturant. You bought the item that you felt not only best fit your needs, but was the best buy for the money. How did you come to that conclusion? More than likely it was because of the information given to you about the item. The more information you read, the less reasons to reject the item & search for another elsewhere.

When you total together the fact that not only having the most quality information on a given topic will gain you the lion’s share of search engine traffic, it also boosts visitor confidence in your knowledge and services. There is no reason to not reason to not fill your website with content.