Saturday 22 March 2014

How To Improve Your Online Content


Today, the content that appears about your company online is your calling card. To a great extent, it is this that helps you maintain a good reputation. But if the content isn’t right it can also have quite the opposite effect, which is why you should pay a lot of attention to it. Obviously you can’t control what others write about you, but you can control what goes on your website, social media pages and so on.


If your current content doesn’t seem to be doing its job effectively, then here are some strategies you can look into:

Functionality: First and foremost, strong website content is nothing if you haven’t first made sure that it’s easy for users to locate what they’re looking for. Therefore, keep your website simple and easy to navigate without. Also, remember that more than 40 per cent of web traffic comes from mobile devices today so make sure your content can be properly viewed across all platforms.

User Generated Content: Not all your website content should be created by yourself. To make your customers really feel valued and a part of your ‘journey’ you should encourage them to contribute to your site. For example, you could encourage them to ask questions or pose problems which you can then respond to (and display your expertise at the same time). You could invite guest bloggers to write relevant articles on your site, which in turn could lead you to blog on other people’s sites.

Hire A Content Marketing Expert: If you really want to transform your online content then you should maybe think about investing some money in it. Why not hire someone who can dedicate all their time to this one task and work out a proper online strategy? After all, if you’re trying to do it all yourself you are naturally going to spread yourself a little thin and you just may not be able to get the best results. Even if you only hire someone on a temporary basis, you should begin to see a real difference.

Run Surveys: Try running monthly surveys or competitions and then posting the results. You will find this a good way to generate user-generated content. If you can, try to think of surveys that are likely to create a PR buzz – ones that, if the results go a certain way, other websites, magazines or newspapers may want to pick up on for stories. As well as publishing them on your site, you can send the results out in the form of a press release to anyone you think may want to publish them.

Tell A Story: Consumers related to a good ‘journey’, so the content of your website – your company background, how you have got where you are – should be a compelling story in itself. Try to make it unique: offer something that others don’t. But don’t overdo it with the word count – remember that it is quality that matters, not quantity. Your story will be more powerful if it is succinct and every word is weighed carefully.