Website Redesign How to Step 3: Content Creation Strategies

Hopefully, most of you have come to the realization by now that compelling content is an essential aspect to any effective website. It can help bring traffic to your site, it can help maximize the conversions you get from that traffic, and better yet, it can turn those leads into repeat, loyal visitors.

The ideas behind why you should create compelling content are well recognized, but how to do it? That’s where content strategy gets a little trickier.
 
There are hundreds of tips we could give you on how you can create content that draws customers to your site and then entices them to return, but rather than run through the entire list, we’ve picked the ones that we think are the most important aspects of a sustainable, content marketing strategy.

1. Understand what your customers want to read and then give it to them. If you give your readers something they want to read and educate them at the same time,  then it encourages them to return because it is in their best interests to do so.
2. Be committed to keeping your content fresh. It’s not just about having current content that draws a customer in once. You need to create content consistently so that they will keep coming back to see what else you have in store for them. 
3. Establish yourself as an expert, but don't self-promote. Does that sound like a paradox? It doesn’t have to be. Offer your visitors educational content that demonstrates your expertise but doesn’t blatantly self promote your products or services. 
4. Keep it short and sweet! Most of your visitors probably don’t have time to read your 10 page research paper. What they are looking for is concise, easy-to-read, tidbit style content that can give them the information they need at a glance, and without too much of a commitment on their part. This isn’t to say that those papers don’t have their uses, but the majority of your visitors are probably looking for content they can access and consume quickly and easily.
5. Put ownership in the right place. Content creation has become a collaborative effort (especially if your company uses a web content management system). This cooperative structure means that you can have the content writing spread among different owners, and put it in the hands of the people who are most qualified to write about specific subjects. For example, if you want to create a piece of content demonstrating how your customer service team deals with customer inquiries, why not have one of your customer service representatives write it, rather than a member of your marketing team?  When people write about topics that interest them, or that they have experience with,  they usually write content that is inherently more compelling to their audience. 
6. Plan ahead—way ahead. Remember, you’re not creating content because you want to land a sale in the first conversation like a used car salesman. You’re building a community of visitors, based around your content, who come to you because they trust you to inform them, educate them and answer their questions and in the long run, this will lead to relationships that drive sales.

Posted by Amberlie Denny at May 10, 2010 4:30 PM

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