30

Sep

Write Website Content That Stays Fresher Longer

Posted by: Jeremy Reither

Sounds like a tupperware commercial, huh? But just like putting Tuesday’s leftovers in the fridge keeps you from having to go grocery shopping for another day, your website’s content is what grants it longevity. Let it sit too long, and search engines and visitors alike will just lose interest. The idea is to keep visitors assured that your website content is fresh (who likes old, outdated content anyway?).

Updating your website’s content, if you’re concerned about search engine rankings is a necessity. Search engines like to know that your website content is updated – and generally, the more frequently the better. So, here’s how to avoid the pitfalls of content spoilage, without causing a headache:

• Add a blog to your website: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. The single easiest (and best) way to add regular content to your website is with a blog. It’s simply what a blog is designed for – publishing website content easily and quickly. Blogs are perfect for people with limited technical ability, and once your blog is set up (we can help with that) all you have to do is type it up and click ‘save.’ Remember, a blog can serve many purposes. Obviously you are reading a blog post right now – but some website owners use their blog to only publish very specific types of information. Accountants sometimes use them to publish only reviews of new tax laws, and lawyers sometimes use blogs to publish their latest case results. The key here is that you don’t have to do creative writing – the material can be purely informative if that suits your audience.
• Make ‘Announcements’ and publish ‘Specials’ on your website: If you’re in the type of business where you run ‘specials’ and ‘discounts’ frequently – then make a big deal of them on your website! Limited time offers not only have a way of converting visitors to customers, they also have the added benefit of making your website ‘current.’
• Feature changing content on your home page: Wherever you publish this new changing content on your website, make sure to feature the latest updates on your homepage. Why? Because your home page is probably one of the most frequently visited pages of your website – and an excellent place to feature your ‘fresh’ content. Search engines will see it – and so will your visitors. You’re already writing new content for other pages of the site – just summarize them on the home page, and you’ll get the added benefit of keeping your home page itself current!

The examples above are as much for the benefit of your search engine rankings as they are for your actual human readers. But there’s at least one other tip to keep in mind that’s more for your readers:

• Avoid using terms that will quickly become dated: The most frequent offense that I see is the use of phrases that quickly become inaccurate shortly after they’re written – due to the use of some fixed time measurement, such as a number of days, months or years that some thing has been going on. For example: you may be tempted to write a tag line like “independently owned for 13 years” – but the problem is that in the likely case that you don’t remember to edit the page of your website where you wrote that within the next year, the information will automatically become inaccurate – and possibly even worse, inconsistent with other pages on your website (if readers see “13 years” on one page, and “14 years” on a newer page, it then becomes obvious that your website content is not 100% consistent, accurate, and reliable). It’s a small thing that can plant a seed of uncertainty in your visitors’ head – you don’t want that. Instead, say something like “Independently owned since 1995.” That phrase will age much more gracefully.

It used to be that you could publish your website, let it sit, and eventually people would find you online. But these days in order to compete you’ve got to set yourself apart – and where search engines are concerned one of the most effective ways to do that is to keep your website content fresh. It requires a little extra attention, but with the proper publishing tools (like a blog or a content management system (CMS)) the effort can be significantly minimized.