There are a number of reasons why it is important to create original and good quality written content and some of these are:
It promotes your business as legitimate.- Your website can become an important source of information.
- Improves your visibility on the web.
- Good for search engines and hence page ranking.
- Establishes your credentials and expertise.
Many times I have been asked for a simple website, just a couple of pages such as a Home, About and Contact pages. If that is what you want then it is quite easy but to be honest, what is the point.
Just having a presence will not significantly promote your business. The beauty about websites is that they can be large and comprehensive and be a most valuable part of your business but it will take some hard work to get it working well for you. Having a few pages with maybe a picture or two just does not cut it these days but then again a website full of poor quality content won’t work either after all this is your business we are talking about.
You can pay for others to write your content, there are plenty of people on the web offering this service and perhaps that can be a good starting point but the thing to remember is that no-one knows your business as well as yourself. If employing others to write your content then one thing to watch out for is plagiarisation. This is a definite no-no and will hurt your page rankings. Search engines such as Google look for duplicate content not only across your web pages but also with other websites. Be unique with your content and most importantly, relevant to your business.
You don’t have to have all your content in place at the start but you should aim to build your website over time and make it an important part of your business. Design it for the long term and let it work for you and help grow to your business. Websites are the most important form of advertising that you can have now so make sure you do it right and do it well.
The other main point that concerns a lot of people is that the website must be “SEO Optimised”. While website structure and design plays an important part, the best thing you can do to improve or have the best SEO is once again, well written and unique content. DON’T write your content for web search engines such as Google, write your content for the everyday user out there that may be interested in your business, services or products.
Duplicating you keywords or keyphrases also won’t work for you so try and avoid doing so. Another thing to avoid is getting all personal or “fluffy” with your content. For most websites, nobody really cares. Keep it for social media such as FaceBook if you have to. I hear the following term such as “I feel very lucky to have been …” or “It was such a lovely day for a ….” and many others used all the time so try and avoid this also although you can stray a little here with your Blog in some cases but try not to get too carried away.
The above are just a few points to take into consideration in starting a website. Don’t worry too much about it as your web designer will (hopefully) guide you in the right direction and help you get started. It is in his or her interest to do so because he will want your recommendation and possible on-going business.
– Peter
