Imagine browsing a website that has nothing more than a image collage of happy people. The only words read “Welcome to Happy People”. While the message “Be Happy” is obvious, there is little else of interest and nothing visually for sale. Doubtful this will be a site that you will return to. Imagine browsing a website crammed with text without headings or sections, has no images or graphic elements unless the words grab you it’s doubtful you will return to this site either. What appeals to most internet users is a website with a dynamic mix of appealing graphics and targeted verbiage that; quickly gets to the point; offers a product or service for sell; and provides informative content that you will want to review later.

The first two examples represent poorly developed web design. A common misconception is that if you can just get online your cash registers will “cha-ching” all day long. In order to hear that sound you will have to drive traffic to your site and when they get there grab their attention. To achieve this you will need good content and a good designer. Unless you posses really good writing or web design skills, it’s a task you can’t do by yourself if you want your website to produce income.

How Do You Get Started?

It all starts with words. Not just any fluff to fill white space, but “KEYWORD” rich content that describes what you have to offer, what it sells for, how clients can get it and can it be serviced. Whether you want to write your own content to save some money or hire a professional, you will still need a good designer that can take your content and format it in a way that is visually appealing and web readable. Using the following steps you will be able to develop the content that will give you a chance to compete and succeed.

• Using a search engine, type in the words you think others will use to search for your product
• Take the top five hits and research the words they use
• Write content that includes these words.

These three simple steps will allow you to at least match the verbiage used by the top five. But the same words alone won’t get you into the sixth position. To come up on page one you will to implement a search optimization strategy.  SEO is a somewhat lengthy process and is discussed in detail in our article “Search Optimization Basics and Other Marketing Techniques” . For now, using the words you researched, write content with these words embedded.

“Keyword” Rich Content – Picking the right words

When you take the top five hits and research the words each one used, what you are looking for are common words or phrases used by all five companies. These words will more than likely be the words you used to find them by. These words are called “Keywords”. Keywords are simply the words used to search for a product or service that returns the best expected results. Good content is written to lace these words into phrases that will allow search engines to index the page and return you as a possible contender in a potential search. Be careful not to plagiarize your content. You are allowed to use the same keywords and phrases but don’t copy your competitors verbiage word for word. With new verbiage in hand you are ready to start the design process.

If you decide to write your own content, at a minimum you will need to provide your designer with enough content to populate each page you feel is required to get your new website off the ground. Remember your research of the top five companies that sell similar products. Look at the number of pages they have and the content on each page and then determine, within your budget, what you can afford to do now.  If you would assistance in generating content for your website please call.

  Article Written By :Robert Schonhoff
Date : 7/26/2011