A common error I see website owners make is something I call, “The Content Vomit Effect.” Website owners want their site to be crammed full of information. They want their photos, their videos, their articles, a detailed life history, and dog photos. The power and ease of web publishing captures them and they find a reason to post things. The problem is, this information is often irrelevant. It misses the point of their website completely and is detrimental to it’s long term success.

Less is More

The top spot on Google is a coveted position, and the competition for that spot varies wildly depending on the industry, and the keywords targeted. As you can probably guess, the top spot for web design companies, and SEO firms is under intense competition, one I am actively engaged in. A simple strategy to help boost your SEO position, and one I have used extensively on my recent site redesign, with great success, is to simply dump content and focus on only a few, core pages. The less you have, the better off you are.
Attempting to optimize every page of your website is a chore, especially for small businesses. You add in the fact that inexperienced people will often be making updates and your site soon becomes an ineffective mess.

Post Hesitantly

Focus on just a few core pages, and post new content hesitantly. Ask yourself. “Is this going to be useful to my users?” If you cannot answer this question with a definitive, “Yes!” Then don’t continue.

We are naturally inclined to write and talk about what we know, and what we care about. Embrace this inclination but be sure focus on quality over quantity. One of the biggest SEO facts to internalize from Google Engineer Matt Cutt’s interview I discussed in my last post, is that only good pages are indexed by the search engines. As you plunge deeper and deeper into a website, the likelihood that it is analyzed, drops precipitously.

There is nothing more depressing than spending your valuable time creating content that users never find, Google never indexes, and actively wastes your time. Just don’t post it. Spend that time building links, and optimizing the pages you currently have. You will have much more success and more sanity as well.

Trying to write something new every week is not a challenge. In fact its very easy to fill your website up with inane and pointless content. The elusive thing we are all looking for is good content. Its hard to find and even harder to write.

Every page on your website is important, and should stand on its own. At the same time your pages do not exist in a vacuum. Each page should build up the other pages. Since each page is very similar in a well built website, the main distinction between them is the content, the copy, and your photos, videos, etc. I think we spend way to much time focusing on how the site looks when we should be focusing on what it says.

I know that I would rather spend my time on a site that isn’t to interesting looking but delivers great content than on a site filled with dazzle that is ultimately one pixel deep.

The challenge for all of us, whether we are website developers or website owners is to make our content engaging. I’m not discounting good design but I know that it can only take us so far.

So what makes good content?

The best place to start is by finding out who your audience is, and what is your niche. The idea that you will ever make everyone happy with your website is absurd. Instead you need to focus on your core audience and make them happy. It can take a while to find out who you are talking to, and who you want to talk to. Often they are not the same thing.

If you love what you are writing about then it makes everything easier. I often struggle finding a topic to write about myself but once I land on one I can write it up in no time. Don’t try to write about things that are boring to you or you hate. You will only end up discouraged and ultimately won’t continue. I always tell my clients to stay on topic but also to take it easy with their blogging. If you want to talk about something besides what the main focus of your blog is then do it. Make it professional of course, but talking about how you went skiing or fishing one week is also great.

Being authentic, by showing how you have fun, and are not just some corporate man in the office means a lot. Don’t get yourself caught in the trap of writing something because you have to. If you don’t like what you just wrote, then why would anyone else?

So remember to focus on your main audience and give them what they want. You can’t please everyone, so don’t try to. Be authentic, in your business, your life, and online.

Also be sure to use at least a spell-checker before posting. Just saying.

Some people would do anything to attract attention, to themselves and to their websites. While it’s not a crime to seek attention, especially when it comes to promoting your website, what really matters is how you stoke your visitors’ interest and get them to come back again and again. A big banner that screams to get your attention is good only if the content below the banner is interesting enough to hold your attention. Similarly, graphics that are used to lure people to your site are valuable only if the other aspects on your site are good enough to keep your visitor there.

• Use graphics only when they are needed on your site: And not to jazz things up. People visit your site for the value of its contents, so if your contents require supplementation from graphics, go ahead and put them on your page. For example, if you are selling stuff online, then people will want to see pictures of the object they are interested in purchasing. If your page has a large number of graphics and takes an inordinately long time to load even using fast connections, in the interest of saving time and bandwidth, you could reduce the size of the pictures, perhaps displaying them as thumbnails that enlarge when clicked on.
• Use graphics if they add value to the text on your site: There are times when a picture speaks louder than a thousand words, and these are the times you must include graphics on your site. If you’re talking about concepts that would be better understood with the help of pictures or other graphics, like statistical charts, go ahead and put them up on your page.
• Make sure your pictures are sharp and clear: Grainy graphics ruin the very purpose of using pictures to spice up your site. Reduce the size of the pictures if you must, but don’t compromise on image clarity.
• Never use animations unless they’re absolutely necessary: Especially those that are based on bitmaps. Not only are they huge irritants, but they also take up quite of bit of bandwidth when they load and make your page slow in the process. There are people who have been so carried away by the rotating images they see on certain websites and are thrilled to bits when they finally get to incorporate such graphics on their own pages, whether they’re needed or not.

At the end of the day, all that matters in a website is the utility value it offers. Let’s face it, people are not going to be sitting around all day on your pages for its face value alone; they’re going to want something more substantial if they must stick around. So rather than focusing all your energies on graphics and animations to gain attention, spend some precious time in making your website one that adds value to whatever your visitor is looking for.

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This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of best web design degree. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.