Start with Content

Good news for those of you who don’t have a fat budget for your website: content is still king.  Animated banners and slick functionality certainly add appeal and initial engagement to any site, but after a few seconds it is still good content that people stick around for.

What does “good content” look like?  In my mind it meets a few criteria:

• relevant and useful to the reader
• easy to find and easy to use (share, save)
• changes with enough frequency to keep the customer engaged and coming back
• connects with and enforces your overall brand

One of the first things I always ask clients when working on a website is, “what are the top 3-5 things your visitors want to find when they come to your site?”  Once you have that list, make sure that’s what they see when they open your homepage.  The content doesn’t have to actually be on that page, but a prominent link does.

The flip side of that is, take a hard look at what your organization thinks your visitors should see, and make sure it’s meaningful to them.  Perfect example: do you think your mission statement is the first thing visitors want to see?

Now, how do you manage all this content so that it stays fresh… and what about Facebook, Twitter and any other social media you’ve been told you need?  That’s more than this quick post can get into, but a great place to start is to create an editorial calendar.  Create a chart with the various venues to which you publish content (homepage, news & events page, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) down one side, and the weeks across the other.  Then decide how frequently you need to refresh them.  Homepage once a month, Facebook 3 times per week (I’m making this up).  Take the activities or news from your organization, and start filling in the blanks.  You can make a little go a long way (don’t forget to use photos).

The main thing is to have a plan, and to make it part of someone’s job.  Even if you’re short staffed, this should take no more than an hour or so a week.  Just start small, and stick with it.

Andrea Zuegel
-Content Strategy Methodologist

Andrea Zuegel is a freelance content strategist and Ad Council volunteer.  More about Andrea at http://a2zinteractive.com