Content Strategy

A guide the role that stratey will play in your web site.

When planning your content you will want to come up with a strategy for content - what content you will put on your page? why it will be put up? who it will benefit? what affect it will have on your site? etc. Many webmasters don't understand the fundamental benefits of the different kinds of content. One characteristic of an unsuccessful page is they have all static and no updated or interactive content. They do this mainly because they are making the incorrect assumption that people will want to come back to their page many times to see it again when their visitors have no interest in reading it more than once. There is nothing wrong with having static content on your page, but many times it will just act as filler.

You should always have a list of ideas for new content that you will be adding in the future when you get the free time. You should use my spreadsheet which has a "To-Do List" where you can record your new content ideas.

Strategy #1. Put up as much static content as you can

I think many webmasters under-utilize static content because they plan on making a great site and they think static content will have no benefit. But static content is one of the best ways for visitors to find out about your site because static content is great for SEO. So getting a visitor to come to your site to read that 1 page that they will never read again is the best way to show what your site has to offer so that they can come back later to see the rest. You have to think of every page of your site as a doorway to the rest of your site. Based on this you should put up as much static content as you can. Your static content strategy will be similar to a "blast marketing" strategy. In the mid-1990's America Online became the leading internet service provider by creating literally hundreds of millions of AOL CD's and mailed them to everyone with a pulse. This broad-based strategy is what you will do with content - create tons of content hoping that each visitor who comes to your site will like some part of your site and want to come back - it doesn't even matter what they like as long as they like something. I think that a good web site should have at least 50 to 500 pages of static content.

Strategy #2. Don't bite off more than you can chew

One example of biting off more than you can chew is to have a content stratey based on static content only. Sites that have only static content can only be successful by having an extremely high volume of content. This is way beyond the average webmaster's ability. When you look at a site like IMDB.com you have no chance to compete with them. But there are webmasters out there trying to compete with these high-volume sites, not realizing they will always be second best. One area where I see some webmasters trying to compete in is the tutorial/encyclopedia sites like about.com and howstuffworks.com. This isn't a wise choice in my opinion.

Another example of biting off more than you can chew would be setting up a site you can't update often enough for your visitors' tastes. Right now there are some webmasters trying to compete in area of Reality TV Review sites. There are good sites out there like realitytvmagazine.com and realitytvworld.com but there are sites like realitytvplanet.com that just can't keep up.

Strategy #3. Don't try something outside of your core competency

There are certain content-based sites that you simply can't compete with. Takes sites like drudgereport.com and SmokingGun.com. The sites in this category - sites that come out with insider news on current events and celebrities - have access to information that you won't get. Don't even think about competing in areas like this.

Strategy #4. Create synergy with your content.

You can create synergy with your content by making sure you have all 3 kinds of content - static, updated, and interactive. When your static text-based content gets high search engine rankings it will bring in free visitors who read it and then go to the forums to post. So your static content benefits your updated content. And the visitors who come just to post on the forums will probably have an interest in some of the static content.

Strategy #5. Mix different types of content within the same pages.

This is a powerful but under-utilized strategy. One way to do this is to add commenting ability on your static pages so visitors can leave their opinions about articles. Or if you have a static page about a certain person then stick in a poll about that person. A good example would be on this realitytvmagazine.com page where they have comments below the story.

Strategy #6. License Your Content

Licensing your content - letting other web sites publish your content if they put a link back to your site - may be a strategy you will want to embark on if you are having trouble building traffic but there are pros and cons to this strategy. The biggest benefit is that it gives you easy visibility. There are many webmasters willing to put up articles from other sites. The main drawback is that there is less of an incentive for a visitor to click through to your site. If you are licensing content that you will also have on your own site then keep in mind that the sites that are publishing it might get better SEO than you do on your own content. In general, don't license your content unless the benefit is greater than the cost.