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Building a Content Rich Website By Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian

What makes a Website attractive to a visitor? The content it provides, of course.

You might run a wonderful advertising campaign; develop viral marketing tools and attractive affiliate programs. But unless your Website is rich in content, the traffic spikes that result from your efforts will only be transient. Content that is useful, valuable, informative, educational or just plain entertaining can attract and retain an audience better than anything else.

Anyone can create a content-rich Website by following a few key points:

· Be disciplined
· Update your site regularly
· Know how to create content, or where to find it

Discipline and Commitment

To create your content-rich Website, you need tunnel vision and a laser sharp focus. In a word; self discipline. It’s easy to waste hours, even days, clicking your way from one site to another. Don’t let yourself be distracted: limit your online content explorations only to Websites and resources that are directly connected to your site’s subject.

Discipline also extends to content creation. Successful writers do not wait for inspiration before beginning their work. Instead, they develop a regular writing schedule, and they stick to it. Wether they feel like it or not, they sit down at a desk and write.

You too must develop a schedule to add content to your Website, and follow it. Nike has the right idea - ‘Just Do It’!

Regular Updates to your Website

Nothing is deader than an untended Website.

Regularly updating or modifying your Website’s content gives you an edge over the competition. People will keep returning to your site if they notice something new to see, learn from or enjoy each time.

Creating Your Content

You know best - or should - what your audience wants. It then becomes an easy task to decide about which types of content will best serve their needs and how to go about finding or creating it. Here are some suggestions:

· Editorials
· Feature articles
· News clips or stories
· Art galleries
· Aggregating the best content
· Reviews
· Announcements
· Interviews
· Interactive features - polls, feedback, discussion groups, forums, chat

Announcements

· Has your company done something new and innovative?
· Have you developed an improved version of your product?
· Are you privy to insider information in your industry?
· Do you follow the rumours and gossip in your field?
· Do you track swings and developments closely?

If you do, announce them on your Website. People love to feel informed and up with the latest gossip and happenings.

Interviews

An interview with an expert in your field or a famous person makes exciting, valuable content. And it is easy to conduct an interview via email or over the telephone.

Choose an expert or guest you think will be of interest to your readers. Learn more about your expert - special interests, experience, achievements, status in field, etc. This allows you to create pertinent questions.

Decide upon a topic for the interview. Prepare a set of questions you’d like to ask. Then contact your guest with an interview request.

Most people would be happy to participate in your interview. For those who seem hesitant, mentioning the exposure they would get from being on your Website is enough to get them to agree!

Send a copy of your questions to the guest by email, make a phone call or even arrange a face-to-face meeting. Once you have your copy, make editorial changes so that it reads well. This might mean re-arranging the questions so that there is a smooth flow of thoughts. And by intelligently interspersing additional queries and comments, you can make it appear as if the interview was carried out in person and make it more interesting to read!

Ask additional questions, or for clarification when necessary. Finally, make sure to get your guest’s approval for the final version of the interview. Then go ahead and publish it on your site.

Writing for the Web

Reading online, on a computer screen, differs in many ways from the way people read print publications. Most skim through an article rather than read it line after line.

By breaking up content into small chunks, and by the generous use of white space between them, you can make your WebPages look neat, uncluttered, and readable.

Some tips:

Use shorter sentences
Use ‘catch’ words and phrases
Avoid long, difficult words with many syllables
Get to the point right away
Use sub-titles to set off paragraphs

Spelling and Grammar

Your reader will judge you on many factors. Spelling/grammar is an important one.

Reasonable care to ensure correct spelling and grammar is essential if you are to establish a serious image.

A few mistakes might (and will) slip through the cracks! Your readers will probably accept this. But if it happens very often, you lose credibility.

Style

A formal, impersonal, grammatical style would be ideal for some topics. But a chatty, friendly, write-as-you-talk style will be a perfect fit for others. There aren’t any rules - use what works for you.

Be Bold - Experiment

Managing a Website can be an interesting voyage of self-discovery. Be adventurous. Try out new ideas. Imitate models you find interesting. Keep innovating.

And monitor response to each change. Did your readers like it? If they did, keep it. If not, experiment again.

Most sites grow by such trial-and-error methods. The winners are those who identify successful models and develop them, while ruthlessly eliminating any that fail.

An open mind to ideas and suggestions, and a willingness to adapt to change, is perhaps the best skill you can develop as a Webmaster.