The importance of web articles
(Posted on 23/06/21)
After months of hard work, making sure the design and content of your brand new website is exactly as you want and it all works beautifully, you may be tempted to think you can cross ‘sort website’ off your to do list. Unfortunately, this is not the case - your shiny new website needs constant attention to keep the content fresh or it really may as well not exist.
Posting new and interesting content on your website is absolutely critical. It will improve your search engine ranking, raise awareness among potential new customers, and improve the experience of your regular visitors too.
We all know Google loves websites that update regularly and it’s very important to keep this technical giant happy. Google is by far and away the most popular search engine around, with more than 90% market share. Bing is its nearest competitor, with 2.5% while Yahoo has 1.5%. This means Google is hugely influential in the way websites are built. The ‘bots’ or ‘Googlebots’ that roam the web constantly are searching for new and updated web pages to add to the Google index. Every update you make means Google is more likely to improve your site ranking.
Don’t make change just for change’s sake
Why not take the opportunity to provide something of genuine interest to your customers at the same time? The easiest way to update your website is with a blog, or web article as it is sometimes known. It is also worth remembering that every time a reader makes a comment on your blog, the bots count that as an update too. So as well as starting a dialogue with a potential customer, you have boosted your SEO ranking too – win win!
Web articles are also an extremely useful means of creating content to share on your social media channels. Think of an interesting topic, write an engaging and informative blog, post it on your website and then draft social media posts about it, driving customers to your website to find out more. That sounds easy, so why isn’t everyone doing it? It isn’t hard to work out why.
After the first flush of enthusiasm when you launch your new website, harsh reality soon starts to kick in. You may have had the best of intentions about keeping it up to date and dutifully refreshing your news page every week but somehow, although you know it’s a priority, it slips further and further down your to do list. Other work pressures keep getting in the way, your customers need your immediate attention and you suddenly realise a whole month has gone by without you posting anything new on your website.
The write stuff
Thinking of things to write about is hard, finding time to write is harder and even then you may not be sure you have the writing skills to really do the topic justice. At Zebra Marketing, this is a phenomenon we see time and time again. Many new clients come to us in the first instance as their website ‘doesn’t seem to be working’ as visitor numbers are dropping. Fortunately, with our team of talented copywriters to call on, producing fresh, new content is something we do very well. Finding things to write about is much easier for us than it is for you. For example, our first conversation with a potential new client very often reveals half a dozen potential blog topics that they may not even have realised would be of interest to their customers.
We know what makes engaging copy and we understand the importance of turning it round quickly so your website can be updated every week. Contact us to find out how we can help you keep your website content fresh.