When we work on a website project, content is an area that is most under-invested in terms of resources.
From a small law firm website to a large website with hundreds of pages, content is meat and potatoes of your message. Of course, the design and functionality are important, but the content is your opportunity to not only describe your business, services, employees, etc. It is also the best opportunity for search engine optimization (SEO).
Content and SEO
As you probably know, SEO is based on many parameters, but one key element is the quality and quantity of the content in your site. Search engines like Google really do want to find the best match to searches and content is one of the more important factors in how they determine where your site ends up.
That doesn’t mean you should stuff your site with keywords that you think your customers will use to search for your type of business. In fact, that practice is counter-productive as the folks at Google are pretty smart and are figuring out how to weed out sites they think are employing this practice.
Rather, you should write content about your firm and your services in a way that does include the keywords relevant, but also at the same time, be readable and interesting. Afterall, when someone does end up on your site, your content still needs to sell them on your business!
For your website, take care when writing your content or hire a writer who has an understanding of SEO and how to intelligently blend your content and SEO together.
Breaking Things Up
More than ever, the average web user would prefer to read text that is concise, well-written, and informative. Keep your content as short as possible while getting your point across. If you find that your text is getting long, try to break things up visually by adding titles, blockquotes, and images so that your page isn’t just long paragraphs.