CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT – real estate website needs high-quality and unique content
This article is for anyone who uses the web; I guess that includes you, since you’re reading this.
Webmasters, website builders and website owners will learn why content type is increasingly important and how to find content that is more than just text.
Website users will learn what types of content are available. You can use this knowledge to evaluate sites and spend less time deciding if a site has what you need. You can also add or recommend some new interactive content tools for your personal, company or favorite websites.
An introduction to content: What exactly IS content?
The short answer to that is: IT IS EVERYTHING you see on the web! Each web page IS content which, in turn, is made up of different types of content. Not all content is written and created equal. Much content is certainly the written word, but content is taking many forms on the web these days.
Web 2.0 sites like Squidoo, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, and Bloglines (to name just a few) allow users to create, submit, and manage their own content. Look at these exciting sites and ask yourself, “What different types of content are here?” You should quickly notice images, photos, videos, music, and text to capture and hold your attention. A little deeper look and you will probably find articles, ebooks or RSS feeds.
Have you noticed that more and more sites are starting to bring you interactive content? Users don’t necessarily create their own interactive content, but instead use interactive tools on these websites to educate themselves, pre-qualify themselves, answer their obvious questions, or just have fun. Examples of these interactive tools are online games, online calculators, blogs, maps, journals, polls, and comment boxes. Interactive content is best when it is colourful, easy to use and engaging, while also managing to be useful, helpful and informative.
Website visitors LOVE exciting, high-quality content. That’s pretty obvious from the success of some of the sites mentioned above. What makes high-quality content? Users have to have a reason to really like it. That may be because the message it conveys is user friendly, better quality, more relevant, more complete, more fun, more unique, more SOMETHING.
The SEO Dilemma: What’s Going On With The Search Engines?
All websites try to provide information to people, no doubt for different reasons. Observant website owners know that people want quality information from their sites, not just keyword-laden optimized words, and they give it to them.
For many of us, the buzzword SEO (Search Engine Optimization) evokes this frantic image of millions of websites competing for page rank and keyword position, ultimately generating web traffic and revenue of some sort. guy. There are books, articles, and companies dedicated to helping you make your site “search engine friendly.” Everyone seems to have advice on how to succeed in this career. However, too much focus on high rankings and search position has created a lot of unfriendly sites, making it tedious and painfully slow to find even 1 or 2 really useful sites. Even the most targeted search often returns tens of thousands of results. Do these search engine companies really think that’s what we want?
How many searches have you done where the best results are unmaintained sites as evidenced by lots of broken links, broken contact forms and so on? Search results are often flooded with misleading descriptions that go nowhere more than an ad page or directory listing. (I have nothing against directories, just the misleading ads/descriptions that keep leading me there. If it’s a directory, TELL ME it’s a directory.) Or, even worse, the link takes me to a page full of disorganized links where it’s almost impossible to find anything.
So how come these dead or ineffective sites floated to the top of search engine results? A good question to be sure and I certainly don’t know the answer. Apparently they have figured out the SEO formula, but I hate playing that game because I know I am providing my visitors with quality information. But what good is my high-quality site if no one can find it? I think these search engines want to show the highest quality and most relevant sites, but until they figure out how to evaluate them more effectively, we all have to compromise our standards to please them. A dilemma to be sure!
The future of content: What will your site need to stay competitive?
It is obvious that search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are working to solve this dilemma, but there is still a way to go. Meanwhile, the content will continue to evolve, with new types of content being introduced every day. Some of the most popular sites on the web are adding interactive content to get and keep people’s attention.
To stay competitive, every site will probably need to do something unique: offer something different, make it look better, organize it better, make it more fun, something. If you’re not building or revamping your site into a fully web 2.0 site, I think interactive content is a great way to start. Interactive content is easy to add to your site and can give your visitors the tools they need to get pre-qualified, answer their obvious questions, understand what to expect when they use your service, and more.
In the future, it will be even more important that your website can quickly establish you or your business as an authority in your field. Interactive tools allow people to experience your authority through the site and touch, not just reading your PhD-sounding papers.
In conclusion
Hopefully, you are now more aware of the actual types of content you have been using, and will continue to develop an idea of how these different types of content can be used for different purposes. We have discussed the dilemma that search engines have caused site builders. Hopefully, in the near future, we will be able to create sites that meet the needs of our visitors and know that if we provide a quality site, the search engines will reward us.
For now, we all have to play the search engine game, but let’s give our visitors a reason to stick around and come back by giving them good quality content. Provide this type of content and your visitors will return again and again, if only to use your helpful interactive tools. Meanwhile, your brand and service are seen again and again (and proudly shared). They will come back when they are ready for your product or service.
It can be difficult to decide the best type of content for your site, but rest assured, there is high-quality, interactive content for everyone looking. Start exploring and good luck!
