No matter how flashy or great your Web site looks, if you don’t have good content you are in a boat without a paddle. I can not count the times that I have said that content is key to a Web site’s success. Too many times to count. There are other things you should know about your Web site’s content though that you may have not thought about before.
Rule number one is to keep your content easy to read. When folks are reading things Online, they don’t like to scan through huge paragraphs of information. Instead, try to cut your paragraphs up into smaller sections. This makes it easier for the Web site visitor to read through all that you have to say.
The second thing to remember is to make every single word count on your Web page. Don’t fill your Web site with a lot of fluff and hardly any substance at all. The one reason why people visit a Web site is to get information. Where is your information? If somebody has to ask that about you, then you might worry more about adding more content and less about other things on the Web site.
The third thing to get down is that spell checker is your best friend. As a writer, you’d probably expect that I have a great mastery of the human language. Not so. The funny thing is that I love to write, but I am the world’s worst speller. That is when your friend and mine, the spell checker comes into play. Now I no longer have to sound like a total idiot when I am writing about something I feel strongly about. Well, okay I might still sound like an idiot from time to time. As least I spelled it right though.
Write with passion. It is fairly easy to tell when somebody is writing about something they have no clue about. Make sure you cover your topics and interests in the Web pages completely. If you are working on a rather dull Web site, then find a way of making it’s content less dull. After writing it, you should be able to sit back, relax and admire your work. If you feel more like that you are making a mistake than having a job well done, then do it again. Practice makes perfect.
Another topic is I want you to remember is that nobody likes to have to scroll across the page horizontally to read your Web site’s content. Horizonal scrolling on a Web page is a big problem. many folks get turned off by a Web site if they have to move their mouse left and right to get what you are trying to say. Make sure you test your Web site’s layout at a few different resolutions to make sure you are not forcing folks to scroll horizontally to get the information that you have posted.
Other than that, it is up to speculation. If you ever have a problem, there are lots of second hand stores out there that will sell you old school English books for you to do some studying on. Yes, those years and years of English in school will finally pay off. As you might guessed, I wasn’t a very good English student either. I have learned more though out of school than I ever learned in it though.
Last but not least, any good writer will tell you to read more if you want to write more. The more you read of other folks work, the better your own work will become. The reason is you start to develop your own style and content in your own way. You can pick and choose from different methods, and you will become a better writer.
So remember, that your Web site is only as good as the content that is in it.
