The websites that I visit on a regular basis all have one thing in common: content that interests me. I would hazard a guess that most people are just like me in this, and yet, we all forget that when it comes to our own websites. I’ll make a statement here that may seem obvious, but can never be repeated enough: Content is by far and away the most important part of your website.

Defining Content

By content, I’m talking about what your website contains, what it presents to your visitors, whatever the purpose of your site. We’re talking about information here, in all its forms, from text and images to video, spreadsheets and search results. The most popular website in the world, google.com, makes content its sole concern, and does everything to get that content to you as quickly as possible. The design of the site is purely functional, and billions of dollars are spent on developing methods and algorithms that help to determine how valuable the information on any given website is in order to present its visitors with the most relevant search results possible. It is this commitment to providing visitors with valuable content that has Google attracting at least twice as many visitors world wide than the next most popular search engine [1].

Attracting Visitors

Thankfully, we’re not all running Search Engines, and therefore good content for most of us is more about careful reflection and clear purpose than it is about spending vast amounts of money. However, one of the key purposes of a website is that it attracts visitors. Some websites will have very specific target markets, and the purpose of some websites means that a million visits a month simply isn’t going to happen, however, all websites are targeted at someone, and therefore all websites should be doing what they can to attract those people. Content is what keeps people coming back, and provided you don’t scare people off with poor design and usability, it’s what hooks people in to want to know more about you in the first place.

Text and Images

As mentioned previously, the content of your website must be specifically related to the purpose of your site, and written or selected in such a way that makes it relevant to your audience. If your website is simply a corporate profile that provides information about your company and services, the text should not only provide that information in a clear, concise manner, but it should reflect the character of the business. The website of a highly professional corporation that deals with other highly professional corporations should contain lots of big words and appeal to the ego of the visitor. The website of a medium sized company that deals with small business operators and individuals should use text written in the common vernacular and express some amount of personality. In some cases, it may be more important to get the images right on your website, as, being part of the layout of the site, they create more of an emotional connection with your visitors, and therefore will communicate more about character and personality than they will about your services. The key here is to put yourself in the position of your audience, ask yourself what you would want to see, and then try to exceed your own expectations.

The World Wide Web is all about content, nothing else matters more. Whether you only surf for business, or you have the odd browse around just for fun, you’re always looking for something, and that something is not a fancy flash animation or an innovative style of navigation, its content. Remember that when you’re putting together the content for your new website or site update.

Read Part 3 of the series: Design
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[1]: http://www.strategic-ranking.com/FAQ/popsearchengines.htm