I Have A CMS Site, Now How Do I Write Good Content

Today there are many web site owners, who have a CMS site. CMS is a Content Management System and what that means is, they can easily type content into a text editor and post it to their site without needing to know any html or other web programming language. The problem is, just because you have CMS does not mean you have the knowledge to create great site content that will be valuable to your readers and written well enough to work with the search engines. If no one finds your site, what is the point of having it?

Ok, so how can you write great content? Writing for the web is a bit different from writing for print, mostly due to “scan reading”. Someone reading a web page is more inclined to just scan through your content gathering the gist of what you’re trying to say and looking for the next link to follow, where they can find more information. Another challenge is writing for the search engines. Search engines scan your pages for the overall topic of your content so they can index them accordingly. If your content is not clear and your topic is not emphasized, it will be harder to reach the user-base you are looking for.

It can be a bit depressing that users will not read every word of your carefully thought out blog post, but the sooner you accept this, the better you can adapt your copy to users and their search for information. Here are a few tips for making your content “scan ready”.

Opening Topic Overview
You will want to begin your content with a summary of what the reader can expect to find in the paragraphs to come. This will give the reader an idea of how interested they are in what you are presenting.

Keep The Overall Content Piece Short
No one wants to read a thirteen page essay about a single topic online, unless it is written about their number one passion or the love of their life. Don’t feel like you need to write more content to keep the reader’s interest. Remember they just want to scan, retrieve and leave!

Keep Your Paragraphs Short
Each paragraph should make a single point that offers the reader a bit of information they can use.

Keep Sentences Short
Don’t go on and on about the same thing. Make your point and move on to the next.

Break Your Copy Up
Assigning a heading or a subheading to a portion of text is helpful for the reader to quickly find what they are looking for, and get a basic idea of what you are trying to say. If they want or need more of a description about that particular thing they can read the subtext below.

Evaluate Your Paragraphs
Ask yourself if your paragraph can be reduced to a short bullet point and still convey the appropriate information.

Include Meaningful Links
Don’t use the phrase, “click here” to link to more information. Instead, summarize the destination of the link and make that summary the actual link. Many users will scan a page looking specifically at the links. Make sure your links make sense out of context.

Keep Your Content Reader Friendly
Don’t use acronyms, abbreviations or professional jargon that your general audience will not understand. A typical reader will not have the level of knowledge that you have about the topic, or they wouldn’t need to get the information from you. Keep it simple!

Stay At A Reasonable Reading Level
About 40% of the population has a low literacy level and yet on the web little consideration is given to their needs. Many people suffer from attention deficit disorder or dyslexia, making it harder for them to read complicated writing. Easy to read content makes it faster to consume the information you are presenting, even to the most literate readers. Write for the lowest common denominator.

These are just a few tips to get you started. Using CMS can make your online writing experience so much easier, but having the tools to write good content can make all the difference in the success of your site as a whole.

Home Page Do’s and Do Not’s

While browsing the web, I find so many home pages with mistakes that can cost the site owner over time. Finding these prompted me to write this post listing some do’s and do not’s for a site’s homepage.

Missing Features
Many home pages have “feature sections”, usually a large image with text placed at the most visible area of the page. These sections often times rotate several images rather than just display one, so as to maximize exposure for items the site owner wants to highlight. Some sites will display only one feature per visit, rather than rotate the images while the user stays on the page. This can cause some confusion for the user. If I visited a site in the morning, and had some interest in one of the sites features and then returned in the afternoon, only to find that the feature was gone, this would frustrate me. If you have a feature randomizer on your home page, make sure you have a way to get to each feature in the randomizer. If a user comes to your site looking for a feature they saw the last time they visited, you will want them to easily find it again.

Poor Navigation
Another big problem for site owners is not providing clear, easy to follow navigation. When I land on a home page, I want to know exactly what the site has to offer me and I want to know right where to find it. If your main navigation is not clear, users will have difficulty using your site. This problem includes tricky navigation schemes like using random images with no title as a way to browse the site. How do your users know what the icons mean, or that the images are even part of the navigation? Use a menu bar or a link list, especially on your home page. Users immediately know what to do with something they see on every site they visit. Don’t get too “creative” with your navigation.

Annoying Intro Screens
There’s nothing worse than landing on a site with a 20 minute Flash Intro. Visitors are interested in your content, they don’t want to wait several minutes before they can get the information they wanted by coming to your site. Even providing a “skip intro” button isn’t enough. Many users will just navigate away from your site. Don’t take that chance.

Moving Things And Music
Even worse than a bad Flash intro, is a bad animated graphic and some annoying music. No website should ever play music when a visitor arrives at the site. Most users are either listening to their own music or listening to a great pod-cast when they arrive at your site. Nothing will make them leave a site faster than The Star Spangled Banner playing in the background of your home page. Don’t do it!

Bad Content And Poor Spelling
There is no excuse in this day and age to have bad spelling. We all have a spell checker (thankfully). As far as the content on your home page, this can be the most important thing you can do to promote your site and interest visitors. Your content should not be too long or too hard to read, stick to the point and keep it simple. Make your content personal, try to keep your writing style approachable in order to encourage users to trust you and therefore purchase from you. Make sure to convey what your site hopes to accomplish by using some keywords, but don’t stuff every keyword you can think of in a small paragraph to appease the search engines. Don’t use “marketing speak”, your users wont find it useful.

Ultimately, if you hire a great web development company to help you with your site, they will know what works on the web and they will be there to guide you. Hire a great developer, and you’ll produce a great site.

Branding Your Content

The days of HTML updated content are coming to an end. Frustration associated with calling a web developer every time you need to change the wording on your About Us page, will soon be a thing of the past. We no longer have to sell clients on the value of a database-driven website, they just expect it.

Putting control back into the hands of the client is part of the success of content mangament. Many clients have the capibility to write their own content and now they have the ability to get it in front of an audience. Outlets for content such as WordPress and BlogSpot, have shifted the power back to the people.

Telling people that they can’t have a good website if theycan’t afford to pay for it, is quickly negated by an ad on Facebook for a quick and easy pop up content management site. The problem becomes inflexibility and an “out of the box” look. Clients underestimate the need for a strong brand. The brand is the foundational piece in your marketing package. It’s important to spend time investing in, researching, defining and building your brand.

 A good web development company can incorporate brand with functionality, a combination that cannot be compromised in today’s market.