What is Website Content | Website Content & Its Importance
According to HubSpot, 75% of internet users don’t scroll past the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs) when searching online. Thus, your website must appear on the top of SERPs in order to gain new website visitors.
Creating high-quality website content is one of the best ways to snag that coveted real estate. But what is website content, and why is it important?
Continue reading to learn everything you need to know.
The Definition of Website Content
Let’s start with the question, “What is content for a website?”
Content refers to any creative element on a website. It includes everything from applications and data to archived e-mail messages and images.
Therefore, website content is any of the following on your website:
- Text and writing
- Multimedia
- Audio content like podcasts and recordings
- Visual content and photos like infographics and videos
Why Website Content Is Important
There are numerous reasons why your website content and content marketing are vital to the success of your business. First, web content provides your customers with valuable information. This keeps them coming back to your website.
But more importantly, when potential customers search online for solutions to a problem your company solves, you want to be their go-to choice. So, having high-quality web content is a top strategy to get your business in front of the eyes of new customers.
To do this, you need to implement search engine optimization (SEO) into your content strategy. If you need assistance with improving your website’s SEO, Eraser Farm’s content marketing services can help.
Types of Web Content
As you may have gleaned already, there are different types of web content. Let’s review three common types of content.
Written Content
Any copywriter will tell you that written content comes in many forms, including
- Blog posts
- Case studies
- Checklists and FAQs
- eBooks
- Templates
- Website copy
- Calls to action (CTAs)
- Heading and subheadings
- Homepage
- Landing pages
- Product descriptions
- Testimonials
- White papers
You add written content to your web pages as text blocks or within images. You always want your written content to be unique and free from plagiarism.
You also want to add internal links to your website copy to help readers access more information.
Search intent for written content can be divided into four categories.
Informational
Informational intent is when someone is doing research. The most common type of informational intent is broad search queries.
For example, if someone types “digital marketing” into Google, they likely want more information about the topic. They probably don’t want to purchase any tools or software to help them with their digital marketing strategy.
Informational keywords correspond to the beginning stages of the marketing funnel, “discovery” and “interest.” Content ideal for informational keywords includes
- Guides
- Listicles
- Opinion pieces
Transactional
Transactional intent is when the customer is one step away from making a purchase or at the “conversion” stage of the marketing funnel. Using transactional keywords in your written website content helps to generate more sales. Examples of these keywords include:
- Buy
- Discount
- For sale
- Near me
Customers often combine these keywords with the brand or product they want to buy. Web pages best for transactional keywords are
- Discount pages
- Landing pages
- Product pages
Navigational
Navigational intent is for those customers who know where they want to go. These customers will search for specific brand names, products, or services they are interested in.
For instance, if someone wants to buy a Prada bag, they might search “buy Prada bag.”
Navigational intent is for those who are at the “interest,” “consideration,” and “retention” stages of the marketing funnel. Website content best for these keywords includes the following pages:
- About
- Category
- Pricing
Commercial
Commercial intent is for customers in the “consideration” stage in the marketing funnel. These customers are interested in your product and could make a purchase.
For example, if someone searches for “best bookkeeping software,” they probably want to purchase bookkeeping software. While commercial keywords may include brand names, other common examples include:
- Top
- Review
- Vs
Web content ideal for commercial keywords is:
- Comparison posts
- eBooks
- Product reviews, roundups, and tutorials
- White papers
Video Content
Video web content is any content format that features or includes video. Some examples are
- Animated GIFs
- Customer testimonial videos
- Recorded videos
- Live videos
- Vlogs
- Webinars
Video content is becoming increasingly popular with social media posts, which you can repurpose on your website.
Interactive Content
Interactive web content is any material that conveys a message by encouraging user participation. This allows the experience to go from passive consumption to active engagement.
Common examples of interactive content include
- Animated infographics
- Calculators
- Quizzes
The difference with interactive content is that brands can understand if and when readers have consumed their material and even gain feedback.
Interactive content significantly heightens the user experience, thus increasing engagement.
The Difference Between Good and Bad Website Content
Good website content understands your target audience or buyer personas and uses appropriate language and style to connect with them. It also answers questions that people are searching for and presents a solution to a problem.
Most importantly, quality copy builds rapport and trust with readers.
You can follow these content marketing tips to help you better understand more about high-quality content.
Conversely, bad web content hasn’t clearly defined the target audience or tries to reach the largest audience possible. It also attempts to sell products or services without building trust.
You can identify bad content when the company uses first-person pronouns but doesn’t ever mention the customer (you). Likewise, businesses should never go on and on about how great their product is without proof.
Further, relying solely on photos and videos or posting huge blocks of dense text is not advisable.
How to Create Good Content for Your Website
It’s not enough to know the difference between good and bad. You also need to understand how to create quality content that keeps readers coming back for more.
Here are some tips to follow:
- Create unique topics and target niche subtopics
- Diversify with multimedia content
- Research to maintain trust and authority
- Format for readability
- Know your search intent and call to action
- Use data to measure content performance
Content Creation Experts
Now that we’ve answered the question, “What is website content?” you have a much better idea of how to create fantastic web content to get your website in front of more peoples’ eyes.If your business needs help with its online marketing, let’s have a chat! Contact us at EraserFarm to learn how our team can help you with your creative and content strategy.
