11 Common Content Mistakes
Types of Content
What types of content do websites have?
Most websites have a combination of owner-generated content and user-generated content. The core content on most website is written content, but web content also includes images, videos and much more.
Owner-Generated Content
Owner-generated content is created by the website owner. This can include:
- Web page articles
- News and blog articles
- Events and event calendars
- Frequently Asked Questions, Case Studies, Guides
- Videos and animations
- Photos, graphic images & infographics
- Audio files
- Legally required content, including Terms of Use, Privacy Policy,
Cookie Policy and Disclaimers
User-Generated content
User-Generated content is created by people who use the website. This can include:
- Posts, comments and questions
- Ratings, reviews & testimonials
- Uploaded videos, images and audio files
eCommerce Website Content
eCommerce websites have additional types of owner-generated content, including
- Category / Collections content
- Shopping Process content
- Product Description content
- Shopping Cart & Checkout Sales content
- Payment & Billing content
- Shipping, Returns & Guarantee content
Length of Content
Articles for the web can be any length, but as a helpful guide, a short article is typically 350 – 500 words. A Mid length article could be 1000 – 1500 words, and a longer article is 1500 to 2500 words or more.
A few years ago, 800 words was considered a good length for a web page article, but these days the best articles for SEO ranking are generally over 2,000 words.
But… it’s never just about ‘length’. Long articles that are irrelevant, unhelpful and trashy will never get read by humans and will never rank well in Google.
Focus the article on a topic of interest to your website visitors and customers. Focus on the relevant keywords which are the words and phrases these people are likely to search for in Google to find information on this topic.
Quality is far more important than quantity, and a mix of words, images and videos is often the best. It’s good to include questions and answers relevant to the topic of the article.
Don’t be frightened to have long articles, but make sure they are helpful and well written.
Be objective about your business
How to get great content
When you prepare content for your website, it’s important to be honest and objective including your strengths, abilities and experience. Focus on what makes you special. What differentiates your business from others in the marketplace? How can you explain it quickly? And how can you prove it?
Here are some questions to help you get started.
19 Essential Business Questions
Purpose
- What is the purpose of your business? Why does your business exist?
- What is your vision for the future?
- What will your business look like when it is done?
VALUES
- What are your values?
- What do you stand for?
- What won’t you stand for?
GREATNESS
- What can your business be great at?
- What words would you like your staff and customers to use when they talk about your business?
UNIQUENESS
- What makes your business different and special in the marketplace?
- What makes you unique?
- How do your customers describe this?
PAIN & PROBLEMS
- What pain do you reduce?
- Which problems do you solve?
- What true story examples can you share?
BENEFITS
- What key benefits do customers enjoy when they use your products or services?
- What genuine customer comments, reviews or testimonials can you include?
ESSENTIALS
- What do you have to get right for your business to succeed?
- What must you deliver for your customers to be happy?
- Which true stories from happy customers can you include?
How to get great content use the right Style and Tone
What language style and tone of voice is right for your website?
What style is authentic for your company?
What style will engage your audience?
Language Style
If you had to describe the style of language you want, what words would you use?
- Simple
- Fun
- Whimsical
- Jargon-Free
- Savvy
- Insider
- Serious
- Jargon-Filled
- Complex
Character & Tone of Voice
What tone of voice will work best for your business and your target audience?
- Formal
- Serious
- Authoritative
- Funny
- Cheeky
- Approachable
- Matey
- Thoughtful
- Curious
- Colloquial
- Edgy
- Laid Back
- Clinical
- Humble
- Scientific
- Personal
- Honest
- Friendly
- Warm
- Inspiring
- Professional
How to get great content Know the Purpose
Define the purpose of each piece of content. Clearly explain the purpose to the writer. Once the content is written, review it carefully to decide if the content is going to meet the purpose.
Examples of Purpose include
- Engage
- Educate
- Enable
- Inform
- Entertain
- Delight
- Sell
- Amplify
- Reassure
How to get great content Define & understand your Target Audience
There are plenty of different ways to define your audience – including by age, interests, gender, and location. For simplicity, here’s how Google segments Target Audience.
Typical Gender of Audience: % Male % Female
Age Groups: % in each Age group
The Age groups are 18-24, 25-34, 35-44 , 45-54, 55-64 and 65+.
Also think of which devices your audience will use to access your website. These days, most people use their mobile phone so your content needs to be easily accessible, consumable and engaging on a mobile phone.
How to get great content
Share your expertise, experience & wisdom
Try to make every piece of content helpful and valuable. Every article and every blog post is an opportunity for you to share your expertise and wisdom on a topic of interest to your customers at some stage in their buying journey with you.
Here are some key questions to consider. If you are writing your own content, then ask yourself these questions. (At Concise Digital, we use some or all of these Interview Questions in our research for articles we write for our clients.)
Interview Questions
1. PAIN & PROBLEMS
What are the major problems or pains that customers experience around this topic?
2. FEATURES, ADVANTAGES & BENEFITS
What does your business offer to solve the problems? (Be specific)
3. KEY POINTS FOR TOPIC
What are the key points that this article on this topic should include?
4. FAQs
What are the top 5 FAQs people ask on this topic?
5. UNASKED QUESTIONS
What are the questions people you wish people would ask? (Most don’t know enough about the topic to ask these questions. They are ignorantly unaware. “Unconsciously Incompetent”)
6. MYTHS
Are there any common myths, misunderstandings or misconceptions about this topic? What do people incorrectly think is true or false about this topic?
7. SECTIONS & SUBHEADINGS
What sub-topics and areas could or should be covered in the article? If so, what are the Top 3 – 5 points to cover in each section? What are the best subheads to use?
8. TECHNICAL INFO
What additional technical info can you include on this topic?
9. SEARCH INTENT & KEYWORDS
Why will someone look for this content? What search terms will they use in Google? What are the BEST keywords to include? What keywords should be avoided?
(The Concise Digital SEO specialists conduct extensive research to better understand relevant keywords. This is a technical and very important area. Please contact us if you would like help.)
10. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
What unique expert comments can the client provide on this topic?
How to get great content
Get professional help from Concise
Concise Digital has a professional team of content writers available to create great content for you. We can write a single blog post article or we can prepare every page for your website.
If you want to draft the content yourself, we can carefully proof-read and edit your work. It’s often a good approach that helps you share your expertise. It can save you time and money for us to tidy up a new blog post that you write yourself.
Our team is ready to help you, whether as your regular in-house writing team or with ad hoc casual help whenever you need it.
Price Guide
Good writing for the web is all about creating unique, original and engaging content that is valuable for your customers and easily found in Google. Of course, good writing does take some time. Please use this guide to get realistic estimates of the likely times involved for different work.
Basic Content for New Website
For small sites, we can produce the starter content for your Home page, About Us page, Services pages, Contact Page and your Privacy Policy page. This typically takes around 8 hours, including the initial interview with you.
Content Prep Estimates
| Multiple Pages for New Website | Varies – Depends if Different Topics or Similar Topics for pages |
| Multiple Pages for Website Upgrade | Varies – Depends if Different Topics or Similar Topics for pages |
