Content
Content is that thing that people come to your site to view or read. Creating good content should consume the vast majority of your time. Planning, development, layout and fonts should only consume time when you are building the website for the first time or are completely redesigning it.
Your content should serve the purpose of your organization, the purpose and goals you laid out at the start of the planning stage of your design. If you are starting a business, you need to organize your content around the products you sell and the promotions and sales you are running. If you are designing a church website, what is the purpose of the site? Is it to recruit new church members, or are you looking to build a community portal that the members can use to build an online community? Is it a personal site just for blogging your opinions or talking about your job or hobbies?
Content is king, but knowing your purpose helps develop the right content that will help vistors find your site when they go looking. Knowing what the purpose and the goals of your site will also help you organize your content so that it is easier to navigate and find. Organized content belongs in well-thought out folders that flow smoothly from, and support, your intended purpose or goal for the site.
Want to keep your users coming back? Keep your content fresh and your services relevant and useful. Add new content regularly, on a schedule if you can. Blogs are great for adding content quickly and easily, but you can achieve the same effect with regular website updates using any web development tool set. Blog software also makes it possible for your visitors to respond to what you post. A blog that doesn’t allow responses is nothing more than a web page.
If you are building an online community, you need some sort of technology that will enable your visitors to interact with each other. Technologies such as Message Boards, Chat and social networking tools can provide that capability.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6