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Use content to attract repeat visitors

Use content to attract repeat visitors

Content is one of the most important aspects of a website. Unfortunately, in the excitement of creating a website it is easy to divert attention to design and layout decisions instead. Your website needs to balance it’s different needs to be effective and make an impact on your target audience. During the design phase, the appearance and layout of the website are critical. They help to achieve the ideal user interface and create a comfortable user experience. Your content, however, is responsible for captivating your target audience and making them want to come back. Good content is a common driver of repeat visitors so it pays to invest some time and effort on your website’s content marketing strategy.

Content Quality

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While quality might seem very subjective, there are a few signs that people look for before ascertaining the quality of content. The credibility of the source providing the information is extremely important. The structure and organization of the content can also tell a lot about its quality. Then there is the grammar and spelling which, if poorly used, can discredit even the most well thought out article. Quality content attracts visitors to return because it proves that you are knowledgeable and a credible source of information. It makes your website more believable and more reliable. Creating thin content can actually be detrimental to your website (Content Marketing Institute).

Credibility

It is not unusual for a visitor to wonder about the qualifications of an author. Some people may want to know about the author before even reading your article or blog post. Others may want to know after reading your content to validate their opinion of it. Either way, your credibility can affect the perception of your content. So how do you demonstrate your credibility? First, you need to acknowledge that your readers may not know you or your business. Therefore, you need to make a good impression and introduce them to what makes you an authority in your field. You can do so by:

  • Disclosing your job position or specialty
  • Including a short biography or description of yourself along with the content
  • Mentioning your experience relevant to the subject matter in the content itself
  • Citing and referencing reputable sources

Structure and Organization

Time is precious. Busy readers want to be able to scheme through content to see if it is relevant to them. Organizing your content properly can be the difference between a read or a skip. Long paragraphs can intimidate readers. Some may be skimming through to decide if to read the full content now or later. A well defined structure and organization can help make that decision easier. There are many ways to improve the structure and organization of content:

  • Use appropriate headings
  • Use images, charts and other visual aids
  • Stay on topic

Grammar and Spelling

The internet can be unforgiving to grammar and spelling mistakes. A simple error can lead to many assumptions about your education level and credibility. Fortunately, this is avoidable by paying special attention to grammar and spelling in online content. A spellchecker or grammar checker can be handy tools for even the most experienced authors.

Content Quantity

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After you have launched your website you want to put it to work. You have identified your target audience and you want to expose them to the content you have create. Chances are that you have a lot to share and you can’t wait to get the word out about your business, hobby, new project, or opinion. This enthusiasm is fine. There is nothing wrong with wanting to publish content frequently. You should be aware though that your publishing schedule will set expectations for your audience on the frequency and type of content you intend to produce. It will also affect the performance of your content marketing strategy.

Setting Expectations

Whether you intend to or not, your publishing schedule can affect your readers expectations. If you start publishing content every day and develop a loyal audience they will expect new content daily. This is not a problem once you can meet these expectations.What happens if you can’t maintain a steady stream of fresh content though? What happens when your long list of content topics start to wither down? If your loyal audience keeps visiting your websites and sees no updates they might decrease the frequency of visits. Some may stop visiting altogether. This is why scheduling and planning is critical to content marketing. You can deliver the quantity of content you are comfortable with at a regular schedule that your audience can expect.

Measuring Performance

Quantity of content also has an important role in measuring the performance of your content. More content means you have more data to analyze. This is useful in seeing what performs best and attracts repeat visitors. High quantity of content with low engagement from your audience may indicate a problem.As disappointing as this may be, it is an opportunity to tweak scheduling to achieve better results. Quantity works together with quality because if the content is not of good quality the quantity may have little impact on repeat visitors.

Content Relevance

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If you want visitors to return to your website you need to create content that resonates with them. You need to give them a reason to come back. This is where knowing your target audience well really pays off. Carefully crafted content can help you carve out a niche that will benefit you in the long run. You may choose to target a specific demographic by creating content for people in a region near you, a specific interest group, or even an age group.

Localized Content

Creating content that appeals to your local community is a great strategy if you are targeting members of that community. It shows that you care about them and want to build a relationship.You also benefit from having in depth knowledge about the community, it’s challenges, strengths, and events happening locally. Local content can be of high value because of its high relevance to the people in your community or region.

Focus on a specific industry

Most businesses find success in focusing their content on the industry they are in. If you sell sports equipment and accessories it makes sense to target athletes and people interested in recreation. Likewise, if you sell groceries you can lure people by offering high demand items. Some industries are larger others and some have a lot more competition. If you focus on an industry you need to find a way to stand out while catering for that audience. You can also decide if you want to target the businesses in your industry or market directly to the consumers.

Conclusion

To ensure that your content is effective you should try to gain the right balance of quality, quantity and relevance. This may differ from industry to industry or business to business. It is important to know your target audience and let your content cater to their needs and expectations.Publishing content in a timely manner allows your visitors to gain an idea of when to expect new content. Incorporating these elements in your content marketing can make your website more interesting and useful to readers.

References

Content Marketing Institute

Last Updated on September 12, 2020 by Nathan Vidal

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