No one likes traffic when it’s something you’re stuck in during an I-95 commute in South Florida. But it’s highly desirable among those who avoid that morning commute by running a website from their home office or a company that wants to increase its number of online customers.
At Breakaway Solutions, my award-winning website development company, building a high-traffic website is the ultimate objective of the entrepreneurs and corporations that use our services. But how to get there?
You can always turn to experts like myself when you want more eyes landing on your home page. Some of our advice is practical, some of it philosophical. Yes, page layout plays a part, search engine optimization is a key consideration; and creating links, utilizing social media and optimizing your database are all crucial. But over and above those essential elements, it’s universally agreed that content is still king in creating return traffic to your website.
Some simple rules
Content is generally considered to be the text on your site and it has its own set of rules. You should ask yourself some questions before creating content: Who are your readers? What information can you provide that will give them value, a reason to return to your site and, optimally, incentive to share it with others. For example, this is my personal website, separate from the website for Breakaway Solutions, yet inherently intertwined with my business. My goal here is to impart advice from my experience to help others reach their entrepreneurial goals. By it’s also a personal site, so I try to convey some of my own inspirations for success in a way that’s both educational and motivational.
Above all, know your audience! Your content should be tailored to those you want to reach while being original, engaging and an incentive for further exploration of your site. Depending on your purpose, strive for timeless information with a long shelf life.
How much is enough?
How much content should there be? It’s true, copious and continually changing content stacked with the right keywords is important. For keywords, think of yourself as a typical Google or Bing user and incorporate search words they might use to find the sort of information you are providing. Length can also be a consideration. Some of my peers would discourage lengthy pages and might recommend posts of anywhere from 500 to 1,000 words.
Personally, I think length should be determined by the amount of space necessary to convey good, usable information, with some links to a few outside sources that you would also deem valuable, or which share a similar message. Links are also important for SEO purposes.
Other reputable sources
For example, if you want to know more about some of the tools and tacks of building a website, I might recommend other like-minded bloggers such as Tim Ferriss, whose content is always eclectic, insightful and, maybe most importantly, shared. He sets a good example and I feel confident that my audience would benefit from many of his topics, including How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself.
I mentioned Steve Pavlina in my previous post and his name bears repeating here. Steve writes some excellent content on personal development, so we have kindred interests. His thoughts on building a high-traffic website are definitely worth a read and, as he points out, sometimes differ from what some other experts might recommend. But he has some definite ideas about content. He sums up his philosophy in a way that I would agree with: Even if you forget all his tips, he says, “just focus on genuinely helping people, and the rest will take care of itself.
I could not have said it better myself.
