What makes good content?
Building a new website, or upgrading your current one, means spending many hours with a developer and often a designer. But the project may fail if you haven’t put time and effort into the content. After all, that’s the reason people will go to your site. You may love the design, but what keeps users engaged is the quality of the information, and how easy it is to find.
So what is content? It’s all the stuff you put on your site: words, images, links, videos, automatic messages, e-services, log-in zones and more.
Ideally you should work on the content right from the start. Here are some reasons why.
1. Design and content work together
Are you happy with your content management system (CMS)? It may look great when you see the sample pages with their empty placeholders, but does it fit your requirements? The templates may prove frustrating when it comes to actually uploading your own content.
You may be stuck with big image boxes you don’t need. Or you discover that all the navigation tabs must have dropdown menus. The CMS may not be the best for information-rich pages – for example, some systems lock up every paragraph in a separate box. With others, you can’t add captions to images.
Before you commit to a CMS, look at sites you like in terms of layout and navigation. Give the developer some sample pages showing the types of content you have. List your must-haves, and the limitations you want to avoid. Consider which features are worth paying to add on. Think about how the site will evolve and what you may need in future.
Customising a CMS adds to the budget. But reworking content after the site is built is also a compromise. You’ll get the best results if everyone takes a flexible approach, working together on content and layout as the project progresses.
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen on content and layout
2. It’s not about you
If users can’t quickly find what they want, they’re gone. Common roadblocks are details about an organisation, its internal processes and so on. Cast a ruthless eye on everything you think is interesting, or that seems important ‘because that’s who we are’.
Corral the key background facts in the About section. Enough to create trust, highlight your points of difference, and keep people on the site.
Cut the mission statements and over-sharing about what you do, what you believe in and how you work.
Delete or reword in-house jargon (including acronyms) and technical talk. This may be familiar to you or your team, but it will alienate the average person. You can always link to more information, for those who want to read in depth.
3. Users can achieve their goals
Why do people visit any site? Mostly, to do something specific (find a fact, pay a bill, watch a video, make contact, use a service, etc). An effective web page either has the content they want, or links them to it. If a page doesn't deliver, they will soon give up.
To tailor content to your audience, become a customer service superstar: see the site as solving your users’ problems. That means doing your research. Who uses your site? Why? What are their questions?
Good content will help people:
find information
make sense of information
complete their task.
Careersnz is a good example of putting users’ needs first.
4. Text is concise, meaningful and engaging
Clear, error-free writing makes sense to everyone at first reading, saving time and effort. It also helps to build trust.
Cut the jargon.
Avoid long words and rambling sentences.
Strike out anything off-topic.
Vary the vocabulary to match the words that people actually use.
Favour active words. Overuse of the passive is one of the most common writing problems. Tips for turning passive into active.
5. Content is findable
Rather than reading line by line, we scan a page, searching for the signpost words that will keep us on track. Structure your content so readers can quickly see if they are on the right page.
Break up blocks of text with headings, side bars, bullet points, images.
Stick to one topic per page.
Put keywords into headings to aid scanning or scrolling.
Include useful links to related topics. This helps different users stay on the path to their goal. How to write clear links
Bonus: Search engines favour well-structured sites with clear, varied language, rich links and no obvious keyword stuffing.