Several conversations and posts have connected together for me over the last few weeks around things that would help your website or blog. The Social Media Collective were discussing the quality of User-generated Content, and at one point Jerry Bowles said:
“I believe that every blogger and writer, heck, every human being, should be legally required to own a copy of Strunk & White’s “little book” called The Elements of Style.”
Maybe it’s because I’m a product of the British education system, but this volume had passed me by. With a little bit of research, I found a couple of online versions of it on the web. It’s obviously a classic and well worth a read. Better writing and good grammar are always going to help the content on you website or blog.
The other day Dennis Howlett was quoting from a recently published survey of UK accounting practices, by the ICAEW’s IT Faculty. Apparently the survey said:
“The majority of firms in 2006 believe that their websites provide very good or fair value, with only 26% perceiving little or no value.”
That means over a quarter of firms believe their site is a waste of time, but just one of those things you have to have to enhance your credibility. From my own experience, I’m afraid that shows, because the vast majority of practice’s sites that I visit look like they haven’t had new content or tender loving care for some time. You should consider your website as “never finished”, and be looking for continuous improvement.
Elsewhere I found some good articles covering your “About Us” page, and your “Contact Us” page. Actually these can be two of the most important pages on your site to help convert somebody from being merely interested, to actually doing something with you. These two articles gives some great examples of common mistakes, and things you should do. When was the last time you looked at them on your site and tried to improve them? Go and read these article and set aside some time to do a bit of re-work on the blog or the website.
Those pieces contain two great quotes and advice that I’d heard before, but are worth repeating:
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ”
Mark Twain said it this way, “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will edit it and the writing will be just as it should be. “
Whether it is the site’s content or design, remember that simple is often best to get the perfect website.
Any website or blog can always use a bit of spicing up with some good, appropriate pictures. I take my digital camera around with me as often as I can, but sometimes you need some stock photos. If you are on a tight budget, there is nothing better than free, and royalty free pictures. I saw this blog post from the Photoshop Tutorials Blog. The first couple of suggestions are very good, particularly Stock.XCHNG, which has some great free material.
I’ve mentioned the SEO topic before, and advocated getting hold of a copy of Search Engine Optimisation for Dummies. Philip Woodgate reminded me of a good online resource the other day at Your SEO Plan, which collects together some good blogs, resources and tools. MarketingSherpa’s 4th Annual ad:tech attendee study highlights the importance that heavily consumer based advertisers place on SEO over other forms of web advertising and e-mail marketing.
One of the ways to get your site up in the rankings is to get it linked to by other influential sites. The best way of doing that is by having good quality content that people want to share. Over the last few days, Zoli Erdos and Technorati having been highlighting how not do it. Zoli explains:
“There’s a crazy meme going on which has the potential of turning Technorati ranks upside-down. Now, that may sometimes be good, giving fresh views more visibility, like Seth Godin or Steve Rubel’s recent initiatives. The new 2000 Bloggers craze is nothing comparable though: it’s random, viral, and has to potential to turn links, the glue of the blogosphere completely meaningless.”
Over at Technorati, their Breaking the Chains post explains how this has triggered them in to updating their indexing systems on an experimental basis to filter out links of this nature. Good luck with improving your content, and getting more links the conventional way.
Update: There is some great commentary between Luis Saurez and Zoli Erdos on the merits and demerits of the 2000 Bloggers meme at Social Media Today.
Technorati Tags : Enterprise+Irregulars, language, grammar, user+generated+content, website+design, blogs, free+stock+photography, SEO
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