If you clicked to read this blog because of the title, then I’ve already proven my point. No beating around the bush, content is important. But let me explore a few excuses people use that are making their websites suffer.
The Design is Perfect
More often than not, websites are designed with default filler text, or even worse, Lorem Ipsum. People spend weeks, months, and occasionally years working with a company to make the vision of their website come to fruition. They let the company do all this design work, and then when the finished product is dropped in their lap, they don’t want to touch it. Usually for fear of breaking something, not understanding the ins and outs of websites, or simply being exhausted with the whole project. Either way, putting design first is the easiest way to let content fall by the wayside.
Targeting Specific Keywords with SEO
With old and new websites alike, there is a natural desire to want to be at the top of the search engine results. Unfortunately, with accomplishment comes complacency, or with failure comes defeat. People either feel like the SEO worked and they don’t want to touch anything, or they’re not in the top 10 search results and feel like it’s an impossibly uphill battle. NO matter which end of the spectrum a website falls on, it’s important to constantly update the content. Algorithms change quickly, so it’s important not to get too comfortable.
Keeping It Simple
We all know people’s attention spans are getting shorter by the day. There is a serious push for services and information to be quickly and easily accessible through mobile. This doesn’t mean content can be sacrificed entirely. If anything, it needs to be focused on even more. There needs to be a conscious effort for making content that is useful and worth people’s time. It’s important to realize that a lack of content can leave people lost and confused. Keeping it simple does not always mean minimalizing.
Website practices and standards are constantly changing, but content should be the constant. While it’s nice to explore different approaches and experience some trial and error, it’s important to always come back to the basics. Make sure to check our content resources every now and again for easy, proven ways to freshen up your site—all content-related, of course.