So, armed with knowledge about content freshness and quality – as stated in Part 1 of this series – we can now tackle the next issue: Where can I add website content?

To answer this, let’s assume that you already have a website built and that it’s presently full of content about your products or services. We’ll look at a number of ways to add content to your site, grow the number of indexable pages, and localize content at the same time.

Top 7 Smartest Ways to Add More Content and Attract Traffic to Your Website:

1. Break up long pages: On too many sites, the product or service listings occur on the same page – a long, continuous scroll of offerings. As you’d probably like to rank highly for each offering, this is an easy place to break things up a bit and create some new pages. Each new page around a single topic, creates an opportunity to leverage unique and complimentary keywords, as well as title tags, URLs and other META data that will help grow your keyword score.
2. Build content silos: Now, since adding a single, stand-alone page on a product is often not enough to generate an increase in traffic, the wise content creator will organize like topics into content silos. A silo is a product or service division that is that serves users looking for other closely-related product pages (Men’s Shoes > boots > loafers > oxfords > sneakers). A content silo allows you to deepen that section of your website. Not ranking for a particular shoe – sandals, perhaps? Try adding a sandals page to the Men’s Shoe silo, and grow your authority on that given keyword.
3. Add new: New products and service offerings come along with regularity. Don’t hold back. Write a new page of content about any new offering. In fact, if you want to scoop the competition, write a page of content about new product or service offerings before they’re in-place and ready for your customers (“prime the pump” so to speak).
4. Blog: Websites with attached blogs have a distinct competitive advantage due to the fact that blogs are designed for fresh, quality (or topical) content. You can also link content from pages in your silo to related blog articles. Blog article: How to Care for Men’s Oxfords (link back to the page on oxfords).
5. Localize: Some keywords need a local attachment to be successful. If you’re a Denver-based dentist that offers teeth whitening and Invisalign treatments, you need to be specific. Write new pages about both treatments but don’t forget to localize them with “Denver” keywords. If your sites only mention of your location is in the address in the footer, you can also back-fill existing pages with local keywords. Easy.
6. Contribute: Technically, if you contribute an article to another site – you’re not adding content to your site. But you are able to draw traffic by contributing and linking to your site from the byline. Contribute to reputable web sites that will post articles on specific services or products. Look for sites that only accept original content and don’t repost on multiple sites. Also, don’t miss an opportunity to generate some content traffic by putting out regular press releases.
7. Share: Nothing thrives in a vacuum. Leverage the power of social media to announce new articles. Share that content around.

As stated in this two-part series, the content of your site plays a significant role in both attracting and retaining interest in your business. The product or service content pages you develop for your site will benefit greatly from research, planning and thought, so they can rank for specific keywords. At the same time, any blog articles or new product or service information pages should deliver fresh, content-rich information – as they are meant to generate interest around recent news or industry developments that suit your intended market.

Lastly – if you’re concerned about writing keyword-rich content that is composed well for a varied audience, the hiring of a professional content developer (like those at Sweet Spot Marketing) is highly recommended.

Want to read more on content? Back in July, we wrote an article about Website Content Development for Seo Success. In the article, we warned about “stuffing” your site content areas with volumes of keywords and phrases. The July article is a great companion piece to this Freshness and Quality piece.

Believe it or not, there is an important SEO lesson to be learned from department store window dressing. Really. Now that the holiday shopping season in coming to a close, the example may be more relevant at this point than during any other time of the year.

If you’re lucky enough to have spent the holidays in a city with a luxury department store such as Barneys, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Harrods or Bergdorf Goodman, you’ve no doubt been treated to a wealth of eye-catching window displays that reflect the current signs, scenes and trinkets of the season. Press your nose to any glass front and see glittering new merchandise standing ready against a backdrop of striking color and design meant to whet your appetite for shopping.

In a town like New York, window dressing is big business. When the time is right, some folks actually travel great distances to see what entrancing new displays have been created by the window dressers who work for the big department stores in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. So, imagine the disappointment and frustration that travelling gawkers would experience if the window dressers at Neiman Marcus took the season off and left nothing new in their window displays but tired old merchandise leftover from the previous summer lines. It will never happen, by the way.

Keeping the Content King in Power

Professional window dressers, like seasoned web marketers, know that content is king – and that fresh content keeps the king in power. Take a season off and your customers will travel down the block to a department store with new merchandise on display and spend their time and their money there – with your competitor.

At this point, I think that everyone reading gets it. Your website or blog requires new, relevant content on a regular basis to affect a dynamic appearance that retains regular visitors and attracts new business from search traffic. It’s no secret that Google, and the other search engines, want to deliver traffic to websites that offer information seekers something new. Therefore, when it comes to marketing your business or services online, what you have to say is as important as how often you say it. But don’t sacrifice quality for persistence.

The good news about fresh content is this: there will never be an algorithm change that will penalize good information or fresh content on any given subject. The not-so-good news is that fresh content does take some research, planning and thought (and a little editing) so that what you post to your site or your blog is quality.

For example: you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who is actively seeking a blog article about unboxing a first-gen Apple iPhone (c. June 2007) that included no particular wealth of product information. The freshness and quality score for such an article on the first-gen iPhone is zero. So, why bother writing content for a non-existent audience, when you can write another article that makes wild predictions about the hotly-rumored iPhone 5 and see traffic soar?

In other words: if you want to see ongoing SEO success, don’t litter up the information highway.

Stay Tuned: Part 2 of this series includes an in-depth look at top ways to add more content and traffic to your website.