Importance of Website Content: More Than Just Words on a Page

When a website is created or transitioned, there are two primary considerations – the framework (technical set up and the design) and the content. While many people put a large emphasis on the framework during development, they simply copy and paste their former content into the new framework and consider it done. In reality, recycling old content is a huge disservice to both your audience(s) and your future site performance.

Content: The Foundation for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When developing content, keep in mind that its primary role is to clearly and effectively convey information to users within your target audience(s). All content must be well-written, accurate, and easy to understand and navigate. If you take the time during content development to ensure these foundational principles are met by building quality content from the ground up, your website will perform well over time.

Getting Started: Know Your Audience

Before writing your first word, you should define your primary audiences. At The Salvation Army, our primary target audiences online are donors, volunteers, and those who need help or who connect others to help. Secondary target audiences may vary page-by-page, depending upon the content topic itself. Once you know who you are targeting, put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what questions they may have, what information will be most important to them, and what keywords they may use when searching for the information. Then, use that perspective to inform your writing. Writing to an audience improves their ability to find your website easily in organic search (Google, etc.). It also improves their experience once on your site.

Writing for Web Optimization: 6 Principles

Help users find and engage with your website more easily by developing web content that is:

1. Appropriately categorized (timeless vs. dated) – Appropriately categorizing content as it’s created will help establish a website that’s easily maintained. Pages are meant to hold static content and should have a long shelf life. Page content should be written so that it’s true any time of the year, to the fullest extent possible, and won’t be outdated easily. Omit or write-around details that will need changed frequently, such as using a job title and phone number as a contact instead of an individual’s name to future-proof for turnover. Dated content – i.e. stories and events – should be used in scenarios where information will become outdated quickly, such as writing about progress toward a goal or sharing an individual’s point-in-time story. Because dated content displays on the website according to publish date, it does not need maintained.
2. Conversational – Write all content in the way you would describe the content to a friend. Use “we” to speak from the perspective of The Salvation Army. Assume the individual does not know The Salvation Army as well as you do. Your audience is the public (i.e. donors, volunteers, or those who need help or who connect others to help), and it’s your job to help them understand us and why we are relevant to them.
3. Succinct – Limit words to only those necessary to relay the information. Content that is longer or contains larger text blocks can deter users from finding the key pieces of information they seek. Within dated content (i.e. stories and events), there is an appropriate use of long-form writing for in-depth topics that are of high interest to your audience. Good writing for web avoids run-ons and hard-to-read, compound sentences. Write a sentence, then reread it and determine if there is a more simplified way to say the same thing.
4. Quick to the Point – Your first 100 words have the biggest impact on how you’ll display in search results, particularly in dated content (i.e. stories and events). They are also your best opportunity to draw a user in to engage for longer periods of time. Your first paragraph should draw the reader in and relay the key point(s).
5. Without Jargon – Write so that your content can be understood by anyone, including those with little or no knowledge of The Salvation Army. This includes recognizing and avoiding internal lingo. For example, the word “corps” doesn’t have inherent meaning to the general public and should be avoided. Favor a term like “worship and service center” instead, which describes the two functions of the unit within the name. Writing without jargon also means avoiding the use of acronyms whenever possible, and defining them upon first reference when their use can’t be avoided.
6. Easy to Scan – Use headers within text (both on pages and in dated content) to guide users and break up paragraphs. Well-written headers are short, easy to scan, and drive individuals to keep reading.

Developing Interesting Content: Showcase Perspectives

Unless you have a full staff of writers – which you probably don’t – you need help with content creation. Look first to those who are already creating content and ask permission to repurpose it for website use.

Some examples of natural content creators in The Salvation Army are our officers/pastors who write sermons every week, our case workers who write reports including accounts of helping others, disaster volunteers who are reporting back to leadership from the front lines, etc. You can also guide volunteers, donors, or those helped to share their perspective by utilizing different storytelling formats, such as a Q&A.

Anytime you’re repurposing content written by others, it will need edited for website use. Leave the content perspective as their own (ex: an account from the perspective of a case worker), just shorten, rearrange, and edit to enhance how it will be received by readers. Be sure to attribute the content to the writer in a byline, so the audience understands whose perspective they are reading. Use names when possible, but names are not a key factor in whether or not the resulting story will be good or well-received.

Just like every perspective is different, so are your website readers. Offering a variety of perspectives helps us appeal to a broader base audience.

Other Factors that Affect SEO

1. Direct Traffic – The number one search ranking factor is direct traffic to your website. Utilize your multichannel marketing tools (email, social media, publications, digital advertising, standardized email signature lines for staff, etc.) to drive users to your website at every opportunity. A strategy to increase direct links to your website will help boost your search engine ranking.
2. 1. Duplicate Pages/Unique Content – Webpages are considered duplicate if they contain identical or nearly identical content. When search engines evaluate a page for uniqueness, all page elements are considered including the menu, header and footer structure. This means that the body content itself needs to make each page stand apart from the others on your site. Excessive duplicate content across pages may confuse search engines as to which page to index and prioritize in search results. This may lead to traffic loss and poor placement in search results. Avoid using pre-written blocks of body copy wherever possible. Avoid abstract content and generic statements like, “We provide valuable meal supplementation.” Use everyday language and get specific for the area and audience the page is intended to address.
3. Links and Related Content – Having quality, related links that guide users to additional content on your site improves the user experience and positively impacts SEO, as well as site analytics. Content creators, like you, should have a broad understanding of the road map of your website and set users on a path. As you write, think about other content on your site that may be relevant to the page or dated content (i.e. stories and events). Hyperlink descriptive text within a sentence instead of using generic terms like “click here” or “learn more” to help the user understand what’s next in the path.
4. Consistent Publishing – Websites that publish dated content (i.e. stories and events) on a regular basis are regarded higher in search engine results – plain and simple. You don’t have to publish daily, but you do need to publish regularly. Create a content plan and stick with it, even if it just means publishing once a week in the beginning.
5. Low Quality Content – Web pages containing fewer than 200 words are a signal of low quality content to search engines. 1 Warning: Do not interpret this as, “Take more words than necessary to describe a subject matter.” You still need to be succint and discerning in the way that you write for web. If you don’t have 200 words worth of quality, value-added text to support a stand-along page, it may need to be grouped with other like content, or left out altogether.
6. Short, Unique Titles – Generally, using short titles on web pages is recommended. However, titles containing 10 characters or fewer do not provide enough information about page content and limit your potential to show up in search results by keyword. Write titles that are between 11 and 75 characters. Using more than 75 characters may result in search engines truncating the title. Duplicate titles also make it difficult for search engines to determine which page is most relevant in a search and should be prioritized. Use unique titles to distinguish pages.
7. Original, Sized Images – Whenever possible, use original images over stock images. Scale your images to the actual display size before uploading. Larger than necessary images can cause your website to load slowly, especially on mobile devices. Load times slower than 3 seconds are likely to trigger the user to abandon your site. 1 Slow site load times can also impact SEO.