With all the other steps you have to take in order to grow your business, you probably don't have time for a complete website overhaul. And yet, with competition entering the playing field daily, it's more important than ever to ensure that your site is in tip-top shape and getting adequate traffic.
A great way to draw the attention of the search engine spiders and to provide incentive for visitors to keep coming back to your site is by adding new and fresh content. But who has extra time to devote to content creation? You do - if you utilize these three super simple content creation strategies that you can easily implement in under an hour.
Start a blog.
A web log (blog for short) is akin to an online journal and it usually incorporates lots of links and comments from readers. Using a blog platform makes updates and delivery a breeze. Don't make your blog a sales pitch. Instead, offer tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc.
The one downfall to blogs is that the large majority (over 90% according to one study) are abandoned soon after they're started. Abandoning your blog can actually hurt your business's credibility instead of enhancing it. If you're concerned about your ability to maintain your efforts throughout the year, I suggest you create a "themed" blog and let your readers know it will only run during a certain season, for a particular sale, or some other pre-determined time frame. You can offer creative suggestions for using your products as gifts, unique ideas for your services, anything that relates to your website.
Incorporate RSS feeds.
Really Simple Syndications (RSS) allows you to add news and information from other web sources onto your own site. Visitors can also subscribe to your RSS feed (you've probably seen the little orange icons throughout the web) and be notified whenever you update your site's content. You can notify visitors when you announce a sale, when your stock changes, when your shipping deadline is drawing near, and so on.
Use polls and surveys.
People like to share their views and learn more about other people's views. Surveys provide instant gratification on both counts, since the results are generally displayed immediately. The most effective polls are short and easy. Ask readers to choose their favorite among several offered items. Ask them to vote on the best Christmas gift for a 6 year old boy. Not only do polls and surveys increase your visitor interaction, but the information you collect can be extremely valuable to your future marketing efforts.
Survey Monkey is a tool that allows you to create polls and surveys that are hosted online. You develop your survey on the Survey Monkey site then copy and paste the link into your website. No coding experience or database support is needed.
Ask your readers to contribute.
You might be surprised at how many readers are willing to contribute content to your website just for the glory of seeing their name in print. You can also take advantage of article directories as long you follow the publishing guidelines. Just make sure all the user generated content you include is relevant to your site and to your visitors.
Keeping your website content updated doesn't have to be time consuming and doesn’t have to be expensive. Tools like blogs, RSS, surveys and user-generated content allow you to keep your site fresh and interesting.
Be sure to keep it quick and simple. When you're busy "running your business" you don't always have time to try out innovative features and learn new technologies. Use proven tools that are readily available and your visitors are sure to return again and again. And your search engine rankings will improve as a result!
Time to implement: Each of the above tactics can be implemented on your site in approximately one hour. Start with the one you're most interested in and incorporate a new tactic each day.
