How to really make the most of your CMS!

Once the hard work of your website build is complete and you have had your CMS training, the next stage, probably the most important, is populating your website with interesting, informative and relevant content.  

Content can be key to the success of your website.

If MVG Media have built your website, you will have been through the scoping process. Scoping, as a process, is vital in establishing the foundations and framework for your website. From this process we will have created a webmap and/or user journey from which the structure of the website will have been created. The webmap will also serve as the plan for your content and it is at this point where this plan needs to be realised.

There are various ways in which you can deliver content to your users, articles, visual content, links, blogs etc. In this article, we will try to give you some help in ensuring you deliver the best content possible for your users.

When developing a new website to sell your products or services, it is always worth remembering what makes a website attractive to a visitor? What will grab their attention and make sure they return frequently?

While it’s a given that your website should be well designed, easy to navigate and pleasing to view and use. If the content is poor, badly written, dull, littered with grammatical and spelling mistakes, rarely updated and bland, you probably won’t see your customers again.

It is vital to understand the importance of well written, interesting, varied and updated content on a website. A dead, unattended website will lose you more customers than you will gain.Too often, web projects are completed where clients place enormous focus on strong design with thousands of iterations and tweaks, modules that have enormous power and range to achieve all manner of interesting and dynamic functions… and yet when it comes to submitting the ‘meat’ of the site – the content, they are ill prepared, haven’t considered all the required elements and content opportunities, or have simply run out of budget and think it is something they can ‘pull’ together quickly.

With all the best will in the world, you can run a wonderful advertising campaign; develop powerful viral marketing tools and set up affiliate programs. But unless your Website is rich in content, the traffic spikes that result from your efforts will only be transient. It is vital to remember that content that is relevant, valuable, informative, educational or just plain entertaining will attract and retain an audience more successfully than anything else.

You too, can create a content-rich website by sticking to a few key rules:
• Update your site regularly
• Know how to create content, or where to find it

How do you get content for your Website?

There are four different ways to generate content for your website, you can:
• Create it yourself
• Invite contributions – user generated content
• Hire content providers
• Syndicate or license content from others

What content will make my website more interesting?

No matter how well you follow the guidelines, pages and pages of text about your service or product is never going to hold your users attention for too long. You need to consider other ways of adding content to the website to add interest, engage your user and differentiate yourself in your field.

Here are some various ways you could consider adding content to the site, some basic tips to help you make the most of each method.

Full-length Feature Articles – keep them snappy, relevant and consistent with the tone of your website.

News - Make your website source of the latest developments and happenings in areas of interest by providing timely news on topics of interest to your readers.

Editorials - make good content, because they invite reader response, either endorsing or opposing the writer. This can make for lively debate and encourage return visits.

Reprinted articles - Reprint articles written by others, but you must always obtain permission. Add your own spin to make the articles more interesting.

The Content Aggregator - Help your website become the preferred destination for anyone seeking information on your subject.
Reviews - Use your Website to recommend the *best* products and services to your visitors – You be the expert, tell them what is good and what isn't.

Announcements – has you company done something new? Have you a new product to launch? Any interesting industry news or gossip? If so, announce it on your website.

Interviews – Interviews with experts, celebrities, customers all make for interesting reading!
Polls and Surveys – Ask a question.. or two. It can be relevant, current, and controversial. If users are drawn to the question, they may come back for the results (or just an incentive)

Testimonials – there are very few marketing tools more powerful that word of mouth. Real and relevant testimonials can really boost your conversion rates.

Invite user contributions – user generated content blogs, forums and chatrooms

Invite author Contributions - If writing your own content isn't for you, there are many people around who will be happy to write for your Website. They do it because it projects them as experts, and gives them exposure and access to your readers, if you don't want to (or cannot) create your own content, ask others to help.

RSS feeds RSS (Rich Site Summary) is basically a way to deliver content to a user online. What makes it unique is that instead of the user going to different sites, the content is brought to the user.

These are just some of the ways you can add more to content to your website to ensure it is as relevant and informative as possible.

If you would like more information on how you can really use content to make the most of your website. Please download the full document here.