Building a Content Rich Website

How do you get Content for your Website?

There are four options:

· Create it yourself
· Invite contributions
· Hire content providers
· Syndicate or licence content from others

Creating Your Own Content

If you have a lot of experience in your speciality, and your writing skills are excellent, content creation will be a simple matter of sitting at your computer and banging away at the keys for a few minutes.

If, however, you aren't wired that way, generating material for your site will feel like having a tooth pulled - without anaesthetic!

But don't despair. There's something for everyone on the Net :-)

Before you decide to create your own content, here are some things to think about:

Do you have the expertise?

Are you really an expert? Can you write valuable, reliable, interesting content regularly? Most of your readers won't know much about your topic - indeed that's why they visit your site in the first place! But there will be the occasional expert. You can't fool your readers with pretence. Don't even try to.

Do you have the skills?

Can you write well? You might understand General Relativity. But the way you write about it might confuse Einstein himself!

Do you have the time?

Writing original content of a high quality can be very time consuming. And because a good Website is never finished it is an ongoing thing, day after day, week after week. Can you do it?

Inviting 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. Most often, all that these authors ask in return is a by-line - a short 3 to 5 line description of the author and his/her business at the end of the article. So if you don't want to (or cannot) create your own content, ask others to help.

Include an announcement on your site that articles from other authors are welcome. Then wade through the submissions to choose the best to present to your audience.