There is, however, one main common trend amongall of the top websites on the search engines and that is that they all havegood writing. It is important that aperson does not get so caught up in search engine optimization, Flash designsand Java that they forget what people are actually there for – to read yourcontent. This means that you need goodand useful content on your pages that is well-written. It is important to remember that the searchengines, especially Google, do not overlook content and look for keywordsalone. No, they actually do look at howuseful and well-written your content is on your website. In fact, the nice guys at Google proclaimthat good content is a necessity.
There are a few good tips that should befollowed to ensure that your website has good content:
Up-To-DateContent: Up-to-date and frequently updated content is a necessity. There is nothing worse than reading contentthat is old and out of date. Contentshould be refreshed and updated every few weeks, and once a week if you reallywant to be on top of things.
BriefParagraphs: Nobody wants to go to a website and read huge chunks oftext. In fact, huge chunks of text arethe quickest way to send your visitors packing. Keep your paragraphs brief and to the point. You should try to limit them to foursentences at the max.
UseLists and Bullets: People love lists and bullets and it is always great tohave them interspersed throughout a website. This helps to break things up into readable blocks of information aswell.
SentenceLength: Try to avoid any long and drawn out sentences. In fact, when you are writing your content,be sure to use the readability statistics that Microsoft Word offers. Shoot to write at a 7th or 8thgrade writing level if you want your content to be readable by mostpeople. Medium length and long sentencesshould be sprinkled throughout rather than in blocks together.
Relevance:Be certain that your content is relevant to what the page is about. If you’re utilizing keywords, be certain thatthey are used in a grammatically correct fashion and try not to exceed a 7%keyword density. You also want to useplural forms and variations of keywords as well. The best keyword density is around 3-7% andyou really want to keep it closer to 3% if you want to limit redundancy of yourkeyword.
Writing Recommendations
If you write the content yourself, be certain to proofreadand then have another person read it as well. When you proofread it is easy to miss mistakes because you fix it inyour head as you read. Another personwill catch anything that doesn’t quite sound right.
A few more writing tips include:
- Avoid slang and jargon in your content. You want everybody on the web to know what you are talking about! You also want to appear professional.
- Use shorter words and a more conversational style on the web, as it is more difficult and tiring on the eyes to read large amounts of text on the Internet. Use words such as “begin” rather than “commence,” for example.
- Use simple sentence structures.
- Use an active voice instead of passive; it often makes shorter sentences as well.
- Use sub-headings to draw your reader to the content they are searching for.
- Bold words that are important.
- Use link text
- Left align your text.
- Include important information at the beginning of the content and not so important information near the end of the content. This is called “front loading.”
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