As ‘Location, Location, Location’ is to the property market, so Content
is to the Web. It ranks as the three top priorities when building a
successful website. Successful in a stickier-than-a-honeypot,
search-engine-winner, kind of way, we are talking about a site having
a reason, a purpose and, most of all, substance.

While the initial 'wow' factor of a sophisticated site may still grab
a surfer’s attention in order to keep it, a site's content is most
definitely the key. Now more than ever, in such a saturated and
ever-expanding market, not only must content be king, it must be
the country and whole continent too.

This is certainly not a new concept. Since man first learned the
need to communicate, words have been used to record, to predict, to
influence, to educate and to create. Words have shaped society into
what it is today, used as a powerful tool by the greatest political,
religious and human rights leaders in history.

When the Web was 'born', not that long ago, flashing logos, roll-over
graphics and animated icons were often enough to impress. But, with
time, expectations have grown and web surfers are now a much tougher
audience to crack. They have been around the ‘cyber block’ and they
know that even on the Internet, appearances can be deceptive and
that beauty really is only ‘screen deep’.

Of course good content includes not only the layout but the ease of
navigation and the quality of the images used. If professionally
produced, a web site gives a great first impression for any company; an
impression that can last. The idea is not to pit design against copy -
both are crucial and must work together to make the site stand apart
from the the rest.

To achieve success on the Web the designer has to cater for two different
kinds of audiences.

The first is the surfer, the Web window shopper, and the potential
customer. Gaining customer loyalty goes along way in this game. It can
take years to establish trust, but only a minute to lose it.

Whether you are there to sell, to service or just to inform, you
must not only meet the visitor’s expectations, you must surpass them.
So if, for example, your site is there to sell the world's smallest,
most advanced fishing rod, make sure that you give the visitor all the
information that they might require, clearly and concisely, including
pictures, if necessary.

This is neither the time nor the place for guessing games and
complicated menus. A site that is too hard to fathom or simply lacking
in the expected content will quickly be left with a click of the mouse
and replaced with ten others all selling the world’s smallest, most
advanced fishing rod.

On the other hand good content can make a visitor leave a site
feeling educated, inspired and, best of all, impressed. He will be far
more likely to return. It is a fickle world and the expression
“survival of the fittest” takes on a whole new meaning.

Your second audience would be the search engines which are crucial
to a site’s success, as they will give your site the ‘once over’ before
it is ranked. They, in turn, will direct traffic your way and are
likely to be instrumental in supplying you with a large percentage of
your client base.

There was a time when web designers, tried to trick the search
engines by overloading the meta keyword list or by repeating keywords
in the background colours. Needless to say, these methods no longer
work and such tricks should not be employed. Search engines are now
heavily influenced by the content of a site, with the quality and
relevance of subject matter, assuming far greater importance than that
of copy ‘fodder’ and excessive linking.

So what makes content good? To appeal to visitors and search engines
alike content should be able to attract and sustain your attention. It
should portray your product or service with persuasive sincerity and
position your company as the industry’s expert. More than anything, it
should have an emotional appeal that registers with the visitor and
motivates him to utilise your services and return again and again.