I still read the newspaper. But only on Sundays. There’s good stuff in my Sunday Roanoke Times, such as “Well-built websites can give small businesses a boost,” an article penned by Caroline McMillan Portillo of The Charlotte Observer.
Portillo interviewed Charlotte-area ad agencies and marketing and web-design professionals. She came away with a list of tips, including what not to do.
Here are five don’ts related to web content:
1. Don’t use too many words.
Go easy on the words. No War and Peace. “People scan websites,” Randy Smith of Synchronicity was quoted as saying. “They’re looking for the best content in about the first top-third of what they read.”
2. Don’t overlook typos and grammatical mistakes.
Mistakes have a way of sabotaging your professionalism. They happen, but are more easily corrected online. Whenever possible, have others proof the work.
3. Don’t forget search engine optimization (SEO).
Identify a list of keywords, terms and phrases for your profession, business and industry to incorporate on your site. This should help your site in Google and other search-engine rankings.
4. Don’t have stale content.
This makes the site (and business or organization) look static. Not good. One way to avoid this common problem is to connect an active blog and social media feed(s) to your site.
5. Don’t have outdated calendars.
If you have a calendar on your site, keep it current. An out-of-date calendar is a dead giveaway that people are visiting a dead site.
Neil Sagebiel 