Website architecture, organization, structure, and the platform that your page runs on are just some of the many key factors that can help to distinguish one website from another. However, in this day and age, these factors alone are simply not enough to rank highly online. In fact, if you want your website to rank highly with Google, the single most important factor in building a robust, high-traffic webpage is to have a plethora of high quality, written content on it. Your website has to have fresh, unique, original, informative and readable content to attract customers. Your content also has to appease the complex search engine algorithms that Google and other search engines use. Simply put, having amazing content is the key to increasing your web traffic. In fact, the resilience of your website in the face of the changing tide of the Internet and social media depends almost entirely on the content that your webpage has on them.
Why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Content Quality Matters
When talking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), content marketing (or rather, how you market and display your content) plays a significant factor in trying to get a web page to rank highly in search results. The reason for this is because content, or the words, articles, and stories that are used on a web page are the main factor that search engines use to use to categorize, rank and position a web page, or in your case a business, within the search results. In other words, the text and language (in the form of words), which forms the basis of any content on your page, are still the primary determinant of both the type and quality of content on your website. Without good quality content that’s been optimized for the internet, your website may be doomed to fall in rank below that of your competitors. Rank is so important in fact that most people searching for things online rarely go beyond page two of the results. With millions of potential web pages for any given search term, ranking highly can mean the difference between having a successful business or having no customers at all. Therefore, it’s vitally important to ensure that you have good, original, unique, readable content on your web page. Not only does your webpage content have to have these elements, but it also has to be relevant and written at a level that most people can understand and identify with. Once good content is created, it has to also be optimized so that the search engines can read it and rank it within the millions of other pages on the Internet. This is why businesses are paying top dollar for great web content to help drive traffic potential customers from the search engine results page to your webpage
Internet Branding and Reputation Management in Business
The internet is a volatile place and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) professionals are working day in and day out to increase web traffic to their clients’ websites. These professionals understand how search engines work and labor to create a webpage that lands in the number one position of the world’s most popular search engine, Google. Everyone knows that Google is the primary search engine in the world; people go to Google to find information, answers to questions, and to locate businesses. In addition to websites, businesses are increasingly leveraging the power of various social media platforms to improve customer relations and bring in new clients. The use of social media marketing campaigns is also becoming commonplace. Even with social media, content quality still matters. If your ad is ugly or offensive, you may not get many people to click on it. However, if your ad is aesthetically pleasing and connects with people at an emotional level, then you will likely have a winning experience in the social media arena. Businesses are increasingly seeing the importance of maintaining positive brand recognition in a world where anything can go viral in just a matter of minutes. If a business makes the wrong move or the CEO says something offensive, you can bet that this news will circulate the globe. Companies can be crushed if they aren’t prepared to deal with these situations. A good reputation management plan can help. A reputation management plan can be seen as a marketing tool for the “back end” of your business. “Front-end” marketing includes traditional advertising and SEO techniques whereas “back-end” marketing looks at brand management and dealing with customers after a sale has been made. A good reputation management plan will have policies and procedures in place for dealing with such things as online reviews, negative (or positive) social media posts, and management of social media accounts used by the business. Every interaction with a customer, whether in the real world or the virtual world, is an opportunity to improve your brand’s reputation. It’s no longer about just simply increasing sales. Businesses have to work tirelessly to improve their reputation and visibility while connecting with potential customers in new and innovative ways. A sale can only be made once you have earned the trust of a potential customer. If customer’s don’t trust you, your business will eventually fail.
Quality Content and Reputation Management
The idea of maintaining a good reputation is not new. However, the means, methods, and magnitude of what needs to be done to maintain a good reputation have changed significantly in the age of the Internet. We talked a lot about the importance of having quality content in the first part of this article. Did you know that having quality content on your webpage and your social media accounts play directly into the reputation that you may have? It sure does! If your content is terrible, full of grammatical errors, or has no value to offer your customers, your brand will suffer. It’s as simple as that—quality is king! This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. © 2020 Christopher Wanamaker
