Why High Quality Web Content is Necessary for Success

The following is guest post by Corry Cummings

You’ve likely heard the old phrase that permeates through online web marketing forums and message boards – Content is King. Why is this? In an online environment where videos are growing in popularity and the average visitor reads about 20% of a page, what makes high quality web content so necessary for success? Well, as you begin to explore the scope and value of content, you might find that there is no single more profitable investment that your online business or web site can make than high quality web content.

Search Engine Optimization

One of the more obvious reasons that high quality web content is necessary for success comes in the form of search engine optimization. Good content is written in a way that includes the main keywords that should be addressed on a specific web page. When the crawlers come to view your site from Google, they will be looking for how relevant your content is for a search term. Although there are other factors, you can generally expect that the more relevant a page of content is to a search term, the higher your web site will rank for that specific term.

However, there is another factor – one that high quality web content can also address. The ranking of a web site also depends on the amount of back links that are pointed at it. A back link is exactly how it sounds – a link back to your web site. However, you cannot secure back links without high quality web content. If the back links are pointing at a web site that is not sufficiently relevant to a topic, the crawlers will know.

Web Site Visitors

If you only need one reason to invest in high quality web content, this should be it. The better the quality of the content on your web site, the more likely a web site visitor will:

• Trust your opinions or statements
• Order your product or service
• Continue reading other information on your web site
• Recommend your web site to your friends
• Consider trading a link with you

This reason makes it apparent why it simply isn’t enough to draft content from an SEO standpoint. The robots may like your content but if the human visitors that you are relying on to pay your bills do not, your web site is worthless.

Consider an example:

Two physical stores are built directly across the street from one another. One store launches an aggressive advertising campaign, clearly states their name and service on the enormous sign and sells the exact same products as store B. However, once you enter the store, the shelves are a mess, the products are broken and there is no one available to assist you.

Now, store B has a simple sign that says only their name and service. Once you enter, the shelves are clearly organized and labeled, the products are in new condition and there are plenty of associates waiting to help you out.

Sure, store A likely had droves of visitors when they first opened. However, you can be almost certain that store B was ultimately successful. When you compare this example to content, the difference between high quality web content and poor content is clear. If you begin with high quality web content and work to improve your traffic as you improve your web site, you have a very good chance of being successful and seeing good results. Start a web site with poor content and you’ve already failed.

Corry Cummings owns a content creation company, called Content Customs. They provide a variety of different writing services for webmasters and small businesses. For more information on developing high quality content for your site you can also check out his blog over at Content Customs.