Like most people surfing the web I’ve seen my share of bad websites. When I say “bad” I don’t mean naughty or inappropriate websites, I mean bad websites. Websites that are just simply so terrible and unappealing that you can’t hit the back button quick enough. As a web developer or blogger this is the last reaction that you want a visitor to have. After all, the goal is to attract as many people as possible to your website or blog, and keep them interested in staying there as long as possible. Generally in conversations with other web designers the discussion of how to increase website traffic or how to increase website ranking will come up. But what web publishers should really be discussing and investing more time developing are ways to keep visitors interested in the site. What’s the point in worrying about how to get traffic or increasing your ranking if your visitors immediately navigate away from your site?
Of course having an appealing and aesthetically pleasing design is key, but the most important part of any site is the content. Keep in mind, content is King! You could be a great graphic artist and design a stunning website that looks incredible, and even though it may look really cool it’s not going to keep people on your site for very long. Take a second to contemplate how your traffic is getting to your site. Generally people are going to find and visit your site from a search engine. Those visitors were interested in finding some information and typed in a keyword or phrase which brought up your site. Even though a site may look cool, if it doesn’t provide the quality content that the visitor is looking for, the back button is just a click away.
But as a publisher if you are able to offer unique quality content that can be found on very few sites visitors are likely to stay on your site for a longer period of time. Not only that, but after reading what they had initially visited your site for in the first place, if the visitor was pleased with the information that was found they may even start looking through other pages on the website. Having a great looking site in addition to having quality content is a bonus, and only furthers your chances that visitors will stay on your site for a longer period of time and possibly return at a later date.
Overall, content is King and any other unique quality features that your site offers that differentiates itself from similar websites is an added bonus. Just remember to spend extra time reviewing your content while designing, even after you think that it’s complete and perfect, and your site will be on its way to be listed on google page one!
