Chuck Aikens

There is currently a big discussion about how important the content of a website is to the overall search engine optimization strategy. Most white hat SEOs will tell you that content is one of the most important tools you can have as part of a good strategy. Content comes in all different forms so let’s talk about a few of the different types.

Pictures and images are one of the most important types of content. A customer will be more likely to buy what you are selling if the images of your products are clear, colorful, and help to describe the product. Always include images that point out the particular strengths of your products.

Videos are a newer, more interactive component of website content that has grown in importance with the proliferation of high speed Internet. Nowadays most users have connections that are fast enough to view videos. Since people now have the increased bandwidth they are looking for richer content that they can see and hear instead of just reading text and looking at static images.

Widgets are a relatively new way to display interactive, dynamic content. An example of a widget would be a mortgage calculator on a realty website or a payment calculator on the website of a car dealership. These widgets can provide a service to a user and provide a new source of content that you can use to attract other users.

Blog posts are another way to keep fresh, up to date information on your site. Since blog posts are updated often with current information they have the ability to build followers that come back time and again for new information. This is a great source for dynamic content.

The creation of custom applications that users can download is another great source of original content. If you develop good quality, useful plug-ins for FaceBook, WordPress, or even smart phone widgets and apps then you can keep attracting users for as long as your applications are relevant. Applications for social media sources are especially good sources of content, because word of mouth can help to spread the popularity of your site.

E-books are an ambitious form of content. The Internet has provided an outlet for many art forms that help to expose new artists to the masses who would never have had a chance to share their art otherwise. It is definitely more ambitious than maintaining a blog, but if you can develop a following it is a very good source of content.

Incentives or awards can also help attract users. Provide an incentive to your top contributors. Everyone loves to get a good “at a boy”. If you give awards for contributing quality content then you will have more content to choose from and your users will try harder in order to provide good quality content in order to reap the rewards.

Most SEO professionals today will tell you that content is key to the overall SEO strategy. These are just a few sources that will help you drive traffic to your websites. Hollow advertising that provides no real value to the user is simply not going to command the ranks that good, solid content will provide.