Premium Website Content Defined

We use the word "premium" a lot to describe the website content we produce. But what does it mean? You'll soon realize it's much more than a buzzword. Here's what we mean by premium content. 

Premium Website Content

Premium website content can take many forms. It might show up as a helpful "how-to" article on your website or blog. It might be a multi-page library of information. Whatever form it takes, premium content always engages the reader. It is well written and accessible. It is factual and informative. It has a certain "feel" to it that suggests editorial quality. It is, in a word, better than the content found on the average website.

This is the kind of website content we create for our clients. We offer premium content because it's what you deserve, as a paying customer. But there's another reason we go above and beyond. In a word ... Google. 

How the Google "Panda" Update Changed Everything

If you care about your online success, you care about Google. The two go hand in hand. Sure, there are other search engines out there, like Bing and Yahoo. But Google enjoys the lion's share of traffic and usage. Roughly 65% of all search traffic comes through Google's website. So you should always strive for a good ranking in the #1 search engine.

Google is always refining their search engine algorithm. This is a fancy mathematical term for the formula they use to determine search rankings. Most of the time, their algorithm changes are fairly subtle. They might cause a ripple in the Internet publishing world, but that's about it. But the change they made in 2011 was more like a tsunami. That was when they implemented what has become known as the Panda update (named after one of the software engineers who worked on the update).

How significant was it? Well, it has its own Wikipedia page, if that tells you anything. It also made headlines in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired magazine, and just about every other major publication.

What does the Panda update have to do with your website content? Everything!

This algorithm update was designed to identify websites with low-quality content, and to demote those websites in Google's search engine results. One of the ways they identify low-quality content is through user behavior patterns. When somebody clicks through a Google results page to land on your website, Google can track it.

• If most people leave shortly after arriving, it reflects poorly on your site. This is called a high "bounce rate." It can lead to lower rankings.
• But if most people stick around for a while and read a page or two of your website content, you're sending a positive signal to Google. It shows that you're engaging your readers. This can improve your rankings over time.

In other words, websites that do a good job engaging their readers will perform better in the Google rankings. And your website content has a lot to do with this. It's either sticky or repulsive. It either glues people to your site, or repels them like a same-sided magnet. Either way, the outcome has a lot to do with your Google rankings -- and your online success, as a whole.

Premium Content Helps You in Many Ways

Now you know why we focus on developing high-quality website content. Here's how it helps you, as a website owner:

• Quality website content will keep readers on your site longer. This lowers your "bounce rate" and has a positive effect on your search engine rankings over time.
• A content-rich website pulls in more traffic from search engines. People are able to find you by searching a larger pool of keywords and phrases. So you can increase your traffic just by adding new content to your website.
• Readers will be more inclined to recommend your site to others. You've probably done this yourself, passing a favorite website along to a friend or family member. You don't recommend a site because it has a cool logo. You do it because of the content.
• Other bloggers and website owners will be more inclined to link to your content. This improves your "link popularity" and boosts your search engine rankings over time.
• Great content helps you differentiate yourself from competitors in your field. This translates into more market share for you.
• Quality website content helps you position yourself as a leader in your industry. People will be more inclined to trust you -- and give you their business.

We are only scratching the surface with this list. These are just some of the biggest benefits of high-quality website content. You can probably think of some additional benefits on your own, based on your particular business model. 

Our Writing Process: The 70/30 Split

Some writers will say, "Tell me what to write, and I'll write it for you." We ask additional questions so we can hit the bull's-eye with our content. We want to know about your audience, your website goals, and a little about your business model. This is the only way to develop useful content for your website.

We also use what we refer to as the 70/30 split when creating website content. We put 70% of our time and energy into creating useful content that engages your readers. We put 30% of our time into optimizing the content for search engine visibility.

It's not that we neglect the search engine optimization (SEO) aspects of the material. Quite the contrary. We understand the importance of engaging the reader, as it applies to SEO. It goes hand-in-hand with search engine optimization.

Refer back to the list of benefits for quality content. You can see how it helps you boost your search engine rankings over time. Having great content on your site will lower your bounce rates, improve your link popularity, and keep people on your site longer. All of these things send positive signals to Google and the other engines.

That's why we put 70% of our focus on developing useful content. The other 30% includes some basic SEO tasks, such as keyword research and optimization.

We hope this makes you more comfortable with our content-development process. If you have any questions about the website content we provide, feel free to send us an email.