By nature, writers love words.

However, when you’re writing web content you have to do more than simply get the words right. Yes, you have to do all that SEO optimization stuff. And you have to optimize the content so that it’s visually appealing to your reader and the layout is easy to consume. That’s what we’re going to talk about here.

Customer web content optimization is a lot like serving a great meal.

Think about a restaurant. The menu will serve up all the necessary information through descriptions of the food to help you to decide what you want. The menu pictures will complement the descriptions. And the overall layout of the menu will determine how easy it is for you to find what you are looking for without getting overwhelmed.

And ultimately, the presentation of the actual meal will set the stage for how much you will enjoy your dining experience, right?

Think of this when you present your content. You want to set the stage, the ambiance, by how your content is laid out and how easy it is for your reader to navigate through the information. But with your content, just like with that restaurant food, it’s not ALL about looks.

It still has to be good.

So here are some tips for optimizing your web content for your customers:

Make Your Point – Quickly

People are bombarded with information. Some of it is relevant to them…some is not. Help them to discover quickly which is true of your content.

For example, if you were making a video, it’s recommended that you let the viewer know within the first 15 seconds what the video is about. This is your “hook” and helps the viewer to decide if the video is for them or not.

Same thing with written content. Let them know as quickly as possible what the article is about. A simple way to do this is to put the most newsworthy items at the top of the piece. Then, throughout the article you can give more details about that main topic/idea.

For example:

“Recent studies show that as much as 85% of content consumed on the web by the year 2014 will be through video. If you want to catch some of those potential customers, but don’t know how to start making video, then this article is for you. I’ll show you 7 Simple ways to include video in your marketing.”

And…make that point using “real” words…not fancy $10 words that nobody really uses or understands anyhow!

Break it Out

Now let’s talk about how your content looks visually and WHY you need to break it down into smaller “bites” and subheadings.

Your customers are reading your content across many different devices. They are no longer solely on a laptop with a large screen. As more people go mobile and consume their content on smaller screens, like their tablet and smartphone, the more important it is to deliver it in small chunks.

By using subheadings, callouts and quotes (as just a couple of examples) you allow your customer to scan through your document to get to the parts that are of the greatest interest to them.

And, if they are looking at your article while on the go, or waiting in line, or a host of other activities, you allow them to get the most important stuff right away, just in time.

So, does that mean that long content pieces are a thing of the past?

Absolutely not! If the information is interesting and relevant to them they will read it – even if it’s hundreds of pages long. Strategically, your shorter web content piece can be 500 words or less and then you can give them a link to a longer piece with more information. This could be an opt-in, lead building opportunity.

Make it Worth Consuming!

OK – this one is easy so I’m not going to beat you over the head with it. Make what you write worth reading.

Rather than focus on tons of content, focus on producing quality content that your customers can put to use right now. Then, fully leverage that content by publishing and syndicating it on all the best social media platforms and web platforms.

Finally, re-purpose that content so that it’s presented in ways that will appeal to the various learning styles. What do I mean by that?

If you started with a written piece, create a video from that, an Infographic, an image, a slideshare presentation, and audio download, etc.

Now, you don’t have to do all of this for every single piece of content. Do what makes sense for your audience, and what makes sense based on the actual results you get from your efforts.

Your Turn: What’s working for you when you optimize your Web Content?

Leave your comments below or email me directly:  [email protected]