You know that ancient philosophical question, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?” This phrase is rooted in some pretty deep thought, but the simplified version is this: The sound of a tree falling only has significance if it's heard. The purpose of the sound is to tell us to get out of the way, but if we’re not around to hear it, the sound might as well not exist.

The same can be said of your website and its content. If your website doesn’t have great content — and therefore doesn’t get found by the people you’re trying to reach — it might as well not exist.

Web content matters — a lot.

It’s no coincidence that the phrase “content is king” is popping up everywhere lately. Websites rank highly in search engine results because of their content, not in spite of it. Search engines like Google are focusing more and more on grading sites on content because, after all, that’s the purpose of 99% of websites — to provide useful information (content) that people need and want.

And good content isn’t good enough anymore. It has to be great, which means it has to be user-friendly, optimized for the web, and both relevant and valuable to your visitors.

Your website may look amazing, be designed to perfection, have lots of cool features, and run at lightning speed, but if your content stinks — if it’s boring or hard to read, impossible to navigate or out of touch with what your audience is actually looking for — none of the other sparkly things matter.

Is your web content great?

Let’s go back and dig a little deeper into what makes great web content:

• User-friendly: Is your content easy to read and digest? Does it answer your visitors’ questions? Is your site navigation clear and intuitive? Can visitors easily find what they’re looking for?

• Web-optimized: Do you include important keywords in your content? Do you effectively use page titles, headings, and lists to organize information? Does your content look good on your site? Are there inbound links and calls-to-action to guide your visitors through the site?

• Relevant and valuable: Do you provide content that’s valuable to your visitors? Is your content relevant to what they’re searching for? Are you consistently adding new, fresh content that helps your site stay relevant and draw in visitors?

Don't ruin your pretty website with lame content.

Too often, web content is an afterthought and is slapped on a site to fill in the gaps. But if you want your website to be effective for your business or organization, make content a priority. Yes, it takes time and research and effort to create stellar web content, but it’s worth it to make sure you’re not the lonely tree that never gets heard.

Of course, if you don’t have the time or resources to take your web content from good to great, for Pete’s sake give us a ring! We live and breathe this stuff and would love to help you get your web content in tip-top shape.