We are bombarded with news everywhere we turn these days from television news to junk mail updates through our letterboxes, not to mention email messages.
With so much news around us, is there really a need to add more news to our websites?
There is. And here are three reasons why.
Because your web visitors are worth it
I always describe websites as a living, breathing canvas. And a living breathing canvas needs air; it needs content.
Any good website worth the html code it’s written in should be regularly updated with new information. New copy keeps your website current, and it lets your readers know that there is some form of life there.
More importantly, it tells visitors to your website that the information is up to date, and it’s worth their while browsing, reading and returning to your website.
If your website has an alert or sign-up form, even better. Your readers, knowing that the website is a source of good, up-to-date information, are more likely to sign up because they won’t want to miss out when new content is published.
How am I supposed to know?
It’s easy to assume that others know what we know.
Just because you know everything there is to know about your products or services, doesn’t mean that others will – unless you tell them. Zero information means zero communication.
To avoid leaving your readers feeling uniformed or with unanswered questions, share the latest news about your products, services, events and so on. Remember that one of the main aims of your website is to inform your readers. And whether your readers are current or future customers, colleagues or fellow hobbyists, they all share a common need: up-to-date information.
Search engines love it – so will you
There are literally billions of web pages being updated all the time, and there is constant competition for higher search engine page rankings between websites large and small.
Search engines regularly update their indices and as a result they constantly pick up on newly-published content. If your website isn’t updated regularly, you could find that your pages begin to be relegated to a lower position on search engine results pages.
More updates and more pages means there is more for the search engines to index. Constantly feeding your website with high quality new content (and remember you don’t have to label this content as ‘news’) will help to boost your page ranking. And higher page rankings mean more visibility – and potentially, more free traffic.
Post written by DEBBIE THOMAS on 12 January 2011.