Research: Content
Architects spend lots of time thinking about their clients needs before they design a house. They think about how the house will be used now as well as in the future. For example, right now the house might need lots of bathrooms for teenagers. Down the road, a first floor bedroom for an aging parent might be the priority. Consider the immediate needs of your website as well as the long-term priorities.
Once you've explored all the possibilities, you need to determine the best approach to your website. What are the key elements of the website? What are your priorities? What information is most important for the success of your website? What is the content of the website?
According to Eric Anderson, web developers should keep three simple ideas in mind: (1) keep it current, (2) develop as much local content as possible, and (3) make it interactive for your users.
Content Basics
Before you jump into content creation, it's a good idea to review your writing skills. Use the following guidelines to help you create effective web content.
- Remember that a variety of people may come to your website. Use plain language and define specialty terms.
- Invent interesting, meaningful descriptive headings and subheadings. However also consider consistency. For example, if you start using a question style such as FAQs, use that on the entire page.
- Be concise and succinct. People think reading on the Web is difficult. Keep paragraphs short. Use bullets whenever possible.
- Highlight key words.
- Provide a table of contents and use internal page links on pages with lots of content.
- Be sure to use a spelling and grammar checker.
- Specify a descriptive page title.
Read the off-site Web Credibility Project Guidelines from Stanford University. It provides ideas for building the credibility of your website.