Why should I write articles for my website?

Many website owners get bombarded by offers of search engine marketing and search engine optimisation from various organisations, both legitimate and not on an almost daily basis. Even as a web site design company, we are not immune to this ourselves! The amount of spam we receive on a daily basis offering to place us at number one on google for our designated keywords is amazing. There are also offers from a seemingly endless number of software houses offering a product which will constantly submit websites to over 1,000 search engines and constantly update these submissions.

We have even received calls from Search Engine Marketing companies asking if we would like them to look over our website for us. They seem very keen to point out how we could improve our google rankings and MSN rankings...for a fee!

To be fair, some of these legitimate company's can do some seriously good work but, as ever, what appears to be missing is the global view on the purpose of their clients websites and the place of search engine marketing in the entire marketing mix (we've actually even spoken to a couple who didn't understand the phrase "marketing mix" at all!). So, what's all this go to do with writing articles for your website?

Well, just in case you hadn't noticed, you are reading an article on a website. You found it either by a recommendation or, by searching on the web. Either way, you found it. In itself, this shows the importance of the full marketing plan in getting your website attention. Word of mouth is not search engine marketing and we didn't pay anyone to change our website or "optimise" it further to get your attention!

The role of articles in marketing your business is at least two-fold. Firstly, it does help with the idea of search engine optimisation. Google (currently) does indeed like fresh content on websites and websites which are updated more often will, with well written content, be indexed more favourably by Google and other search engines. With correct preparation, each article page will have it's own focused keywords, meta tags and content which will further improve that pages rank within the search engine indices.

The parts which are often missed, and really do dictate how the article is written, are firstly, to keep a visitor on your website and, secondly and most importantly, prove to the reader/visitor that you are an authority on your given subject or field of expertise. This builds trust with the potential client and helps move them another step along the buying process.

It really shouldn't need any more explanation than that. If you can build your web site in to a resource that potentials clients can browse and read through to assess the level of your expertise then this will have a deeper effect than a simple sales pitch. If you can include client testimonials in with your articles then this is also a lot more powerful as the testimonial will then be "on topic" with the thread of the article and can be used to back up any claims you are making about your products or services.

At Capital Edge we specialise in utilising this kind of framework to enable clients to be able to update their own website areas in a very cost effective manner. We have implemented a number of systems for clients to allow them to update a news and article section of their website and are in the process of building more.

You don't need a full on content management system to be able to do this. We can simply add the additional functionality in to explicit areas for your use. If you only want to be able to write news, we can give you a news area. If you only want to be able to write articles, we can give you and online article generator. If you want both, you can have it and, of course, if you want a full content management system, we can give you that too.

If you'd like to see some examples of our article system or have a live play with a dummy version to try it out for yourself, please ask about our content management for small businesses.

Please click here to contact us for more information.



Home Website design services Website re-designs Intranet applications Portfolio selection News archive Our experience Contact us	¤ 31/07/2009 Why should I write articles for my website? How to increase your website traffic with articles and build your reputation at the same time. Many website owners get bombarded by offers of search engine marketing and search engine optimisation from various organisations, both legitimate and not on an almost daily basis. Even as a web site design company, we are not immune to this ourselves! The amount of spam we receive on a daily basis offering to place us at number one on google for our designated keywords is amazing. There are also offers from a seemingly endless number of software houses offering a product which will constantly submit websites to over 1,000 search engines and constantly update these submissions. We have even received calls from Search Engine Marketing companies asking if we would like them to look over our website for us. They seem very keen to point out how we could improve our google rankings and MSN rankings...for a fee! To be fair, some of these legitimate company's can do some seriously good work but, as ever, what appears to be missing is the global view on the purpose of their clients websites and the place of search engine marketing in the entire marketing mix (we've actually even spoken to a couple who didn't understand the phrase "marketing mix" at all!). So, what's all this go to do with writing articles for your website? Well, just in case you hadn't noticed, you are reading an article on a website. You found it either by a recommendation or, by searching on the web. Either way, you found it. In itself, this shows the importance of the full marketing plan in getting your website attention. Word of mouth is not search engine marketing and we didn't pay anyone to change our website or "optimise" it further to get your attention! The role of articles in marketing your business is at least two-fold. Firstly, it does help with the idea of search engine optimisation. Google (currently) does indeed like fresh content on websites and websites which are updated more often will, with well written content, be indexed more favourably by Google and other search engines. With correct preparation, each article page will have it's own focused keywords, meta tags and content which will further improve that pages rank within the search engine indices. The parts which are often missed, and really do dictate how the article is written, are firstly, to keep a visitor on your website and, secondly and most importantly, prove to the reader/visitor that you are an authority on your given subject or field of expertise. This builds trust with the potential client and helps move them another step along the buying process. It really shouldn't need any more explanation than that. If you can build your web site in to a resource that potentials clients can browse and read through to assess the level of your expertise then this will have a deeper effect than a simple sales pitch. If you can include client testimonials in with your articles then this is also a lot more powerful as the testimonial will then be "on topic" with the thread of the article and can be used to back up any claims you are making about your products or services. At Capital Edge we specialise in utilising this kind of framework to enable clients to be able to update their own website areas in a very cost effective manner. We have implemented a number of systems for clients to allow them to update a news and article section of their website and are in the process of building more. You don't need a full on content management system to be able to do this. We can simply add the additional functionality in to explicit areas for your use. If you only want to be able to write news, we can give you a news area. If you only want to be able to write articles, we can give you and online article generator. If you want both, you can have it and, of course, if you want a full content management system, we can give you that too. If you'd like to see some examples of our article system or have a live play with a dummy version to try it out for yourself, please ask about our content management for small businesses. Please click here to contact us for more information. Author: Eddie Rich	...more News & Updates ¤ 03/09/2010 Come and meet us at the Alresford Show Capital Edge will have a small stand in the Alresford Chamber of Commerce tent at the Alresford Show this saturday (4th Sept, 2010) where you can come and ask them about website design and maybe win a bottle... Full item this way » ¤ 26/07/2010 Are right hand menu bars and navigation, good or bad? Opinion on whether right hand navigation (where the menu bar is) on a website is very different across the industry. Some say good, some say bad. We've been involved in a discussion regarding this within the Interactive Design Association recently and thought it may be useful to share some of the thoughts here. Traditionally, navigation has always been across the top of the page or on the left hand side. Now, with wider screens and more interactive websites, there is the opportunity to experiment away from the norm. But, people are used to having the navigation on the left aren't they? So why try and change it? Full item this way » ¤ 10/06/2010 New website for Andover Neighbourcare's Silver Surfer service We are going to be creating a new website for a Hampshire based charity with some basic content management and a focus on usability. Full item this way » ¤ 31/07/2009 Why should I write articles for my website? How to increase your website traffic with articles and build your reputation at the same time. Full item this way » ¤ 26/06/2009 MSoft refuse to let its browser render emails in html format in Outlook 2010 and are using WORD instead Microsoft have announced that the rendering engine in Outlook 2010 for html emails (the bit that converts the html to what you see on the screen) is to be the WORD rendering engine and NOT the Internet Explorer rendering engine. We think this is crazy. Full item this way » ¤ 10/06/2009 Website redesign for Franklyn Therapy We have been approached by Franklyn Therapy, a small business based in north London, to redesign their website. Full item this way » ¤ 30/04/2009 Website redesign for PKS Property Services Capital Edge have been employed by PKS Property Services, a hampshire based small business, to completely redesign their website for them. Full item this way » ¤ 23/03/2009 BRX Basingstoke Visitors Day. On Tuesday 31st March 2009, Business Referral Exchange (BRX) Basingstoke will be hosting a visitors day. This will be taking place at 7.30am at Basingstoke Golf Club in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Full item this way » ¤ 22/03/2009 Website design offers for small and start up businesses If you are a small business or start up looking for a website design service then look no further than our small business website design package. Full item this way » ¤ 20/03/2009 Capital Edge Web Design website launch! Well here we are, our latest website launch is our own. Our previous website needed a complete overhaul to represent our updated branding, change of business location and our most recent projects. Full item this way » ¤ 20/03/2009 Updated Imagine Group website goes live to support new office opening. The updated Imagine Group website went live on 11th March 2009. The purpose of this most recent update was primarily to reflect the opening of their new Bushey office. Full item this way » © Copyright Capital Edge Ltd 2009 Capital Edge Ltd, Alresford, Hampshire Registered Company no: 5031608

Why should I write articles for my website?

How to increase your website traffic with articles and build your reputation at the same time.