How to Generate Great Content for Your Website

If you want to achieve lasting success with your website, then the best route to take is to build a content-rich site. A site that has varied and informative articles and information will be big hit with viewers and search engines alike. In case you have writer's block or are not sure how to go about creating more content for your website. Here are some tips to help you get moving.

1. When building content try to solve the problems of your viewers without making them buy something

Of course you have set up your website in order to either make money or "get" something out of it, but it is not productive to build scores of pages with hard-sell messages. People are coming to the net to find solutions to their problems. Provide articles, information and answers to these problems and you will win the respect, and trust of your readers. This is known as "pre-selling" and it is just as important as selling itself.

So, before you start tapping on your keyboard, keep the interests of your readers in mind and then begin.

2. Write about what you know and share your knowledge with your readers

If you have set up a website it means that you know something about your particular field, or have some special interest in it. For example, suppose you are selling digital cameras, why not write some articles reviewing the available cameras that are on the market. Or why not write an article explaining what people should look for when they buy a camera. There are a lot of people out there who don't have the foggiest idea about digital cameras and they would sure be happy to get some unbiased information before buying something.

3. Do research and turn dull reports into interesting articles

You can build on what you know by doing a bit of research on the web. Make a keyword search for "digital cameras" or whatever your field is, and you will find some web pages giving information. Often the information is just listed in a point-wise fashion in bulleted lists. Take this information, and blend it with your own experience to create new articles. You can quote or cite the other articles (with hyperlinks) that you find on the web if they are particularly useful. In fact this is the original idea behind Google's system of PageRank: web pages that are particularly good will earn links or "votes" from other sites.

4. Let your readers help you to create content

If you are not sure what to write about then why not ask your web visitors to submit their questions. These questions will stimulate you to provide answers in the form of articles. Dave Taylor is a technical "geek". If you have any question about computers, software, html, Mac, linux, unix and related technical matters you can just go to his site and ask a question. Dave's answers comprise hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pages of solid information. In fact, he has 29,300 pages indexed in Google!

You don't have to write hundreds or thousands of pages, but if you follow Dave's example you can certainly build up your site, and easily overcome your "writer's block."

5. Reprint the articles of experts in your field

There is no sense in recreating the wheel. If someone has already written something good about your particular field, you can reprint it. You will have to provide a link back to the author, but if the article really fits in with the theme of your site, then it is worth it.

6. Let your readers create content directly

Blogs with their "comments" sections are now one of the most popular ways of allowing web visitors to add their thoughts and ideas. You can also set up a bulletin board or forum using the phpBB software (which is pre-installed with many hosting plans). If you have enough traffic and an audience that is passionately interested in the themes of your website, then your own readers will create pages and pages of interesting content. You will of course have to moderate the forums or blogs, but the reward to you in terms of useful content will be worth it.

So, if your site is a bit thin on content, think about these six tips and take steps towards providing information that will make your site a place where people can come and find solutions to their problems or answers to their questions.