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Content, discontent

By Keith Osborne

Most experts agree that maintaining your website with good content is one of the key factors in helping it succeed in the ever more competitive world of the internet, for several reasons. Firstly, search engines like to see web pages being updated and added to a site. Secondly, good content breeds authority, which not only helps directly with selling your product but also raises your site’s profile with your peers and others in the industry. Thirdly, this increased profile will hopefully encourage people to return to your site more and furthermore, link from their own websites to yours. These inbound links are another key to a higher web ranking. I’m surprised by the number of sites I see that have some glaringly outdated content, even on their home page or key landing pages. References to “favourable exchange rates” that no longer apply, or to “recent changes in the law” that happened three or four years ago do nothing to help in respect of authority or SEO. Much of the time it is only the odd phrase that needs changing but sometimes the amendments required might be more substantial. Overall, the impression I get is that having paid someone to populate the site in the first place (or for a periodical re-launch), many web managers don’t consider the implications of ensuring that their content is maintained more regularly. This is particularly frustrating with small sites with relatively few pages that someone could easily check regularly for “howlers”. With the almost daily tales of economic woe reported in the media over the past months, surely few are unaware that sterling has lost around 25% of its value against the dollar since the summer and that trying to persuade a buyer that a good reason for buying a home there is the strength of the pound is now a nonsense? Yet you don’t have to look very hard to find this sort of “fact” in the sales copy on a number of sites. Of course, relying as I do on my scribblings to earn a crust for me and my kin, I am likely to advocate employing more editorial bods to keep these sites more up-to-date and relevant, but in truth, having hopefully hired a pro to do the hard work in the first place, tweaking the odd phrase or sentence here and there shouldn’t be beyond the ability of most site owners. Why not date the amendments so that readers can see how up-to-date you are? This will also help writers looking for references and links to authoritative sites. I’ll usually treat undated pages with scepticism until I can find substantiation elsewhere, and then the chances are I’d link to the latter site, not the former. Better still, webmasters, do keep a few quid in the budget for regular, modest updates for your most important content by a professional. Editorial fees are relatively low compared to some other costs (e.g. IT, training, plumbing) and some of us, thanks to that plummeting pound, are down to our last Bentley. Have a cool Yule, as they’ll be saying in my St. Lucian Christmas retreat.

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