Crappy Content, Why why why? Options

[Scottie]

It continues to amaze me that people will put useless content on their sites for the spiders; well-written, maybe. But do their clients care? Does it help anything? No.

I have a slide in my presentation that I do for Jill's seminar that tries to point out the difference between content for the sake of content and content that actually works with the goal of your site. Unfortunately, a lot of people really can't think about what would benefit their clients/users and simply follow a formula... history of widgets... uses of widgets... general widget repair...

It's not technically spam but it's just as useless...

I have sat here, with credit card in hand, trying to give a site an order for an item, and every time I click what I think is an order link, I get a different useless page of information.

Did it work? I guess. They got to the first page of results for the term.

But they aren't getting my order.

[projectphp]

Limitted focus == limitted results.

Any SEO / web designer / Online Marketer that bases success on something other than revenue and ROI, is one to avoid.

[Chris B]

Scottie,

I know how you feel. I sometimes wonder if some of these sites care more about getting a 20cent click thru on adsense as opposed to getting a sale for their service or product. Why do they make it easier for adsense than their own products, unless they think their products arent worth it.

Now on a different note, a lot of this type of useless information may be useless to the vast majority but there is always some people looking for this type of useless info. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Chris

[qwerty]

Now on a different note, a lot of this type of useless information may be useless to the vast majority but there is always some people looking for this type of useless info.

That's probably true, but how many of the people who are searching for an in-depth article on the history of widgets are planning on buying some widgets too? This sort of content may get you traffic, but it ain't gonna get you paid (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[torka]

Ah, but if yours are some of the few lederhosen left on the market still stitched by hand and hand-dyed using traditional old world methods, a detailed article on the history and manufacturing of lederhosen, which of course is illustrated by examples from your own traditional lederhosen-making process -- when accompanied by judiciously-used calls to action and links to appropriate products -- might well generate some sales.

The key, MHO, is to find a way of relating the informational content to your products, showing why -- in light of the information you've just so helpfully provided -- your products are more desirable than others.

That person who's searching for an in-depth article on lederhosen history might not even be aware that anyone still makes 'em the old-fashioned way... might not be aware of the superior quality afforded by these labor-intensive methods of making lederhosen... might not even be aware of their desire for the perfect pair of red lederhosen... until their interest is awakened by reading your article.

And there, right when they're ready for it, is a link to your Old World Style Red Lederhosen product category page. How convenient! Might as well click through, just to look around, mind you, just browsing, no intention to buy... hey, look at this! They've got my size! And such a reasonable price for an item of this quality! Who could resist? I'll take two pair, please... (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif)

In my experience, that's the main problem with a lot of the informational stuff on supposedly sales-oriented sites out there -- as you say, it's put there just to try to attract traffic. Unfortunately, the webmaster doesn't stop to think through what they really want those visitors to do next once they get there. They apparently just assume that people will read their content and naturally progress to buying their products without the need for anything so crassly commercial as a call to action. So people stop by, read the article, and move on -- because there's nothing there to lead them further into the sales portion of the site.

MHO, if one's ultimate goal is to sell something, one should make sure every bit of information put on one's site leads in some way toward that goal. There should rarely be an article that doesn't in some way relate to a product or service offered, and include a call to action and a link inviting the reader to purchase (or at least to find out more).

--Torka (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif)

[Alarr]

How funny...

About two years ago we found a report on a web site that we REALLY wanted. It was not cheap (about $3,000) but we wanted it BAD. I can't remember what the report was profiling but it was along the lines of "all the companies that will buy from you in the next year".

We wanted it, clicked any button that we thought would lead us closer to a purchase, but the site kept trying to SELL SELL SELL... but we already deided to BUY BUY BUY but the site felt it necessary to force us through a certain path that, just made my stomach turn!

So, we closed the window and went to lunch (we didn't buy the report).

[torka]

(IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/lol.gif) Alarr

Yep, sometimes we get so caught up in trying to SELL that we forget sometimes people arrive all ready to BUY right off the bat. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/thumbup1.gif)

That's really the secret, MHO. Make it easy for people to buy whenever they're ready. Don't force 'em into some predetermined sales path. Sure, if you think it's warranted, provide the hoops for those who are in the mood to do some jumping... but for those who want to cut to the chase, a simple little "Ready to purchase now? Add to cart" link can be a lifesaver. (And a real sales booster for you!)

Don't worry about building a better mousetrap. Just give the people what they want, and pretty soon you'll have more of them beating a path to your door than you can handle. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


OFFTOPIC:

BTW, Alarr, I love your sig! (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/lol.gif)

--Torka (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif)

[Scottie]

There is such a thing as effective sales content, which is what Torka is pointing out.

However, if I want to buy printer ink, I want to buy printer ink. I might appreciate an optional more info page that tells me of their detailed process for cleaning refurbished ink cartridges and why theirs are better than the rest, but I won't appreciate an article on how Professor J Inkcartridge created the concept of inkjet printing when nothing in the article applies to the product I want to buy. It may all be true and factional and educational, but it's not selling me any ink.

[Chris B]

There's another advantage you can use for informational type of pages for people who arent buyers which is if you have a referral or affiliate model in place, these people just may have contacts that fit your target market. One of the sites I am involved with will be using this strategy so when one of these non-buyers come to one of these pages, we will let them know there is an opportunity for them if they happen to be in our industry and not a competitor.

Chris

[Jill]

And it's only getting worse. It's very much like what happened to links. People hear "getting links is good" so they go crazy with it. People here "content is good" so they go crazy with that.

My last newsletter touched upon this also, and here at the SES conference in my Writing for Search Engines session, we talked a lot about this.

Part of the problem is that it's difficult for people to think about what their target market may really want. The other problem is that they feel they have to optimize for every single keyword phrase, even if it's 1500 of them. They figure that means they need 500 pages at least.

What they should instead by thinking of us how they can be naturally adding content that just happens to focus on a variety of keywords, perhaps through an online newsletter, a forum or whatever they may have the time to spend on.

[Catz]

I love the points Scottie and Alarr made, they are sitting there, ready to make the purchase but can't find a way to do it. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

By now we have all been in this situation of trying to find our way through a poorly designed site, either to find information or make a purchase, just getting nowhere.

What ever happened to designing your site so it takes no more than 3 clicks from anywhere in the site to reach the product page, which contained a clear and simple way to make your purchase?

Working in e-commerce the goal was always having an easy to find catalog page offering a limited number of items which took you directly to the product page where you could choose to make your purchase or easily find another product.

For e-books or reports, which can be really bad about this, they should have the purchase option clearly posted and easy to find on every page of the site. No matter what marketing page is found under whatever keyword phrase (even if they have 500 pages out there), if someone wants to purchase the book it should be very clear how to do so.

As Jill mentioned, it is only getting worse...what are these people thinking?

[tempy]

I agree, of course.

Jill said

People hear "getting links is good" so they go crazy with it. People here "content is good" so they go crazy with that.

And it's true. But what are people supposed to do? But in many ways it is the fault of the search engines, no? Googlebot and the others love gulping up content, so people provide them with content. SEOs are constantly repeating the mantra "add relevant content", so webmasters diligently add relevant content.

I was working on a web site that sold a single piece of machinery (and the services that went with it). That's it. The website had no other purpose. But the site was not being found by potential customers, simply by putting the relevant promotional and explanatory text on the site.

So we added some filler nonsense about the history of the product and the location of the manufacturing plant..... you get the picture. Absolute boring, pointless, nonsense that no-one would ever read or care about - but relevant (in a way). It worked!

[Catz]

Hey Tempy...I think the information you added is more important to visitors than you give credit.

Your "filler nonsense" about the history of the product most likely showed ways it has been used in the past, which helps build legitimacy in the eyes of potential buyers. Depending on the product, this can be very important.

Giving the location of the manufacturing plant might seem insignificant, except that it makes the company more real in the eyes of the visitor as well. It might show you are the direct manufacturer, which could be important to someone looking to deal with you rather than a middleman, who is raising the price to get a cut of his own.

What is insignificant in the eyes of a web designer/developer, webmaster, SEO or SEM just might not be to the person considering laying down a pretty penny for the product they are considering buying.

Rather than throwing up a bunch of junk pages with keywords or phrases you thought might be important, which most likely wouldn't have done you much good, you put up more information about the product and company which actually was useful to the potential customers...and it worked!

Perhaps the site just didn't have enough of this information originally. It sounds like that turned out to be what the customers needed to take that next step and decide to make the purchase.

It's easy to get caught up in what the search engines are looking for, what they want when the focus needs to be on what the potential customers are looking for and what they want instead.

This post has been edited by Catz: Aug 12 2005, 10:39 PM

[Jill]

And it's true. But what are people supposed to do? But in many ways it is the fault of the search engines, no?

No!

And NO again!

Googlebot and the others love gulping up content, so people provide them with content. SEOs are constantly repeating the mantra "add relevant content", so webmasters diligently add relevant content.

There's a huge difference between adding filler content and adding REAL USEFUL content.

What people are adding is crap content like you said, the history of their machinery.

How dumb is that? When did the engines ever say that was what they want? They don't want just any content. That's what people don't get. They simply want a site that meets users needs and is the most relevant for the query at hand.

None of that has anything to do with the history of widgets or whatever.

[Scottie]

Fault of the search engines... LOVE it!

It's the fault of people who don't really have any idea how to market their business and are looking for the magic formula to make it to the top.

Traffic brings sales, so more traffic is better than less traffic. To get traffic, rank high for every possible term that relates to what you sell. To rank high, write lots of pages with those words in them.

Should work, no?

Oh, wait... we wanted people to BUY something when they got to our site... whoops...

What do we do with the 500 pages on the formulation of wallpaper paste now? Hmnnn...