The Web is Not Where Content Should Go to Die

Do you have some sort of content strategy?

We’re working on several website design and development projects right now. That means creating a content strategy with a lot of content organization, site structure, and of course, copywriting with some SEO thrown in. (I won’t bore you with search engine optimization talk here).
When you review your existing website as part of a redesign, you uncover pages, links and content that are legacy content (old shit), which probably doesn’t need to be there anymore. While you might think it is important to have in there since you spent time creating it, please consider your intended audience (prospects). Would they find it useful? Would it lead them to contact you? If not, then remove it.
How do you find this old website content? Review your analytics –  how deep to people really go into your site? If a page isn’t visited more than one time in a few months, you can do three things:

1. Delete it – it’s not necessary
2. Update it – to make it more useful, relevant and optimized so people find it
3. Do nothing – because that in itself is still an “answer”

I read a recent article from Annuitas about resolutions for B2B marketers. Point #1 states, “Stop Creating More Content.” What?! We’re in an age of content marketing! If you read on, it talks more about creating strategic content that your buyers will find useful, insightful and is most likely to encourage them to contact you or make a purchase.
Content marketing is not about creating all kinds of general content. It is about creating your story, connecting target audience to your brand, your products or your services. It can span from employee profiles, case studies, technical papers, answers to frequently asked questions and more. (That’s a whole other topic, too!)
Don’t get me wrong. As a content marketing agency, we create a lot of content for our clients; for their websites, their guest blogs, their press releases, their social media channels, their marketing collateral and much more. Still, we keep it geared for their target audience – and make sure that it connects with their overall marketing objectives.
So before you sit down to write content destined for the content graveyard, consider these two simple questions.

• How can I ensure this is helpful to my target audience?
• What do I want them to do after they read it?

We’d love to hear your story, your struggles or successes when it comes to your website content. Leave us a note below and let’s continue this conversation.