52567 Resource 81698 49412 49412 1092752460115 1107742006542 Controlled Change your website content strategy.

How the change in search engine use is affecting website content strategy

Website guru Jakob Nielsen says people are using <a title="Alertbox article, search engines are answer engines" href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040816.html">search engines as answer engines.</a>  What does this mean?  Instead of using search engines to find good websites that will give us infomation about our query, we expect the search engine to answer the question.  How does this affect websites?  If searchers are no longer going to a website for in depth information - if they're just dipping their toes into many websites looking for a specific answer to a specific question - then how can we keep our visitors on the site and coming back?Here is Nielsen' excellent advice<ul><li>Realize that unique visitors are an irrelevant statistic. Most such visitors are sampling a single page to get an answer, rather than engaging with your site. Instead of tracking them, count <a class="old" title="Alertbox, Aug. 1997: Loyalty on the Web" href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9708a.html">loyal users</a> as a key metric for site success. </li><li>Offer fly-trap content. Such content attracts users by providing narrowly focused pages that provide clear answers to common problems. These pages should perform well in search engine optimization (SEO); remember to <a class="old" title="Alertbox, Sept. 1998: Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines" href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/980906.html">write clear headlines</a>. </li><li>Embellish the answer with rich "see also" links to related content and services. Global navigation won't do the trick; answer-seekers will ignore it. Remember, they are not interested in your site. But contextual links will make the most eager users dig deeper -- and the eager ones are the people you'll want to keep as prospects for your for-pay services. See-also links can be embedded (as I've done here) or you can place them at the end of the article, where they serve as a follow-up call to action. The latter gives you the opportunity to let people know that you're actually selling something, and not just handing out free information. </li><li>Go beyond pure information and provide analysis and insight, preferably from a unique perspective and with a striking personality that supports your positioning. A percentage of users will appreciate your perspective and want more, even after they've found the answer to their immediate question. </li><li>Publish a newsletter with additional tips and useful information. <a class="old" title="Nielsen Norman Group report: Email Newsletter Usability, 127 design guidelines for subscription interfaces, newsletter content and account maintenance based on user research" href="http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/">Email newsletters are a relationship medium</a> and offer a more personal user experience than pageviewing. </li></ul> 10 application/xml false email mareting email newsletters relevant content search engine visibility website content strategy Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) 67.101.108.221 67.101.108.221 sally false true false false true 177676 false false true false false false true 81698 blog blogsite/Falkow/web