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Website Writing / Website Content - what's the difference?

The Difference Between Website Writing and Website Content

By Dan Furman

Website Writing and Website Content are both terms that refer to the writing on your website. And judging from my dealings with both clients and other internet professionals, they are used almost interchangeably. People want good writing on their websites. Search engines look for "relevant web content", and so on.

But they are different (at least to this writer.) And it's important that you know the difference, less you have someone write you website content when you really wanted website writing (indeed, a fate worse than death.) Here's the difference:
  • Website Writing is the writing on the main pages of your website - your Home Page, your "Services" or "Products" page, your "About Us", your FAQ, etc. It is meant to be very readable, very engaging, and strives to get a reaction from a reader (contact you, buy a product, feel good about your brand, etc.) Obviously, this type of writing is very difficult to write.

  • Website Content is, for lack of a better word, "filler". Its primary role is to make your website bigger, more on topic, satisfy search engines by including targeted keywords, etc. It generally does not directly sell. You could say this article is a good example of keyworded website content.
As someone who writes both, I've noticed that most clients understand Website Writing is a fairly specialized skill, and don't mind paying a professional writer for it. But many regard Website Content differently, so I'd like to expand on that.

Do you care about your web content?

There are generally two types of people out there in regards to their web content - those who care about it, and those who don't.

Those who care about it end up hiring a professional writer (me or one of my competitors) to write their articles and such. They like having a website that has good, relevant articles on it - it makes them look good, and the search engines are happy as well. They regard paying a professional for good website content as an investment in their website business. And as a result, almost all websites with good, engaging content do well - both on the search engines, and by the reactions of their visitors.

But there are a slew of people out there who put no value whatsoever on their website content. They don't care about the quality of the web content - they just want web content. They want an article with keywords, and really don't care if anyone actually reads it, just so long as the search engine sees it.

Don't believe me? Here's some text taken from ads on Craigslist looking for content:
  • For content I'd like to pay less than $100 and would like to get as much content for that as I can. At least five pages. Quality doesn't matter as much as keywords do.

  • We're not looking for top of the line professionals. We just want someone who can bang out lots of SEO content really cheap.

  • WE NEED: Two or Three writers
    PAY: None, we can only offer at this time the chance to get your writing published on a professional website. Maybe in the future we will be able to offer promotional items.

Wow. Just wow...

These ads roughly translate to: "Starving, exploitable college kids... looking for beer money??"

Now keep in mind these are COMPANIES. As a writer, it's unbelievable to me how little they care about what goes on their websites. Now I realize perhaps they truly don't care, and the website content is strictly for search engines. In other words, it's not "really" valuable content. Ok, fair enough. But it almost seems a bit shady, doncha' think?

I have also noticed something...

Websites that offer bland web content tend to be very "flavor of the minute" and ever-changing in focus, and they never really seem to flourish. You can almost "feel" the impatience and uncaring attitude in the tone of the sites.

And websites that actually offer something (like good, solid website content and interesting articles on a consistent basis) tend to prosper. Yes, it takes time, but you can't go wrong adding a quality article a month.

I've also noticed, by way of my own website stats, that the more good articles I publish, the higher my "average time a visitor spends on my website" number is, and the more people that bookmark me. I even get some of my articles directly linked from search engines for the keywords I targeted (that's the high holy grail of article writing.)

Yes, a professional writer (like me) is going to charge you more than the $25-$50 an article you'll find on Craigslist (us professionals drink better beer.) But the results can be well worth it.

It really boils down to "do you care about what goes on your website?"

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