The TEN Commandments for Quality Content

Internet website with content that is attractive to visitors popping out of the screen

Content is King...

1. Accessibility

Your content needs to be accessible, to that end one of the simplest things to do is to use the correct font size and style in your articles. 

The suggestion from the Royal National Institute for the Blind is that it recommends 14 pt. Helvetica or Ariel font (Tahoma and other font styles are suggested too).  The minimum font size is set at 12 pt, but this does not meet most of the visual needs of those with partial sight.    Additionally, any images that are not logos or are not present for design reasons should have appropriate descriptive text in an alt tag (A special place on websites to help the visually impaired – usually a facility provided in any content management system to allow the addition of text).  

See short link  https://goo.gl/D6nwq7 that is https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-communication/accessible-communication-formats

If you have clicked on either of the above links you will find that 16 pt is mentioned and of course if you use this size your crucial content will be read by nearly all your visitors that are partially blind.  The site also recommends that 70-80 characters should be used per line except when you are using columns.

2.  Interest

The best and most useful content is written well, but more importantly,  it should grab your reader’s eyes and interest.  This is obvious but content that is boring will not be read.   Nor will it encourage anyone to look at anything else you write.

3. Entertain When You Can

And of course, not all of what you write can entertain. 

The golden rule if your text is not useful or interesting, write fun-filled content that excites and entertains.

4. Useful

It is important that any content interests or entertains.  But if it is not useful and does not relate to the reader’s needs he or she may not come back.   To avoid that you can create useful content such as tutorials and educational material.  This technique is popular with readers and with search engines.

5. Research Well

Your content needs to be well researched, ideally from multiple sources.  Some are obvious:-

  • Google and Google Alerts
  • Yahoo
  • Facebook Search
  • LinkedIn Search
  • Twitter Search
  • and Bing 

Basically,  these are the big search engines and you will probably know more

The less obvious are:

6. Factually Correct

You need to check your content and of course, that takes time,  One needs to verify that at the outset and of course you need to go back to the article from time to time as facts do change.

7. Grammatically Correct

Grammar image of grammar test paperThis is always a challenge.  For some people,  it is easy, while for others that may not be the case.  If you are using the Chrome browser there is Grammarly Extension that may help.  For WordPress, there is the standard JetPack plugin, by using the Proofreading Function (Grammar and Spelling).   Don’t forget to tick the proofread check box.

I am pulled up from time to time by the Grammar police on the Internet.  But it will surprise you to know that Google can tell if your content is grammatically correct or not.  Therefore, it is very important that your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all correct.  So get those free or paid for extensions from Google and WordPress now.

8. Long

The bad news is that these days, Google wants quality content,  and much more than 300 words,  The nearer to a  thousand words the better.  But three thousand words is top-notch and that is what we all should be aiming for.  Perhaps I need a content writer!

9. Media

Having a variety of media on your pages is great for your visitors, and Google loves a variety of Media too.   That is images, video clips, slides, audio tracks, and games.   You do need to balance with written content on your site,  especially if you are using video clips.  There is a requirement that video clips should have text script or a textual explanation about it.

10.  White Space

Create white space if you can.   Office typists prior to the year 2,000 did this automatically,  They used the following rules.   

Double or One and a half space between lines

Two spaces between sentences

and Two lines between paragraphs.

Google is changing the rules – is Your Website Ready for 2020?

The New Year Celebrations, they are all gone. We are at the beginning of the year. Remember that promise, a website makeover this year. A New Year resolution perhaps? A resolution to do a review, and to make sure your Shop Window performs as it should. Perhaps a new website is needed or a makeover might do?

Another issue in all of that is with Google.  Therefore…

  • If you have your own website or are thinking of creating one, there are some big changes that you need to be aware of.

Google and WordPress are making those changes that could be a big opportunity for those who know the details. If you don’t know, it could hit you like a ton of bricks.

Click the link below to get my free report detailing the opportunity and the danger

http://trck.me/422615/

Afterthought… If you need any help with hosting your domain or reviewing it please drop me a line. Look forward to helping you grow that is chas@chaslitster.com

Beat Writer’s Block and write up to 10,000 words a day

Have you ever sat at your computer, and in front of you there is a blank white screen?

It sits there waiting for you to enter that all important content. Your mind is blank and no matter how beautiful your Word Processing software is you just cannot start writing a word. This is Writer’s Block and the report ‘Speed Writing’ gives you that all important advice to refresh your mind and unleash the untapped writing potential within you.

Then the moment arrives and you do not have the time to write those vital words. That is those precious gems of wisdom that you need for your long awaited project. But you have no time!

‘The Speed Writing’ report will help you write up to 10,000 words a day. Just think about how much time that would free up. After all ‘Your time is money’.

To obtain your free report please click on the link below.

You can find out how to beat writers block here…   Beat Writers  Block 

Look forward to hearing from you and please let me know what you think.

Note… Finding content and content writing is an art. If you need any help please drop me a note.  That is at chas@chaslitster.com