VNN Media Insider - July 15th, 2010

Best Ways to Improve Your Web Site With Content

There are many ways to build traffic on your site. Most of them take time as there are not more quick tricks in today's net. However, one of the best ways to build traffic and a very nice web site that clients will want to visit and revisit is by publishing great content.

Providing VNN Members with content is our main goal. Our stories whether print or video is what keeps your library growing and your social media audience tuned in. Regular release of good stories like we do give you a reason to "reach out" to your social audience and remind them you are ready to help and have the answers for their pet's health.

But besides using our story resources there are several other ideas you can use on your site to draw attention and traffic. Here they are:

1. LISTS
People LOVE lists, from the FBI's Most Wanted to Dave Letterman's Top Ten! They also love to pass the information on to their circle of friends or colleagues. Pick a topic that will be of interest to your clients and do a bit of research to come up with the definitive list for that topic.

2. Videos
We all know YouTube is hot, a popular search engine in itself, but if you embed good videos on your own site, it will attract visitors and links to the page. You have access to an outstanding library of videos, and can now even customize them with your open and narration. Clients will love this and even link to them and that grows your user network rapidly.

As you use our vBlog service you can also begin to produce your own vblogs as camera and software are now so inexpensive it should be on your list of web site goodies. You can even embed client videos on your site, just as you would post pictures!

3. Interesting Images
Not as dynamic as video, but people do like to look at 'pretty pictures' and pictures with a story. You have those every day. Develop a section on your site for client photos / stories and perhaps video and it may become more popular than you know. Even charts and diagrams are good, such as a heartworm incident map.

4. Play "Reporter" and post an Interview with an Expert
Don't we all want to know what the experts think and how they do what they do? You'd be surprised how willing most industry experts/leaders are to do a quick interview; whether it is in person or over the phone. As a VNN member you have special credibility with those whom you might ask. Just make it short and a part of your larger story where you are the author.

5. How To's / Tutorials
These days the Internet is a person's main way to find out how to do things, whether via an article or a video. You can easily write step by step tutorials or articles about an area that you are knowledgeable in. Even better, do a quick How To video, even if just a screencast. Besides showing people that you know your business and providing helpful information for people, it's very likely that people will then link to your page.

7. Free Downloads
People can't resist free stuff! Make a spot for clients to get a free window cling from ADT and tie that into Pet Fire Safety Day (today!) Create helpful checklists or other articles as PDFs that people can download. Education that is fun to read, visual and free is a great place to start and generates more educated clients.

8. Invite Clients To Join You "Socially"
With logos and links let your clients join your Facebook page, follow you on Twitter etc. We already have amazing testimonials how well this works and how much clients love it.

As you build up the quality content on your site you will find that more people are linking to the homepage of your site, as well as the pages with specific content, as the site itself will be seen as a useful or interesting resource overall.

So, Good Content equals more visits, more links, more happy clients and a tick up on the financials even in a bad economy.