The Importance of Writing New Content

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything important on my site.  And yet, I know better.  So I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about something I tell my clients all the time, and which is still hard advice to follow.

Why you need to add new content to your site on a regular basis

If you haven’t kept up on the Internet lately, then you don’t realize that it’s expanding at an incredible rate.  Why? Because everyone is collaborating and sharing information at light speed. And you need to be a part of that culture if you want to have a successful website.

There are many ways to be involved–join a forum, social network, subscribe to a few blogs, comment on people’s blog, etc.  But another big part of this is getting into the habit of adding new content to your site on a regular schedule.  If you don’t, you’re site will continue to dwindle in comparison to other websites that are adding new content–until one day you wake up, and your site isn’t ranked for important keywords anymore.

The value of adding new content

The value of adding new content to your site grows exponentially.  Just think–if you posted an article on your site every week for a year, you’d have 52 new pages added to your site.  After a year or two of this, you’d have a decent sized site.

But if you could post an article on your site every day…now that would be even better!

The secret is, as you write more content, more visitors find your site.  Think of it this way–if each article you write brings you one new visitor each month, then 52 new pages would bring you 52 visitors, right?

Wrong…

The power of content building is that if you’ve written anything worthwhile, one of those 52 people is going to social bookmark your article, or email it to a friend, or even link to it from his or her site.  The reality is, that 10 pages bring you 10 visitors, and 30 pages could bring you 300 visitors.

But you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to do that.  So the key is, finding and working around the frustrations of adding new content.

Frustrations of adding new content

I think one of the most discouraging factors for adding pages to a site is if you have to hand code the new page.  If you’re using a content mangement system (cms), then adding new articles to you site is a very simple process.  So if you’re not using a cms, you should be.

Another frustration could be time.  Time is always a concern for people, and setting priorities can be difficult.  I think the key is to set a schedule and keep to it.  If you have time to post once a week, do it once a week.  If you can do it three times a week, or every day, then do that.  But don’t tell yourself you’re going to post every day and then get discouraged when you don’t and quit altogether.  It would be better to find a posting schedule that works and stick to it.

Another frustration is choosing what to write about.  For me, this one is easy.  I just pay attention to what’s happening in my life and what people are talking about around me.  For example, this article sprang from a real life experience.  If you just write about what you know, then it’s never an issue.  Look for the simplest, and easiest things to write about, and share from your own personal experience.

Getting motivated to add new content

Motivation seems to play a big role in people not adding content to their site.  I just talked to a client who was ready to rock and roll with his new site.  I spent two hours with him teaching him how to add content and products to his ecommerce site.

A week later…the site’s still empty.  When I ask, I usually don’t get any great response about why this happens.  I even have one client who I built a site for six months ago that still hasn’t added a single page of content, even after I prompted him once a week for 6 weeks.

But, as you can see from my own experience, adding content to a website is a struggle.  For me, the way around this is to play a little game.  I’m publicly announcing in this article that I will post at least once a week.  Hopefully this will be enough to keep me motivated.

What would motivate you to add more content to your site? Share your answer in the comments below, or just add something you’d like to share.