This post will hopefully highlight several reasons why you should take the time to focus on improving the quality of your site’s content. I see it time and again (this site included! but hey, I’m working on it) where our client websites lack detailed and informative information. One particular client’s site has a number of pages in their directory and while those pages do have content, it is at best minimal. Here’s an example of those detail page content:

lacked enough keyword rich and unique content for all of the center’s tenants. As an example, I’ve highlighted ‘7 For All Mankind’s’ page:

Visit our store where we feature shoes, bath lotions, and surf clothing.

There are two downfalls for this:

1) The description of this store is incredibly brief. The problem with this is that it’s not enough content to give search engines an idea for what this page represents. In very simplified terms, the more unique and relevant content you have on a page, the more chances those pages will see an increase in traffic. Obviously there are many other factors which determine traffic but all things being equal (content is unique, relevant to page/site, highly detailed, informative, etc), I’d take the page with the higher amount of content any day.

2) The brief description in the example above provides a poor user experience. Those looking for information on the products that the store offers will quickly be disappointed to find a page with one sentence. There’s a good chance they’ll hit the back button on their browser and navigate away searching on another site for more information. At worst, the user will find a competitor’s site who’s taken the time to offer descriptive information that the user is desperately seeking and go to that store instead. Users are constantly searching in Google for information on products and services and it’s in your best interest to provide them what they’re looking for.

Here is how I would improve that store’s page:

1) Write unique and highly detailed description of what my store offers by noting why someone should visit me.
2) Highlight your top/popular products with very detailed product names. Example, instead of saying shoes, slippers, lotions, towels, I would use:

Shoes by Reebok, Nike, Nike 6.0, New Balance, Sketchers…
Top bath lotions from Island Heritage, Bath & Body Works, Simple Passion…
The newest surf clothing from Quiksilver, Hurley, Billabong, Vans….

You want to entice website visitors to check out your store. I know this takes quite a bit of time and effort but it will provide a return to you in terms of increased web traffic leading to more foot traffic to your physical store.

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