Content Development of a Website

[caravan]

I work for a web agency and a large part of my work involves dealing with the SEO for quite a few of our clients.

While I'm always busy working on areas such as the website structure and link building with other websites and search directories one area which I continually hit a brick wall with is the content development of the website. Getting new content from the client to add to the site is like getting blood from a stone.

This problem got me thinking. How do other people who are dealing with the optimisation of other peoples websites handle this. What should the areas of responsibility be? Should the client supply the content as they know their business/market better than anyone else? Or should the content development be left to the optimisation company to write as that is what the client is paying for, their optimisation skills?

I'm a designer and programmer by trade and copy writing isn't one of my strong points and consequently not a good use of my time. Your views on this matter would be much appreciated.

Our clients pay for our SEO services on a pre-agreed amount of time a month (usually half a day a month which isn't enough in my opinion). If I spend my time developing new content I'm then neglecting other areas of the optimisation mix. How much time do other people spend a month?

Andy

[Khalidh]

We do a bit of work with SEO firms which contract out their content development to us. That content includes creating articles, white papers and even blogs. It depends on what the client needs. You can also look for freelance writers who can help you with that.

Generally, we receive the list of topics from the SEO company, marketing assessment,
and keywords for the site.

Khalid

[Dubbya]

Many popular sites, this one included, are always looking for articles and content writers.

Farm it out. Stick to doing what you do best and contract out the content writing, or consider partnering with a great writer.

[DMeeks]

Originally Posted by caravan

While I'm always busy working on areas such as the website structure and link building with other websites and search directories one area which I continually hit a brick wall with is the content development of the website. Getting new content from the client to add to the site is like getting blood from a stone.

Andy

Hi Andy...

So True!! In my agreement with clients I request half payment with the signed agreement and half upon completion. Big Mistake! I get the design ready and approved, then it sits! I wait for additional content that takes months to arrive.

I'm looking at ways to modify my agreement such that I am paid half with the agreement and half with the approved design. At least that way I don't sit around waiting to get paid. I believe once the client has paid they will want to get some return on the investment. Still, if they're too busy to get the info to me, I'm not stuck.

I didn't answer your question, but I am interested in other responses.

Thanks...Dan

[mjtaylor]

I say it depends on the topic and market; as an SEO copywriter, content is something I prefer to edit rather than generate, but depending on the client and what I know of the market, I will do it. A lot of my clients are travel sites in areas I am familiar with and love, so I can do some content generation rather efficiently, and do. But I try to get the clients to do it most of the time.

I am developing a rather ambitious site now for a new client and I had the client hire a regular (non-SEO) copywriter for most of the content. That will allow me to suggest content and edit it for SEs, but not have to write the first draft.

I do think content development should be budgeted in addition to your SEO budget. They are not the same thing. I see an SEO's role in that process as advising the client on what content is needed and will be effective from an SEO standpoint - do they need a blog, or a page on local attractions, an FAQ? Perhaps they need to develop a tool or set of info as link bait ... but I would expect them to provide it or to give me more budget to do so.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, MJ

[bj]

Funny, since I started designing purely dynamic sites and I do the handover before any content is added, this is no longer an issue for me. But I remember when I used to do static html sites, and needed content-- and waiting and waiting, and waiting . . . I'm glad those days are over.

[MarcGrobman]

Agreed-- one of the hardest things for my clients is to provide the content of the site. For me it is perhaps the biggest expense and difficulty about web development: projects that stagnate. I usually encourage clients to farm out their copy-writing, and will offer it as an option in the web design contract. But they really need to work with the copywriter for that to work, so you have a lot of time spent on writing and reviewing. And most are just not willing to pay the price for that. One solution I have is that, for cheaper jobs, I will not even start the design until all of the content is complete. For clients with the funds, a pro copywriter should be hired.

[dvduval]

I tell the customer in the very beginning that I absolutely must have their involvement throughout the project, including providing content about their business, and even writing new content. I usually tell customers I will not take the project if they will not be involved.

[espectations]

I found that I end up writing content for clients even though I have it in black and white as part of my agreement with clients that we require their input and content.

I am lucky in the sense that I am a qualified Public relations person so press releases and articles are not a big issue. The bigger issue is the fact that clients have no promotional plans so they do not provide you with featured content, products or services upfront.

So, the mission now is to try and get them to provide me with a promotional plan for the six month period at a time that I do their work so that I know what to focus on every month.

That in itself is a mission.

I think the way bj does it, is the best as the you are giving the client the site and all the tools to manage it with and then it is over to them to keep it all updated.

[bj]

I think the way bj does it, is the best as the you are giving the client the site and all the tools to manage it with and then it is over to them to keep it all updated.

Yup, it is. Especially since I put the site live, and tell them I'm going to blog about the site for my portfolio within the week so they better get to work and make sure the "Hello, World!" post is gone! I also tell them to expect the Search engine spiders within an hour after my blogpost about their site. Works like a charm.

[sudhani]

Andy,

We treat content strategy and development as an integral part of the SEO process. And most of the times, this happens to be the most critical / sticky part of the entire process. We work from India servicing clients in US - this makes the job more difficult. Here we share the process we follow:

- Our content writer 'Creates / Generates' the content. This is normally optimized for SEO incorporating the elements like keyword density, Proximity, prominence, and LSI etc.
- We hire another content writer in US (Native American) to proof-read and fix the areas where the content is not 'Sounding American'
- Then it goes to the client for a final review. The client typically incorporates the more specific technical issues which a content writer might not be aware of.
- When the clients are 'involved' we find a completely new copy coming out from them, taking inputs / theme from our content. When its a fresh copy, we will review for SEO aspects.
- When the clients are less involved, we get to publish the same copy with minor edits.
- many a times, we just publish the same content with minor edits.

As you might have noticed, this entire process takes time and involves a lot of co-ordination. So, we typically begin this process at the earliest possible to have the 'final' version of the content available when the site is ready to go live.

Probably this is one of the most cost-efficient ways to get a lot of content on the site.

-Sudha.

[Digitalaxy]

It is really a good issue to discuss since we have been facing this kind of difficulties either localy or internationaly.

We try sometimes to inform the client about our process to reach what he/she is looking for. We tell them about everything related to the job in breif and in an understood language.

[joewattie]

content.

isaac newton said, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

my axiom is, "for every action there is an equal and opposite criticism."

so i use it to my advantage. when the client fails to deliver i start writing; close enough to be taken serious but wacked enough to where they spring into action! they either start writing to show how bad i suck or they hire someone.

[noel_x99]

We're a small design house, but fortunate enough to have a highly skilled writer on board. We develop content for our customers by having them complete questionaires and then we do interviews. (Even then, we can wait for months on text approval - though that's rare.) It really moves our work along to completion.

If you aren't lucky enough to have a writer on staff, build a good relationship with a dependable person.

Our experience is that most clients don't have a decent writer to work with...and don't seem to understand the importance of it. Even if the client does have someone who has written for them, the writer does not have web writing experience.

I expect there are many clients with content managed systems that have empty or relatively empty sites sitting there. And they can't complain about it because it's their own fault they don't have content. Sad thing is they don't know where to even start.

[bj]

I expect there are many clients with content managed systems that have empty or relatively empty sites sitting there. And they can't complain about it because it's their own fault they don't have content. Sad thing is they don't know where to even start.

So far that hasn't been my experience. Once you give people the tool and tell them that if they don't fill it up they're guaranteed to have blown all their webdev costs for nothing, usually they get at least something in there that has their keyphrases built in. Something is better than nothing, and as long as the keyphrases are there, at least they'll start to see the traffic curve creeping up. That usually inspires greater effort.

Of course, my situation is a bit atypical. I've had a streak of novelists and other creative types I've designed sites for, so content creation isn't as big a strain for them as for business type people.

BTW, joewattie, I like your solution. Lorem Ipsum works well too . . .

[ArticleMaster]

I do design and development, and also get paid on a 50% up front, 50% upon completion. Sometimes this takes months because client can't decide on or write content.

One reason I started Article-DirectorySite.com was to give my clients a place to submit articles for promotion as well as get content and rss feeds to use on their sites. Many times I'll just add this to their site in the development stage, and if they don't like it, they'll let me know.

The other best solution is to hire a copywriter and supply them with keyphrases I research after speaking to clients about their business (clients can't get their keyphrases right 99% of the time!). Again, if they don't like it, they'll let me know. After design and before content, they get Lorum Ipsum.

The bigger issue is getting them to update content or post to their blog. And then they try to complain that the site isn't performing.....

[caravan]

Thanks for the advice folks. There are some good suggestion put forward. The general rule of thumb seems to be concentrate on what your good at and hire a copywriter to do what they're good at. Knowing our clients and my boss I suspect this solution will open up a whole host of new problems such as the clients being reluctant to pay extra for an external copywriter and my boss (who has had some bad experiences with freelancers and copywriters in the past) will be unwilling to farm it out.

The suggestions that have been put forward make sense to me as the client would see the benefit in terms of better quality content, increased traffic, hopefully increased business and overall would get better value for money.