Hi guys,
I need your help…ill be having my online travel agency…and im having problems with the content writing. I dont know what to put in the Home page. Im not good in writing 
Please help me…
You should consider hiring someone who has skill in writing. Or, perhaps, you could barter something with which you have great skill in exchange for writing.
Your home page should:
- Make your visitors feel welcome without saying “Welcome”.
- Acquaint your visitors with your business
- Give a short overview of your website (that’s why it’s an “index” page) and direct your visitors to the more detailed information on other pages of your website.
4.If it’s a business website, like all pages, the home page should contain a “call to action”.
You have stated that you don’t have good writing skills. You should hire a good content writer who can write good captivating content for your home page.
There are several things you need to consider while writing fora web-page, whether it be a home page or inner page.
- The web content should be thematic and error free.
- Should know your visitors
- Page should have at-least 350-500 words.
- Should have proper knowledge of formatting
- Your first paragraph your should target your major keywords
- Before you end your content, there should be “call to action”
- Maintain the flow and fluency of contents
- Last but not the least, informative, qualitative and original.
Search engines have improved measurably over the last few words. The majors can pick up content of 200 words, so 350 to 500 is no longer necessary. Tell your message. Be concise, yet informative, and the search engines will find your page.
Hi there. Here is a great example of why people end up getting ripped off by SEO companies. I really sympathise with your situation (excuse what looks like a typo but I’m writing in UK English). There is a great thread on this forum asking if there is an alternative to SEO. Well, here it is - great content. You are currently experiencing the difficulties that come with building a great website i.e. a very intimidating blank sheet of paper. You need to find yourself a superb web content agency - not a pr agency and not an seo agency (a website content agency will do the seo and pr anyway). Be brave and be ambitious, set out to build a website that everyone wants to use. Does it give them all the answers they need? Does it inpsire them and encourage them to share your site with their friends? You need to embark on a massive Website Weight Gain Program- thinking economically, you can save your SEO money e.g. $1,500 per month and spend it on building a great website over 6 months. If you are not a natural writer then find a website that you really respect, contact them and ask who wrote it. That’s the best advice I can give you.<snip>
Kind regards
Steve
I have to side with Shyflower regarding the number of words. 350-500 words may be the usual guideline bit it’s no longer necessary. If you can say everything you need to say in less words, do so. No need to put fluff words just to meet the minimum, the search engines are getting good at “understanding” content with less words. You know what they say, if you know how much is enough, it’s as good as a feast.
In your home page you can put the information about your company profile and testimonial of customers it would decrease the jump rate and increase the sale rate of your site.one more thing if your company have got some awards or something then you must have discuss about it in company profile.
happy to help shorten/edit content if needed
Hey Anna,
Consider the following things before writing your site content:
Focus on your customers’ interests and needs - why do they buy your product/service?
what are the targeted keywords - which keywords make the most sales/profit/sign-ups?
The main purpose of your site content: is it to inform your visitors or to sell?
Cheers,
<snip />
I worked in a project before writing articles for 3 websites and I’m basing it mainly on what my client want. He usually want all write ups in clear and concise discussion. Write like you are talking in front of your customers, straight forward. Since his sites talks about auto insurance and government cell phone service, he wanted the articles written professionally and with customers guarantee for good service. For a traveling agency, it will give you a lot of writing ideas to play with but the most important thing is to emphasize the service you’ll provide with great customer experience. Home page articles should be brief and appealing to the customers. Try starting with an impressive quote from one of your customers, how they enjoyed your service. Follow your customers quote with your statement on how you’ll will provide a tested and proven good service. Add the customers picture to even make it appealing. Hopefully this will help you at. Good luck!
I think offering advice like that is clouding the issue slightly. From a usability point of view then 200 words may well be sufficient to welcome your visitors, but from an SEO point of view (which this forum is not about) then 200 words isn’t enough to target keywords for most business sectors – not least of all travel. Considering the type of website against which you’ll be competing (and the strength of those sites) you’ll need a very powerful website to stand a chance.
But again, this isn’t the SEO forum – so if Google isn’t a concern of yours then 200 words is fine.
@WordsofWorth ; You are correct. This isn’t the SEO forum. However, web content writers bear the onus of SEO. If they want their pages or their clients pages to succeed, it is important to keep up with the changes.
I just finished reading the SEO starter guide put out by Google. Oddly enough, there isn’t a single word in all of its 32 pages about content length. There is, however, quite a bit about writing concise content, directed towards the reader and not search engines.
The latest credible reference to a content length of 350 to 500 words for SEO comes from Aaron Walls blog, a post dated 2007. As those of us who actively work writing content for the web know, things have changed over the last couple of years. Word count is not a large consideration is writing good search engine optimized content.
I didn’t mention anything about 350-500 words. There is no ‘magic’ length for content for websites. The content needs to be written to fulfil the brief and, if that brief requires a page of content to be optimised for several keywords, the content length needs to be higher than 200 words.
Don’t be confused by my meagre post-count; I’ve been in the web copywriting and SEO industry for a while now, and I run a content company with writers based in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia.
It’s surprising with all of your expertise that you didn’t know that most SEO “experts” today recommend that you optimize a page for a single keyword phrase.
My “quite some time” in web content writing began in 2000. If there is one thing I have learned, it is to keep up to date with the changes.
The OP asked about the homepage, which is what my advice is about. I also recommend optimising a single site page for one keyword only - and I don’t think sarcastic comments like this from you are helpful to the discussion, nor friendly to new members. You’re a mod on here, shouldn’t you be setting an example?
Oddly enough I have also been in the Internet marketing business since 2000, working for online retailers, web design agencies, SEO companies and content providers. I didn’t want to brag about being in this business for over a decade, hence my ‘quite some time’, but I guess it was important for you that you share the information, so now you know what my ‘quite some time’ is as well.
@WordsofWorth ; Take a look at some high-profile travel websites such as Travel City, Priceline, and the new kid on the block, Kayak. It is clear from their place in the SE results that you don’t need over 200 words of content to rank a page well. I am aware that you didn’t mention a word count of 350 to 500, but you did post that 200 words isn’t enough (post #12). You also posted " if that brief requires a page of content to be optimised for several keywords," and I merely pointed out that pages do not need to be optimized for “several keywords”.
It was you who pointed out your experience in this business. I’m not flaunting mine, or listing whom I work for, but I don’t believe that ambiguity makes for credibility.
Finally, I really care about content on the WWW. That’s why I volunteer to moderate this forum. When I see something that I believe is misleading, I will post in opposition whether you have a low post count or a high one and whether you joined yesterday or back in 1999. That’s the example I intend to set for the members of this forum.
Of course you don’t need over 200 words of content to rank well. As I have already said, there is no ‘magic’ number for a word count. When launching a new website however, and in such a competitive industry, page content is one of the best, cheapest and quickest ways of building rankings. You can rank a website with no content at all, but you’ll need a sizable budget to do this. The question was about the homepage of a new website within the travel industry, so no, 200 words is not enough (unless the OP has one sizable budget but, if did, he’d have hired an SEO company rather than ask on a forum).
Your first comment to me contained the condescending remark “As those of us who actively work writing content for the web know, things have changed over the last couple of years”. This was clearly a remark meant to imply that you work in content and I don’t. If you open up with the “I’m an expert and you’re not” gambit, you should prepare to have it called.
I have no issue with you challenging what I have said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I do take issue however with you insinuating that your opinion is worth more than mine because you ‘actively work in writing…’ and I don’t. Our company provides thousands of pages of content each month for companies around the world, many within the travel industry, so I am familiar with the concept of content and SEO.
As I say, feel free to disagree with me. I have no problem with that. Just don’t assume my expertise is lacking because I am new here.
@Wordsworth ; So, what you are saying is that they need more content because the big-budget guys have advertised to cement their brand in the public’s mind and create back links to their websites. They put out Press Releases for every little change they make, buy advertising on TV, Radio, and the Web. Their businesses are mentioned in news articles within and out of their market. Right?
In that case, a small business will probably never outrank them in search results, no matter how much content they generate on one page, just as “Ma & Pa’s Books & Notions” is never going to beat Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble in search results. In fact, a small business start-up will probably never outrank them no matter how many pages of content they have in one website. So, in that case, the small business start-up needs to target a niche in its industry by offering something that other businesses in that niche do not offer and/or showing expertise in areas that other similar competitors don’t show. Once again, content length has nothing to do with their ability to draw business from search engine results. It isn’t what you say – it’s how you say it that matters.
That is where you are wrong. As those of us who actively work writing content for the web know, the value of a website rich with content exceeds the value of a website rich with links, as Google actively wants to rank websites that answer the queries of users in order for those users to find what they are looking for and, subsequently, use Google again for their searches. Websites that are full of useful, unique content can rank very well indeed. It’s one of the reasons Amazon started its affiliate scheme in the first instance; it knew that others were better at SEO.