What your readers aren’t telling you about your SEO content
Um, you’ve got some food stuck in your teeth…
Have you ever looked in the mirror and found a piece of spinach stuck in your teeth? You probably immediately picked it out and thought, “Why didn’t anyone tell me? How long has THAT been there?”
It’s the same with your website. You may have a glaring website boo-boo that you’ve never noticed. It’s right there – like that piece of spinach.
You just don’t see it.
I guarantee you – your readers notice it. They just don’t tell you.
This week’s SEO content writing challenge is to find that piece of spinach that’s messing up your site content.
Maybe it’s a misspelling. Or a content mullet.
Find it and fix it.
Your site will look so much better for it.
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Sound advice Heather. Even when I have someone external to review my web content (at draft stage and when it’s gone live) I have still found the odd error.
More often than not it’s about a word or phrase that no longer looks right.
Ideally I’d set a ToDo every few months and read through all my pages…but something more urgent always comes along. Another case of attending to the urgent rather than the important!
Do other writers experience similar problems?
Thanks, @Viccus!
I love your To Do idea – that’s smart! Even if you only comb through three pages of content a week, that gives you the opportunity to review a lot of content by year’s end. Love it!
And yes, I’m sure that other writers experience similar problems. I’ve had pages go through three or four rounds of proofing (complete with different people proofing it)..and there’s still occasionally the weird error. How aggravating! :)
Heather
I know exactly what that piece of spinach is on my website right now.
It’s the teeny tiny font on my static pages. I don’t know why I allowed my web developers to talk me into this.
What’s more, they won’t allow me access to the CSS either.
It isn’t just the fact that I’ll have to cough up the cash to get it changed that bothers me. It’s also the fact that it takes me twice as long to explain what I want than it would otherwise take to make the change myself.
@Kevin – what do you mean that your developers “won’t allow you access to the CSS.” Does that mean that you have to pay money so they can change something that you could do yourself in 10 minutes?
Hmmmmmmm…….that doesn’t seem right.
@Heather
Yep, I’m afraid so. In fairness, most of their clients haven’t got a clue about HTML and CSS, so they guard against allowing clients full access.
At first, they wouldn’t even allow me administrator access to my WordPress backend. But now at least on the blog side of things I can pretty well do what I want, including amending the CSS that styles my posts.
And you know what? In view of what you’ve said, I think I’m going to raise this issue again with them.
What’s more, I reckon I should write about this in a blog post about the pitfalls of choosing a web developer.
Alternatively, it might make a good starting point for a great post of your own.
Let me know how it goes, Kevin. At the end of the day, it’s YOUR site. If you mess it up (which I don’t think you’ll do,) that just means more work for them! But they shouldn’t hold it hostage and refuse you admin access.
Out of curiosity, what would happen if you fired them? Would you still “own” your site? Something to clarify (in writing, of course!) :)
Heather
I wouldn’t contemplate firing my web developers as I also do work for them and wouldn’t want to damage what is a good relationship.
I do like the angle that you take. That is if I mess it up it’ll be more work (and more money) for them.
What’s more, I don’t know any PHP and I’m not great on the graphic design side. That means there’s still loads of scope for making use of their expertise.
I like the challenge, most have that piece of spinach. Now I’m going to take a look and we what i can find.
Ha, such an effective way of looking at copy. I do like the concept of a content mullet as well; really makes me want to revisit old pieces and give them a spruce up. Sound advice Heather.
Thanks, @James! I’m glad you enjoyed it (and isn’t content mullet a great term? It’s so descriptive!)
:)
Sure… I agree with you Heather. What you wear defines your personality. If a restaurant has no good ambiance, not fresh, not attractive, no shape and not looking good at all, as an ideal food hub, less diners would love to eat.
Likewise, here on internet…the same thing is happening. We should be more artistic and creative of our websites. You just have a small post, but thought provoking. You must be a good motivator though. ;0 THANKS
@Christopher – YES! I love your post (and you are very welcome!) :)