What the internet aims to be is a repository of information that helps us solve problems. Every time useful information is published on the internet, it should help us do just that “Solve Problems.” Creating content that is useful and available through search may not be enough. Connecting the reader with what you have written is the key to successful content on the internet.

Useful, problem solving information can take many different forms from inspirational, tips, news, how to’s and so much more. How this information is received however puts a whole new spin on the term “Successful information.” An example of this would be if an article is published that solves the problem of hair loss. If I were losing my hair then this information would help me from going bald. However if I don’t read the information because of lack of engagement, I will never achieve the solution of a full head of hair that is being offered me. The article is no longer successful but is a failure in solving my hairy problem.

What structure should web content take on.

The question therefore raised is, “ How should content be constructed in order to be successful?” A lot of copy writing experts will explain the effectiveness of using headlines, dot points and WIIFM benefits of persuasion copy writing.

Taking the thought of writing to engage the reader one-step further, consideration must be given to the reader’s inherent reactions and personality. How much does personality and native make up play a part in the reaction to the information people are reading? If it does play a part and I believe it does, then the key to engagement is, “how can we write content to address the different personality types?”

Personality breakdown to apply to web content writing.

The 4MAT® Model which is aimed at teachers may provide insight into how we can write content that appeals to different personality and learning types. The 4MAT® model breaks people up into four different learning approaches. It maintains that although people use a wide range of learning experiences, individuals tend to favour a particular learning method. The four methods are…

1. Imaginative Learning – Feeling and watching, seeking personal associations, meaning and involvement.
2. Analytic Learning – Listening to and thinking about information; seeks facts thinking through ideas, what does the expert think.
3. Common Sense Learning – Thinking and doing. Experimenting, building, creating usability, tinkering.
4. Dynamic Learning – Doing, feeling. Seeking hidden possibilities, exploring, learning by trial and error.

Another factor that plays a part in how an individual inherently learns is the usage of left and right brain.

• Left brain – Operates best through structure and sequence.
• Right Brain – Comprehends images, seeks patterns.

When the left and right brains are both used during the learning process higher learning and thinking is achieved. There is a greater range and depth of understanding leading to a greater implementation or take up of the new ideas.

The model extends to include a breakdown of

1. How we perceive the information – Take new information in and this scales from THINKING (Conceptualizing) to FEELING (Experience).
2. How we process the information – What is done with the information which scales from DOING (Active or Experimental) to WATCHING(Reflective or Observing).

All of this information can be depicted in a diagram as follows.

Web Content and the therefore what question?

In creating information that takes into consideration people’s inherent personality and learning types the key questions that relate to each sector are important. Making sure that each key question is addressed and in order is important. Review the content adding in elements that will help a particular learning type connect with the information. This may be an image or stats in the correct place.

If you have read all the way down to here the key challenge is to take the knowledge of how people learn and apply it to your writing. Can you increase your circle of influence? Some web stats that maybe useful in determining the impact of writing content in a way that considers how your readers best learn is loyalty and recency.

If you have any further insights, thoughts or experiences I would love to hear from you.

What they say in the above quoted line is fine, and it makes sense. It is what every online copywriting expert is saying including all the contributors to copyblogger one of my favorite how to copy writing websites.

So after all is said and the doing is waiting to happen, how easy is it to get the writing done? What does it take to create effective online information.

• Does writing effectively need an English literature degree?
• Is the expression of words a natural talent?
• Is passion the needed ingredient?
• Writing with nothing to lose or gain – does that play a part?
• Reading 10 How to … writing books?
• 10 years of writing experience?
• Celebrated online content or a published book?
• Having paid attention to spelling at school?

What makes someone a successful writer? Does the simple fact that they have communicated their thoughts using a medium beyond speech, does this classify as a successful writer. My kindergarten teacher probably thought so. And does that communication need to be read by one person or a thousand people for that to be called a successful piece of communication.

The internet is this huge, monolithic, ever changing, rule bound monster that is powered by thoughts communicated in a written format and it is this communication that brings people together. Bringing people together is what the internet is all about, which in turn solves problems and helps the achievement of goals.

I suspect that to create online content for anything from a personal blog to a business website it is important to define your own terms of success. There are so many varying levels of achievement all on the same plain. Each with different paths leading to that platform of success that it is almost impossible to define what good content is. It is, infinitely more difficult defining how to achieve that unless the writer has predefined what they are happy with achieving when it comes to connectivity and persuasion.

As we set out on a new year’s journey the thing that, I should be considering is what am I happy with? What is this blog all about and whom am I trying to reach? Big questions for so early in the year, perhaps they will come to me in a dream or advice from any one out there.

There are two words that I would like to cover today. They were prompted by an article written by SEO-speedwagon. The two terms are Index and Crawling.

Crawling: “is the process of an engine requesting — and successfully downloading — a unique URL.”

What this means: Google, Yahoo and other search engines have the ability to surf the internet. To surf the internet they use a small program called a spider or robot. What these spiders or robots do is read different pages that they come across. They follow links to find the page that they read and that is one reason why links are so important. When they arrive at a page the spider starts at the top and reads all the content on that page. If a spider follows a link to a specific page and receives an error then the spider cannot crawl that particular page.

Index: “is the result of successful crawling.”

What this means: Once a spider or robots has read everything on a particular page it adds all of that information to what is known as its index. A search engine index is very similar to that used in a book. It is a quick reference guide as to where the information is and what it may be about. Once a page has been successfully indexed and made available when a search is performed the page will appear in the Search Engine Results Pages.

Problems that may be encountered when a spider is crawling pages are, it may be blocked by a robots.txt file or the server could be switched off or coding on the page may stop the search engines from reading the page correctly. There is normally a delay in time between a successful crawl and the page being displayed in the results of a search engine. This delay depends on the site and can be as little as a few minutes, for some sites that the spiders trust and access regularly for example a news site. For a new site without any page rank it could be anything up to a week before the page is available in the search results of Google and other search engines.

image by gravityx9

People who use the internet use it to find solutions to their problems. They use the internet to find friends and make connections. They surf web pages to find things of interest to them. A website should focus on meeting these visitor needs. The internet as a whole is becoming more and more focused on the individual and their needs, and it is important for website owners to keep up with this user focused trend.

The information that a website provides needs to be “You” focused. If it is “You” focused it will gain visitor approval. This approval comes in terms of time visitors spend on your site. The referrals they bring to your site i.e. their friends and most importantly the purchase of your product or service.

For example if you are involved in the Tourism business and are offering attractions, don’t just list the attractions that you offer but say it in a way that helps the visitor see that a visit to your establishment will add something special to their holiday. Focus on what your visitor will gain from the experience of visiting your Nature Park, or Jet boat ride.

If the focus is placed on the visitor before they even get to the attraction, I believe that you will get more visitors and the mind set of being “You” focused or customer centric will take on a whole new level.