​Three Types of Content Your Company Website Should Contain

For a site to do well online and be seen as an authority in its niche (in the eyes of site visitors and search engines), it should contain the following three types of content:
 
1. Core Content

• The basic website pages, e.g.

 

• Home
• Products/Services - with sub-pages as necessary
• About - with sections/sub-pages for items like company purpose, history, vision, mission, values, key members bio, etc.
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Contact

​These pages should be developed first and, if necessary, the first iteration of the website can be launched with only these pages, and the other two sections developed in phases thereafter  
 
2. Resource Bank (evergreen content)

• A collection of useful content that is focussed on educating, informing, and helping customers, consisting of items like:
  • Articles
  • Case studies
  • White papers
  • Infographics
  • Informational videos

 

• Each item should be on its own page, with a unique, ideally customised, URL

 

• This information should be non-promotional in nature, the goal here is not to sell or try to build the brand, but rather to help customers, thereby increasing trust and loyalty (the essence of content marketing)

 

• This content can be linked to from social media and other platforms, repurposed, or reused to widen the online footprint of the business and to help establish credibility and thought leadership in the business’s market niche, e.g. republished on LinkedIn, Medium, etc.

 

• Evergreen content also lends itself well to being repurposed and used elsewhere, e.g. turned into infographics and shared on visual platforms (e.g. Pinterest, Instagram), and across other social media channels

 

• Some people like to place this type of information on the company blog, but I believe that it should be in a separate area, because

 

• On a blog, more weighty pieces of content can easily disappear among a lot of topical, short-term information

 

• Blog posts usually contain a publication date and this can lead to older posts not being taken seriously, or appearing as high up in search results, even though a three-year-old how-to guide may be just as relevant now as on the day it was published

 

• It is easier to sort, categorise, and display items if they are in a separate area (e.g. by topic). Blogs have a linear, reverse chronological structure that tends to place the emphasis on the last few posts, great for up to date topical content, but site visitors seldom scroll down very far and might miss useful content as a result

 

• Resource pages and items should be intensively interlinked to each other, in a Wikipedia-like manner

 
 
3. Topical Content

• News and information about the company’s activities, notable events (e.g. awards, press mentions), and industry/sector developments, etc.

 

• The best vehicle for this content is usually a company blog or a news/updates pages (which is effectively a blog under a different name).

 

• Regularly generating new content in this area keeps the site fresh and interesting for both site visitors and search engines (Google especially likes sites that are regularly updated)

 

• A further benefit of generating and adding topical content to the website is that this serves as a good source of material that can be shared across social media platforms, included in email newsletters and other publications (online and offline)

 

• Where appropriate, newsy updates can also be turned into press releases and submitted to publications for consideration and/or posted on third party/news sites that allow this to generate more exposure for the business

 
 
Mutual Support
 
If the site is set up properly and the right type of content is developed, all three sections should be used to support each other, e.g.:

• Core pages and blog posts can link to resource items for more information when a relevant term is used

 

• The FAQ page can contain links from some or all of the answers to relevant articles and other answers in the resource bank (this is a really powerful technique if used correctly)

 

• The blog can be used to publicise new items added to the resource bank

 

• Blog posts can contain links to relevant resource items at the bottom, e.g. in an extra reading section

 
Resource pages can contain links to relevant products or services, possibly with a very brief mention at the end, i.e. they are non-promotional in nature, but they can be used to attract and engage site visitors, then send potential clients/customers to more promotional pages (they are an important part of your lead generation/business development funnel)

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