If you want your Website to WOW, content is king. Content refers to the copy, images, links and multimedia used on the site. Think about content in terms of building a house. The higher the quality of building materials, the higher the quality of the finished home. The same is true for Web sites.

Consider this: if you had a retail store on pricey Madison Avenue would you merchandise the window display with old, damaged mannequins wearing torn, worn out clothing? No! You would put the best possible quality display in the window to attract traffic to come in the store and buy, buy, buy!

Then please explain why you are using amateur digital photographs and copy with grammar and spelling mistakes on your homepage?!

You get what you pay for and that is so true in the Web world. Spend a little bit of money on high quality graphics and images and you will reap big time benefits in terms of online sales, eLead registrations, phone calls and walk-in traffic. I highly recommend www.iStockPhoto.com for affordable high-quality stock photos.

Your homepage is your online window to the world! It has to be merchandised with the most breath-taking, eye-candy visuals you've got!

When it comes to copy, write conversationally and paint an emotional word picture. Your customers don't want to read your corporate brochure online! A great resource for Web site writing is "Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content That Works" by Janice Redish.

Content Checklist -- Is the site's copy...

• Relevant to the target audience?
• Of appropriate quantity (not too much, not too little)?
• Professionally written?
• Appropriate in language and tone for the target audience?
• Accurate and free of errors?
• Educational? Does it provide additional information/links to sites customer may find interesting?
• Valuable? Does it demonstrate the benefits of the product's features?

Gathering content is one of the most challenging aspects of every Website project. If you don't have a lot of high quality materials for the Website, consider hiring a marketing consultant or interactive agency to help create content. They can arrange a photo shoot, film video, write copy and/or find great stock photos. Spending extra time and money on WOW content will reap WOW rewards in the long run!

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