Why Information Is Still King

Ask any webmaster what the most important part of a website is and the vast majority will tell you it’s the content.  And quite rightly too, since good website promotion relies on having good content to draw people in.Some people point to the importance of good website design as well, and it’s certainly true that the design of a website is hugely important.  For example, if you were in the market to buy an iPod or other expensive gadget online, you wouldn’t look for it on a site that had a basic and cheap looking design.  You’d go to a website that looked the part.There is certainly an important role that designers have to play in the web of the 21st century, and there is no doubt that good design has led to the success of many a website in the past.  But content – and more properly information – has the biggest role to play, because it has the power to attract the search engines and the customers, and that leads to big sales in the future.But some webmasters still don’t think there is a difference between content and information.  In truth there shouldn’t be, but there is.  Content fills web pages and takes up space, but there is no guarantee that it will be worth reading.  Some of it merely focuses on search engine optimization rather than actually providing anything of note to visitors.Information, meanwhile, focuses on the needs of the customers above everything else.  The best websites are those which constantly edit and refine what they are doing and constantly look for ways to find information that their visitors will appreciate.This can be done in a number of ways.  Some will create a whole new blog for their customers, focusing on giving them information they cannot find on the main part of their website.  Others will put more effort and work into their product descriptions, providing plenty more information in this regard than many of their rivals.  Information has many purposes and advantages and the more webmasters tap into this fact, the better their websites will perform.Of course it’s not just a case of providing information for customers; it should also be accurate otherwise the benefit of having it there in the first place will be lost.  Research is crucial to ensure the information is not only correct to begin with, but it is kept up to date for the long term.  Many webmasters do a wonderful job of providing the information initially, but after that they forget all about it and then wonder why their website has lost some of its momentum.Information is always changing.  We can see this clearly by taking a look at news sites, but it changes almost as much on standard websites as well.  If we aren’t careful, information can be our downfall, and yet if we treat it with the respect it deserves – making sure it’s spot on and serves the purpose it is intended for – it will give us more than we could imagine.