All Hail Content! - What is Content, and How Much is Enough?
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Maybe it would help if I start by telling you what content is not. Content is not “Here’s this great link to some information about dog training” followed by the link. Going larger, content is also not a whole slew of links to sites about, say, child care with a one-sentence description of each site. That’s an example from real life, by the way, and there is a case in court about it. The site is KinderStart, and if you’re curious about the details, you’ll probably want to read the article I wrote about it here.
Now that you know what content isn’t, you’re probably wondering what it is. The best site I know of when it comes to e-commerce content is Amazon.com. Let’s go over there and take a little tour. The home page is jam-packed with information, but it’s organized. When you search for something, you get not just a list of the items with links; you get thumbnail images and prices. When you click on a link to a book (hey, I’m a big reader, what do you expect from a writer?), you get the price, availability, the number of how many are available new and used (and at what lowest price), a customer rating with links to reviews…you can scroll down to editorial reviews which include a description of the book’s contents, scroll down further for more product details like the page count, publisher, and so on…and that’s just for openers.
Now you know why Amazon.com does so much business. It’s almost as if the books are leaping out of your monitor begging to be bought. So what do you do if you’re not selling books online? Well, certain things will still translate over, like customer reviews. And if you’re selling products that have spec sheets, you might want to include those – maybe not on the main page for the product itself, but certainly you’ll want to link to them, like Amazon links to its customer reviews.
Images of the product you’re selling also count as content. Images can slow down your web pages, though, so you might want to have a thumbnail on the main product page with a link to more and/or larger images. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words (though trust me, you’re going to need those words, too, to get your point across).
So how much content is enough? When you think you’ve given your customers too much content, you’ve probably given them just enough. Even if they don’t use it all, it’s reassuring to see that the information is there. And a comfortable customer is one that is more willing – and more likely – to make a purchase.
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