10 Types of Website Content That Will Move You To the Top of Any Niche

You know you need content. It’s the lifeblood of any business website. Without it, your traffic dies, your conversions die, your business dies. Yet, many business marketers struggle with choosing the types of content that will keep website visitors coming back for more, and convert those visitors into customers.

There are different kinds of website content, and they all serve a different purpose. It helps to have an understanding of the types of content you can publish on your website and what that content can do for you.

You can, of course, publish your content in other places. You can publish on other people’s websites or blogs, on social media, in forums, etc. Today, however, we’re just talking about content you publish on your own website. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give you some idea about the types of content available to you.

10 Types of Website Content

There is no taxonomy of content. The right content is that content that is placed in front of the right customer at the right time and speaks the right message leading to the right action (hopefully, to do business with you, but it could be to download your free report, sign up for your newsletter, or click another link to another piece of content). This list is to simply say that these are some of the types of content you can use to help you reach a measurable goal.

• Static Content – Static content is content you publish and leave for your audience to discover. It doesn’t change. Its opposite is dynamic content, which is content that changes over time. Blogs are dynamic. Videos are dynamic. Static content are those pages on your website that describe your products or services. You publish and leave them. Quite simple, really.
• Landing Pages – Landing pages are a type of static content that might have dynamic elements. For instance, your landing page may consist of a video. It might even be nothing but a video. But you aren’t likely to change the content of the page, and you might publish some textual content that is designed to draw people in and get them to take some action. For now, just know that landing pages are static content that are narrowly focused on a single call to action that you want your visitor to take and all the content on that page is geared toward moving your visitor to take that action.
• Blog Content – Blog content is a little more difficult. A blog home page is a dynamic page. It changes every time you publish a new blog post. It can be on your website or your blog can have its own website. Either way, the main page, or home page, of the blog is a dynamic page. Check out Thoughts on Digital Publishing and you’ll see several blog posts on that page. Scroll down to see each page. If you click on any particular blog post title, you’ll navigate to a single blog post. Blog posts are generally static, however, you may want to, from time to time, revisit certain blog posts and revise them. That’s perfectly acceptable. Maybe the information needs to be updated, or maybe you’ve changed your opinion on some things, or maybe you want to add new graphics or enhance the SEO (search engine optimization). Blog content at its best is both static and dynamic.
• Photos – Photos are content that enhances content. Rarely will you create a web page with nothing but a photo. You might have a photo gallery, especially if you are a photographer or artist and you are displaying your work. However, if you do, then you should enhance your photos with textual content. Photos make great content, but they are usually more effective and powerful when used in conjunction with textual content.
• Videos – Unlike photos, videos can often be the main piece of content on a page. You can use videos to entertain, educate, inform, or a combination of the three. You can host them on your own server, but I recommend using embedded videos. YouTube is a great source for finding videos to embed on your website, your blog, or wherever you publish content. Here’s an example of an embedded video.

• Images – Not all images are photos. Some are cartoons or created graphics (formats include gif, png, and jpg). Animated gifs are popular and often bring a lighthearted flare to a serious topic.
• About Content – Every website should have an About page. This is static content that tells your visitors about you and why they should do business with you. If you are a sole proprietor or freelancer, like I am, an About page should detail your experiences and background to show your potential customers what you can do for them. If your website represents a company, your About page should detail the company’s history and expertise, but you might also include information about your company’s leadership. Check out my About page, for example, and this corporate About page for Right.com.
• FAQs – FAQ is an acronym that stands for Frequently Asked Questions. If your product or service is complex, I recommend a FAQ page. Take your most frequently asked questions and turn them into a page where you provide answers to those questions. Check out this great FAQ page. See how they split it up into FAQ for sponsors and investors? That’s talking to your audience.
• Infographics – An infographic is an informational graphic. A couple of years ago, they were all the rage. The buzz has dimmed down some since then, thank the Almighty. But they can still be effective if done well. Check out these 25 effective infographics for some great examples.
• Polls – Want to know what your visitors think about something? Take a poll. Or you can call it a survey. A great place to find tools to help you manage effective polls is SurveyMonkey (no, this is not an affiliate link).

As stated earlier, this is not an exhaustive list of types of website content, but this is a good place to start. Incorporate as many of these as you can into your content marketing strategy.

Allen Taylor specializes in the creation of unique Authority Content. To talk about rates and writing services, call 717-253-2306. A variation of this article was originally published at his blog titled Thoughts on Digital Publishing.