What is content
Content can mean all manner of things:
- Text - articles, blog entries, essays, product descriptions, poems, reviews
- Graphics - cartoons, illustrations, maps, photographs
- Music - mp3 files
- Activities - on line games, quizes
- Comparisons - prices, products
Of course, some sites are almost self generating in content - forums and community sites rely on contributions from your users - though you will have to draw the users in first, and then probably spend time moderating the content [moderate - making sure that any contributions are appropriate and not spammy].
Creating good content
If you want people to keep returning to your site, then you must have good content. Obviously you will need some at the very start, but don't forget to think about new content as time goes on - especially true if you are running a blog or newspaper!
People have a desire for new content, so even a brochure site will benefit from the occasional brushup. Obviously calanders and charges must be kept up to date.
You may be a dab hand at writing or photography or recording, in which case you can 'easily' create your own content - though don't underestimate the time needed - you will often want to polish and clarify your first attempts.
You will probably find that your style changes for the web - writing tends to become more consise, and paragraphs are usually reduced to one or two lines. That's known as chunking - huge solid blocks of text are not easy to read on line - the eye easily gets lost.
If you are not good at content creation, then you will need to get someone to write your copy/take your photos for you - so don't forget to budget for their time/labour.
Finally, think about what your users want to know or do, don't be self indulgent, but if you can lead them to something new - that's brilliant.
Legitimate content
If we are going to develop/maintain your website then your content must be legitimate and not pilfered in any way.
Thus, you must either have:
- Created it yourself - written the words, taken the photo, drawn the cartoon, played the music
- Commisioned the unique work - and paid the write, artist or designer appropriately
- Paid to use the work - a good example is the use of stock photo's from a library
- Got written permission - from the author or artist
Fair use - means that you can make use of quotations from literary works, provided that they are correctly attributed, and do not constitute a significant amount of that work.
If the art or writing is out of copyright, then larger quotations or reproductions are permissible