What’s the latest trend in website content? In recent years, the trend has been to publish more content, faster and to a higher quality.
But what’s trending now?
Here are seven trends you may have missed
1. More dynamic page layout
This is certainly not a new trend, but as your web pages get larger, it becomes more noticeable. As a consequence, your head will be turned, and you will be looking at what content is the most engaging, rather than the width of your page. Therefore, make sure that you make all content on your website exciting and engaging for your visitors.
This works great for tables, too, as they now have different elements that draw your attention to different sections of your website. By using a dynamic website content template (text with images or video), you can make all pages engaging. Put sample website content to check your layout and then create the content accordingly
2. Longer reads
Some websites are planning to publish longer articles that take longer to read. One trend you can see is that people are reading fewer individual posts instead of getting more articles in a series. This strategy is used to keep people interested and target specific market segments for their products and services.
Also, the personalization strategy is a way to better tailor the content development for publishing to individual platforms and make the website’s experience as seamless as possible. For example, brands publish articles based on past clicks on their blog posts or social media. They also use an algorithm to customize the content so that it’s more relevant to readers.
3. Emphasis on visuals
As more and more people see visuals, they become more accustomed to reading them. Text-heavy articles seem like they need longer to comprehend. You’re likely to have a greater chance of getting readers’ attention and engaging them if they’re reading your post online rather than through a static PDF or printed copy.
After more than two years of research, we’re happy to report that content on mobile is the year mobile usage finally overtook desktop. Many websites are publishing more and more content for a mobile audience. Our analysis of the top web pages of 2014 indicates more than 50% of all content is now published to mobile. This includes tables, videos, and charts. Don’t write articles for a desktop audience – make sure they’re equally engaging for mobile users.
4. Integrated videos
Video is a perfect example of a content trend. Although it started being used for educational purposes, it has now evolved into one of the most effective tools to drive traffic and boost conversions. You can integrate a video on your site in the form of short, interactive videos or longer content, as long as they drive traffic.
Instead of making posts or podcasts, integrate videos within your blog posts. It will grab your readers’ attention and inspire them to take action on your site. For example, what if you could review something with video and get four times more visitors? Yes, that is possible with videos. It’s also a great way to convince readers to purchase from your site
5. Longer form content
According to Statistics, the average visitor to a website spends 2 minutes and 12 seconds looking at the content. If you aren’t engaging visitors for at least that long, you’re probably missing many potential sales opportunities. 50% of all online sales come from just 10% of visitors. So how do you improve your site’s page-load time?
One popular solution is to publish longer-form content that’s more likely to engage your visitors. Longer forms (as opposed to paragraphs) are ten times more likely to cause users to leave than short forms (less than 60 words). And shorter forms are better for readers than longer forms. But you needn’t always write longer-form content to earn the benefit of the longer-term experience.
6. Personalization
For years, content marketing has been about selling people on a particular product or service. But lately, this focus has been shifting toward personalizing the content. The content itself is no longer focused on what they’ll buy but rather what the buyer wants, as represented by their personal experiences. In the meantime, the demand for content is only increasing.
In the recent survey “Content Marketing Maturity” by HubSpot, 79% of the respondents said their content marketing campaigns are designed to drive sales. Despite these trends, there are a few trends in terms of personalization that marketers can’t ignore. People already rely on search engines for many of their buying decisions, and everyone is looking for that personal touch in today’s connected world.
7. Interactive content
If you wanted to determine how interactive content is trending, the answer might surprise you. Most of the big sites out there, like Facebook, are involved in the trend. If you need a reason to consider a theme that uses interactive elements, consider what happens when your target audience clicks through your site from a Facebook ad. What if your target audience can’t resist the click?
According to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, two-thirds of those who clicked through to an online ad or article later converted to a customer. Not bad, right? Another interesting fact is that, as a rule, mobile phones are more inclined to click on an ad or content than desktop users. So what’s the best way to turn this trend into an advantage for your business?
Conclusion
No matter how much experience your marketing team has, they still need the time to think through ideas and plot them out. When everything is coming together, and there is a product insight, this level of expertise is easy to lose track of.
However, there is no reason why you shouldn’t still have that information up-to-date and in the right place for the correct time. If you’re looking to maximize your marketing effort, reach out to SearcHound for engaging content.