Content is probably the most commonly overlooked area in Web design, and more particularly in e-commerce. Even though consumers rate it as an important factor in their purchase decision, retailers don’t seem to know how to take advantage of content in their online presence. Inevitably, the lack of content will impact sales. In 2008, Lauren Freedman, President at E-Tailing Group pointed out that “79 % (of surveyed consumers) say they rarely or never purchase a product online without complete product information”.

Content is key to the experience on your site. It’s going to attract visitors, engage them in your brand and will eventually turn them into customers. Bankaholic is a blog about banks offerings. It has been sold for about $15 million to the financial information site Bankrate, who bought the blog for the quality of its highly focused content. What does that tell us about the importance of content?

Kristina Halvorson wrote a very interesting article about content: ““Stop pretending content is somebody else’s problem. Take up the torch for content strategy. Learn it. Practice it. Promote it. It’s time to make content matter.”

So how can you make your content matter?

First ask yourself if you want to write it yourself or get someone to write it for you. Hiring someone can be very interesting for your business, especially if your candidate has Search Engine Optimization copywriting skills.

Become an expert in your field. Whether it is through articles (write your own or syndicate with other sites), or through the use of a blog, talk to your audience about things that are relevant to you… and to them. Blogs are a great vehicle for announcing new products, new store openings, events and more. They bring some freshness to your site, and boost your organic rankings too.

Think beyond features and look and feel. Are you looking into redesigning your online presence? Ask yourself: what content can I put forward on my site? Do you have existing content in your offline strategies that could be reused on the Web? If you are selling shoes, multiple pictures and a size picker is good, but have you thought about supported category information like fabrics, technology or design ideas that led to the creation of your shoes?

When visitors land on your home page, they want to know what you can do for them. Making the information clear and compelling will make your visitors stay longer, come back, and eventually purchase something on your site, as opposed to a competitor’s site.

In a nutshell, creating content that is useful to machines and search engines is one thing. Creating content that is relevant to people is another. Finding the right balance between fancy look & feel, efficient tools and great content is the secret recipe.