When it comes to trying to attract the attention of your current audience or potential audience, the task is becoming more and more difficult. Now that there are so many sites out there, everyone has more than a handful of competitors in their field to try and compete with. To make matters worse, audiences are starting to get bored of seeing the same thing online day in and day out. They are always looking for something new that they haven’t seen before anywhere else.
Chances are if you have a website that has a lot of content, all you really need to do is make some design changes in order to get the audience interested again. If however, you are looking for something completely new that will catch your competitors off guard, then you will have a tough fight on your hands. No one can predict what the next big viral success will be, but there are ways to gain a little inspiration from the people who have managed to get it right.
Here we will take a look at two of the biggest success stories over the past year when it comes to creating innovative and original content. We will look at what made them so popular while also considering how they can give you inspiration for your own content.
eBay: Innovative Design
The graphic design company eBoy is often described as the best company in the world when it comes to pixel art. For that reason, they needed a website that would match their creative graphic style, while also making sure that the content is in good form as well. As you can see on their website, they are not afraid to show off their unique style. When you click on the different sections of their site, you also find that they have wonderfully written content to go along with their unique visual style.
What makes the eBoy website work so well is that they are embracing what makes them unique. They know that they are a member of a niche market with their pixel artwork, so they make that as big a focal point as possible. They have examples of their work on display, along with some original designs made specifically for their website. They then make it an all-around success by having very well-written content to illustrate that they are not a one-trick pony.
If eBoy encourages you in any way, then it should encourage you to embrace your website’s aim, no matter what it is. It also illustrates that even though you may have a website that is based around images, it doesn’t hurt to have very well-written content in there as well.
Polygon And Their PS4 Review
There are times when websites make just one page that proves to be a big content success. For the website Polygon, that came in the shape of their PS4 review. Polygon naturally knew that a lot of people would be wanting to read a review of the PS4 when it was due to be released, so they ran with the idea. They created a long-form review with plenty of visual styles to give it a boost.
It was a great idea for Polygon to do this, mainly because it showed they respected how big an event the PS4 release was for gamers everywhere. With that in mind, they have a long, detailed, and very well-written review so then visitors to the site get everything they are looking for without having to consider going anywhere else. To make their content even better still, they have appealing graphic images and animations of the PS4, along with actual photos and a video review.
This is a wonderful content example, not just because it ticks all the boxes, but because it clearly takes into account what the audience is looking for. Polygon knew that their audience would want to know everything they could consume about the PS4 and so wrote a review that covered everything. Not only that, but they also included cool graphics in order to keep them interested while also luring in new visitors. Polygon clearly appreciated how big an event this was for their audience and so treated it with the respect they will have been looking for.
If ever an event comes up in your chosen industry that would be considered important by your audience, then there is nothing wrong with creating special content. If you are able to really push the boat out as Polygon did with their PS4 review, then you could find your coverage of a particular event could go viral very quickly.
Both of these examples are great for anyone looking for a little inspiration when it comes to their content. These two sites had great success with their content this year and that was mainly thanks to their ability to cover all the bases. Polygon had a written-content-based approach but still found time to create arresting images, while eBoy had content based around graphic designs but also included well-crafted content.
Obviously, it’s not easy to cover all the bases when it comes to creating original content, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it is not worth a try. The next time you are thinking of creating new content for your site, think about how you can improve the visual style and layout. See if you can incorporate the written content in with the images, or even the other way around. If anything, you should make 2015 the year that you try and innovate your content and make it better than ever before.
