Web development is a collective term, and it includes among other things, content development. This is an intrinsic part of web development, as it deals with content creation- the thing that draws and maintains the visitors to the site being created. While visual graphic may impress the visitors, and give them a reason to visit the site, it is the content that gives them a reason to stay. Needless to say, it has to be informative, recent, interesting, and most importantly presented in a readable way. By definition, web content development can be described as the process of either creating or gathering information so that it can be placed on the website. It is a task taken up by the web content developer.
The most basic web content developer is expected to have a technical writing ability. They should be able to either research content and present it, or create it themselves, according to the specifications needed for the site. This includes number of words, and presentation of the written material- either in point form, or in continuous prose. It could either be simple or complex, depending on the target for the site, though simplicity is always desired, even when the content being delivered is somewhat technical. Reiterating what has been mentioned, writing is the most basic skill a web content developer needs. Over time, their job has evolved to include a lot of different skills, and in most cases, content developers work with other professionals to provide the content needed. It might need to be supplemented with graphics, pictures, videos, and this requires some skill in web design. If the content they create need to be coded, then knowledge in HTML becomes invaluable. Since a content developer cannot manage all these, more so when they have many pages of content to think about, the tasks are delegated to others who specialize in the skills.

A requirement for web content developed is that it has to be web optimized. This necessitates the content developer to get some knowledge in search engine optimization, as this is one of the things that guarantee regular visits to the site. A website that has been optimized, and marketed to a precise niche, for instance through the use of keywords, is more likely to be presented by a search engine as one of the top results. This directly influences the amount of traffic generated to the site, as only the top listed sites get most visitors.

The most difficult task in web content development is maintaining a steady stream of fresh content. Every website has a set frequency in which new content is posted- for instance, when it’s just in if it is a news website, or on a regular schedule for the other websites. Greater frequency means more work in creating content, and in a place where there are thousands of other websites with the same target market that you have, it’s a never ending challenge, keeping your visitors happy with unique, readable, informative material