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The Web Hosting Forum > Web Design & Content > Content is King

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Thermit
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 272
Content is King  Reply with quote  

On the Internet content is king and always will be. This is because the Internet is the information superhighway and most people use it for information of some sort.

The information on a website is its content. Generally the more useful and interesting content a website has the more successful it will be. This is because more people will want to visit it again and again, this is especially true if a website is constantly adding more and more content on a regular basis be it articles, tutorials, news and opinion or whatever.

Content is what drives the web. OK, OK, what about the vast variety of products that can be bought on the web?

It's true there are millions and millions of products available to buy on the web but only the odd surfer goes online to specifically look for a product so if you gear your site to simply sell your product and do nothing else you won't be very successful.

This is because nobody will even visit your site unless they're looking specifically for your product and they just so happen to find it via a search engine.

Now you know content is king but do you know what good content is? Well the first trick to creating good content for your website is to be sure that your content will have specific appeal to your target audience.

Next you want original content, if someone asked me what I considered good content I'd say that it was content that's different and unique and not the same as the content on the other website I just came from.

Good content will show the writers own personality and flavor in it. It will be interesting and very informative, if it's not what's the point of putting it online in the first place, nobody will benefit from it and it won't help you get more repeat visitors.

Your content should be easy to understand and use regular English as far as possible, if you've to use topic specific words that could cause trouble for some visitors make sure you explain them. To create content you simply write news and articles about the industry your product is in. This ensures that visitors who read your content are also the visitors that are likely to be interested in buying your product.

If you feel you're great at creating products but don't feel the same way about your writing skills and think you can't write your own content there are hundreds of places where you can get content for free, usually all that's required of you is that you place a small bio of the original writer at the bottom of the article or tutorial.

To find free content like this simply visit any major search engine and type in "free your keywords here content" and then visit a couple of the returned sites. You'll be surprised at the amount of free content you can get for your site.

Remember before you publish new content always always check spelling and grammar. If your content has misspellings and poor grammar your website and company will appear unprofessional and people don't generally buy from companies they think are unprofessional.

Don't just use the spell checker in Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage or any other website creator you use because the spell checker will do just that, spell check, it won't be able to tell you that you've used 'there' when you should've actually used 'their', so you always have to actually read all your content, usually twice is enough to spot errors, also to make sure try and get some friends to proofread it for you.

On a final note, always try to update your content as much as possible as more people will become regular visitors and will be exposed to the products and services you offer. This is turn will equal more sales and profit for you and that ladies and gentlemen is what it's all about.


Article by David Callan. David is an Internet marketing professional and webmaster of AKA Marketing.com webmaster forums.


Post Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:49 pm
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Cibok



Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 29
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And the other view of the story: Content Isn't King!
http://www.v7n.com/marketing-content.php Laughing


Post Thu Sep 16, 2004 6:49 pm
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Thermit
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 272
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Thanks, Cibok. I liked that they tried to go against the popular Content is King mantra, however their arguments were less than compelling for me.

Their example of the soda vending machine not providing editorials and reviews of the product falls pretty flat considering that this "real world" example has very little to do with how the Internet works.

Fact is... content is spider food, which attracts the spiders, which results in search engine listings, which results in free visitors.

No visitors no sales.

Sure you can always pay for your visitors with PPC and the like, but why not get free visitors too via your content.

The valid point that they do have, is that you don't necessarily have to have content to sell stuff. But selling stuff wasn't the point of the original article, the point of the original article was attracting and retaining visitors.

So, Content is still King! Very Happy


Post Thu Sep 16, 2004 7:06 pm
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Euler



Joined: 02 Sep 2004
Posts: 109
What?  Reply with quote  

What a load of crap.

quote:
Convince the consumer with a high list price, and a low discount price; FUD the competition; build your credibility and your brand.


Someone doesn't know what the word 'credibility' means. Just because you can't see your customer face to face in a network setting doesn't mean you need to treat them like crap.

The whole "selling is war" mis-metaphor makes me laugh. Used car salesmen have websites too, I guess.

[/i]


Post Thu Sep 16, 2004 7:31 pm
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Thermit
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 272
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Hey, I learned something...

FUD was first defined by Gene Amdahl after he left IBM to found his own company, Amdahl: "FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering Amdahl products."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUD


Post Thu Sep 16, 2004 7:39 pm
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Euler



Joined: 02 Sep 2004
Posts: 109
Jargon etymology  Reply with quote  

I love etymology.

Question: if a person is comfortable with their value proposition, why would they FUD a competitor?

That V7 guy basically says that success is gained by lying about prices and lying about competitors. Hm. I guess I know why the author isn't listed. It must be a position held by the company. Nice policy.


Post Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:05 pm
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discountdomains



Joined: 19 Oct 2004
Posts: 10
Content King  Reply with quote  

Well then Links must be Queen!

Clare

_________________
www.discountdomainsuk.com


Post Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:35 pm
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Thermit
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 272
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I was reading an SEO article which was basically saying that old school SEO is based on the content is king idea (on page factors) while real SEO is based on the links are king idea (on page factors + off page factors). Obviously, in the context of SEO in a vacuum links are king, but hopefully there will be some interesting useful information for the visitor at the destination end of the SEO efforts, so ultimately content is king.


Post Fri Oct 22, 2004 6:10 pm
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