Today marks the first in a series of posts about the value of web content. It was taken directly from an eBook I wrote about the value of content for the modern day business. Over the next few weeks, we’ll roll out the entirety of the eBook to help serve as a guide for customers interested in finding out more about why content marketing is one of the most important marketing strategies your company can invest in during these next several years.
Introduction
Since the first caveman Googled “how make fire,” men and women all over the world have been depending on search engines to provide them with information on what to buy, where to shop, how to watch videos of donkeys on trampolines, and why image searches cause you to accidentally view really disgusting things at work.
As a business, your goal is to be the source and subject of that information. When someone searches for a keyword relevant to your industry, you want some type of content to show up that directs them to some type of purchase, whether it’s buying your product online, calling your company for services, or coming directly to your store.
Content is the ultimate marketing tool. Once your content is online, it becomes a free and consistent source of hits and sales with no short term shelf life or cost per click. One piece of content can potentially drive thousands of hits or more, and has additional benefits to marketing your website beyond hits alone.
What is Content?
When we talk about content, what we’re really talking about are words. Internet marketers use a lot of different terminology to refer to these words, including:
- Keyword Articles
- Content
- Pages
- SEO Articles
- Blog Posts
But regardless of the terminology used or the type of content requested, what all of these pieces have in common is that they all involve words. Content is the act of writing, and placing that writing on your website or others with the goal of generating hits.
Content is at the heart of search engine technology. Search engines were designed using complex algorithms that calculated the value of content (in terms of content quality, keywords that indicate the topics covered, relevance, incoming links, originality, and more), and organized them by the results of that algorithm in search engine rankings. Once there, your content becomes free advertising for your website, business, or product.
That’s why quality content is so valuable for your business – more valuable than any other type of marketing method, online or offline.
- Content is more valuable than social media.
- Content is more valuable than innovative website design.
- Content is more valuable than pay per click advertising.
If you truly want your business to succeed, content is how you’ll get there.
