| LED Digest 2486: Information Supply and Demand |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. September 6, 2007 Issue no. 2486 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Adding Content: Free Money ==-- ~ Barry S Mills "...talk to him about gaps between supply and demand for information..." ~ Michelle Tackabery "...developing your own news section is an easy way to start..." ~ Elliot Borin "Adding 'content' in the form of pictures, Flash movies, Java applets, etc. doesn't help." ~ Mark J. Welch "...writing 'competence' is a less common skill than we'd like..." --== Designing for AOL ==-- ~ Richard Stubbings "I would probably have a cheap stand alone box that just runs AOL..." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Barry Mills Subject: Content > I thought of a way to explain the importance of adding > content... Because adding content to your site is SUCH > as easy thing to do that it just about amounts to picking > up free money. - Michael Linehan, LED Digest 2485 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1896/190/ I agree with a lot of what Michael Linehan says about the value of content, though not about it being so ridiculously easy. I also agree that the typical reaction of a business owner is along the lines of "how little can we get away with", because it's all a bit of a pain and they don't really see the point. But surely, that's our fault (the "industry" I mean). I'd like to suggest a different way of looking at the same issue, which might help both to focus digital marketers on genuinely value-adding content, and help business owners to "get it." So here goes; Stop thinking about adding content, and start thinking about identifying and fulfilling customer needs, seeking out gaps in the market and capitalising on them. Because really, it's the same thing. Web marketers want to add content, because it boosts link traffic, search rankings and stickability. But not all content does this -- only content which fulfils a need. Adding well written material to a web site will never do any harm as such, and because we all know that it's easy to be lax about targeting it properly. But there IS a significant cost to most worthwhile content initiatives, even if it's "just" the owners time (actually, that's the most precious resource of all). The content that generates most benefit for a web site is that which covers material which is searched for a lot and which is not well covered on many other established sites on the internet. This stuff is easy to SEO, and compelling to link to. In other words, content for which there is demand (evidenced by the search volumes) and a lack of adequate supply. Next time you want to pitch content development, instead of asking the entrepreneur to develop more content, talk to him about gaps between supply and demand for information, ask him what information & resources his customers & prospects want or need (to make them buy, or just to make them happy), and if he doesn't know, ask him to ask them, or let you ask them on his behalf. Then investigate how readily available it is, consider whether that which is not readily available fits with the brand of your client, and look at how the need could be fulfilled. You may sometimes identify content which is so valuable if can be a revenue stream in its own right. More often, you will identify stuff which realistically needs to be given away, but instead of explaining this in SEO terms talk about loss leading, brand building, attracting customers to frequent your establishment, and cross-selling. These are concepts entrepreneurs understand, and they are the real reasons why adding compelling content is good business. Barry S Mills Chairman Netstep Corporate Communications http://www.netstep.co.uk -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Michelle Tackabery Subject: Content I second that emotion, Michael, but I would probably go closer to the typical 80/20 break for long tail keywords versus shorter ones. The conversions we get for my law firm from the three sites I manage have primarily come from keywords I could never have done organic SEO for because they are so rarely searched and so hard to predict, but came directly from the massive amounts of content we have generated on our own. It seems daunting at first, but developing your own news section is an easy way to start - it's how we did it at farrin.com. Michelle Tackabery http://www.michelletackabery.net -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Elliot Borin Subject: Clarifing content Great post, Mark. Only thing I would add is that it's important for webmasters to understand that the only type of added content which will, as you put it, give "a critical boost to search engine rank ... as well as bringing people directly" is text. Adding "content" in the form of pictures, Flash movies, Java applets, etc. doesn't help. Only tightly focused, well-written, search-engine-optimized copy in the form of articles, blog entries or linked information pages will do the job you describe.. Elliot Borin -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Mark J. Welch Subject: Content: More than a "Little" Effort Michael Linehan wrote: > I suggest that the effort is so little and doing > it is so easy that if you don't add content, and > continue to do so regularly, you're metaphorically > walking past free money. (And if that content is > professionally written, with effective marketing > messages, so much the better.) There is some inconsistency in that message: "little effort" is required, yet "professionally written" and "effective" is better. Writing effectively is a skill. If you can't write well, but you publish content anyway, you run the risk that your content will brand your company as inept. The problem with Michael's philosophy is not that it is wrong "in theory," but that in practice it is nearly always implemented poorly. I've had several potential clients who thought it would be great to hire "offshore" copywriters to create content for little cost or effort. In every case, the writing was awkward (frequently incomprehensible), and much of the "original" content turned out to be poor-quality rewrites of existing material (e.g. copyright infringement / plagiarism). I actually "fired" one client who refused to admit that the content being generated was worthless garbage that reflected poorly on the company. I absolutely believe in Michael's philosophy: producing useful, relevant content is a great marketing strategy, and for most businesses it is one of the lowest-cost, lowest-effort marketing strategies available. But writing "competence" is a less common skill than we'd like, and therefore the effort is something more than "little." Mark J. Welch Internet Marketing Consultant http://www.MarkWelch.com/ ============ Sponsor Message =========== Take A Fall Tour Of Colorful Content At www.GetWebContent.com/LED, we take pride in crafting words as unique and rich as the variegated hues of autumn itself. In plain English, that means our copy grabs readers by the throat and makes them buy something. Here are some samples: http://www.getwebcontent.com/samples.php ============ Sponsor Message =========== -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Richard Stubbings Subject: AOL browsers > My question, how can I 'use' AOL on my machine to see > what the problem is and fix it? I know you can do a free > month with AOL, but I'm nervous about being able to get > rid of them afterwards. - Nancy Cardinali, LED Digest 2484 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1895/190/ If my business was web site design then I would see part of my job being testing that design in all popular browsers. This unfortunately would include AOL. For this I would probably have a cheap stand alone box that just runs AOL. So that it cannot interfere with my main PC / MAC Richard Stubbings Kulture Shock http://www.kultureshock.co.uk and http://www.doctorwhoonline.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. 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