Content is King…

At an AdTech Show, in San Francisco, last year.  I attended a session on content.  The gist of the session was that “content is STILL king.”   At the time, I thought that made sense.  The more I think about it now, the less that makes sense.  Content is STILL king implies that there was or will be a time when content is not the most important component of a site.  There is maybe one successful site I can think of where the actual content, isn’t the most important factor, CSSZenGarden.com.  The funny thing about CSS Zen Garden, is that it has an extremely strong value proposition.  The “content” which makes the site successful, is the purpose.  So, content can be either implicit or explicit.  Either way, it is vitally important.  It is easy to see from the natural progression, as sites have moved from basic text information sites to interactive content that engage the users with games or tools, that content has developed over the years.  This begs the question, “Will content always be king?”  Yes, of course it will.  Content will become MORE important.  It has become easier and easier to develop and build sites, and be a part of the internet. 

Anyone can create a site, and put some words on it.  Those people are competitors for your site, and the easier it becomes to build and develop a site, the more and more competition grows.  So, how is one to stand-out among the competition? Content.   Why would someone visit your site, if there is a better one  out there?   They shouldn’t.  Over time, they won’t.  The first rule, in the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is The Law of Leadership:  It’s better to be first than it is to be better.  False.  The transparency and low barriers to entry make the internet a proving ground, more than a first come first serve ticket window.  There are a number of case-studies on this.  Apple was not the first to introduce an mp3 player, but at the time the iPod was THE best.  Friendster opened the door for Facebook and Myspace to walk through, and improve.  Warren Buffet stresses the importance of the moat around a business as essential to it’s success.  This holds true online.  The moat online? Content.

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