…. or maybe it’s just gold.
But whatever you say about “content” …. text-based, practical, highly-readable, linkbait-able writing … it’s worth more than people suspect.
After more than four months of advertising online and two years of blogging personally, I’ve realized our advertising money would be better spent developing our own content, on our own sites.
Here’s my rational for why I believe content is priceless … or pretty darn valuable anyway:
1. Content is a one-time investment with long-term residual payoff
This is what I was getting at in my post on the Long Tail of Blogging.
On the web, there is really no expiration date for great content. Well, I guess content can grow old, or stale, or go out of date for some subjects. But as long as it resides somewhere on a server and is accessible from the web, you can reap the rewards — in terms of readers — forever.
That’s what I love about well-written, indexable content.
And the beauty is … you pay for it once — in dollars or time.
2. Search engines are content banks
Often, I search for various niche keywords on Google and regularly find articles that were written 2 or 3 years ago ranking at the top, coveted spot.
The bulk of this content is still great, timeless writing …
This makes the search engines a 24/7 vault for great content, accessible to anyone with a web browser and keyword phrase.
Again, for a one-time time or monetary investment.
3. Content is still a bargain.
Because great content isn’t valued, in some marketing circles, as much as advertising, it means good writing is a bargain. There is a bunch of blogging job boards out there ripe for getting good content written for you and your company.
I’m starting that search now myself.
I was at one time a newspaper journalist, then later transitioned to be a part-time freelance writer. The numbers I hear for blog-type writing are quite lower than what I was paid to write.
But unlike others, I still value good writing. And I’ll pay for it too. Especially if the writer is an authority in their field.
Now, if you’ve followed my thought here, and agree … the million-dollar question becomes …
How do you as a small business owner leverage content for marketing?
I’ll talk more about that in the future, but I’m eager to see how you’re doing that now … leave a comment on this post and let us all know.
If content is so great, why wouldn’t i pay someone else to write contents that i am not familiar about? This question just popped up to myself after reading what you’ve said. Not everyone is good at writing and sometimes good marketers may not be good content writers. Why not outsource it and focus on what you do best?
Timmy, read no. 3 ….
I am beginning to see the value of contents and not just simply focusing on the aspects of marketing. Came across a good bargain from a company that writes articles for less than 5 USD per 400 words. You are darn right in point 1 that content is a one-time investment. If there are anything i have to pay to market my website, content is a MUST. I am a little unwilling to splurge on search engine marketing tools since there are way too much free tools out there, which works well too
What did i do to source for good content writers?
Well…i participate actively in forums and ask the majority…it works all the time when looking for good answers to a question.
Unique custom content combined with solid SEM/SEO skills and other optimization tools (blogging, social networks, article directory campaigns) will always help a site rate higher than one without this type of content.
Cory, the issue here is unique voice.
It’s not easy to hire out the core writing. At least, the content which might end up working as link bait.
That said, that’s exactly what we are working on and what we do as well.