In the Court of the
Content King Why is great content key to online marketing?
Introduction
Hi! My name is Mike Darnell. I was born in 1974 My 1st job was modeling underwear & Roman toys
My partner is Virode Imtarnasan Thai, 38 years old, married, studied law Career: EA, Sega, IRM‌ Web: Cnngo, Vertu, Playboy‌
Is your website targeting and engaging prospects?
Where we do business
The Fun Bit
Foreword
According to the
MARKETING is…
“…the activity, institutions, and processes for creating,
COMMUNICATING, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers...”
Marketers have always known the key to success is providing succinct and useful information regarding their products‌
…both in person and otherwise.
Hold that thought‌
in 1996 Bill Gates wrote a visionary article titled
Content is King:
“…Content is where I expect the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting…
…The TV revolution spawned a number of industries, including the manufacturing of TVs, but THE LONGTERM WINNERS WERE THOSE WHO USED IT TO DELIVER INFORMATION & ENTERTAINMENT… [Bill penned the article in March. In August Microsoft and NBC launched MSNBC]
…the broad opportunities for most companies involve supplying INFORMATION or entertainment. NO COMPANY IS TOO SMALL TO PARTICIPATE…
…One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone can publish whatever content they can create. THE INTERNET ALLOWS INFORMATION TO BE DISTRIBUTED WORLDWIDE AT ZERO MARGINAL COST…”
The essay is a masterpiece because it predicts not only the web’s ascent as an easily accessible means of publication, but also how this will impact human society as a whole
Strangely Microsoft has never been able to capitalize on Bill’s insights regarding the web
Some perspective‌
In 1996 Microsoft and Netscape were fighting to control HOW we accessed the web
“Content is King” predicted that wouldn’t matter half as much as
WHAT WE DID ONCE WE GOT THERE
…but as the web grew in size the problem became FINDING WHERE WE’RE GOING
That was about to change because these guys shared a room in Stanford
Sergey Brin PHD project: Data Mining Development
Larry Page PHD project: Inferring the importance of a research paper from its citations in other papers
They’re better known as...
Why is Larry’s Ph.D project the key to Google search, and how does this matter to YOU?
“…Inferring the importance of a research paper from its citations in other papers…”
What does that mean?
paper
paper
paper
A bunch of research papers‌
paper paper
paper
paper
Paper
paper
paper
‌all citing the same source‌
paper
paper
paper
IMPORTANT paper
paper
paper
…serve as an indication the source is Important
paper
Let’s swap one word…
Site 1
Site 2
Your site
Site 3
Site 4 Etc.
Larry’s big idea, and the foundation for Google’s search algorithms, is simply the concept that:
A web page’s importance can be inferred from the number of pages linking to it
What does this mean to you?
Simply put: The more OTHER SITES link back to yours, the better your Google search ranking
Are all links equal?
Sector Trade magazine
Your site
Opinion Leaders blog
Wikipedia definition related to your business
“Good� inbound links are from pages that relate to your offerings and industry
The importance of the linking webpage determines the quality of the link
This is known as
PAGERANK …after the guy who invented it – Larry Page
The cute version
How does Google know?
Google calculates Pagerank relationships by MAINTAINING A COPY OF ALL INDEXED PAGES
This is INCREDIBLY resource intensive‌
Google’s hardware infrastructure is a cornerstone of its success and a closely guarded secret [in 2010 Google’s data centers were using the equivalent of ¼ the output of your average nuclear power plant]
Now that we understand the importance of links to search ranking the next question is‌
Why would anyone want to link to you?
Take a minute and list the links you’ve created and shared recently‌
‌Now list what motivated you to create each link
The CONTENT…
…was compelling enough to create a response
We link to content that: A. Moves us B. Engages us C. Is USEFUL
REMEMBER THIS? “Marketers have always known the key to success is providing succinct and useful information regarding their products”
There’s Nothing New Under the Sun…
Conclusion
1. CONTENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN KING: Marketing has always been about communicating useful and engaging information related to products and offerings
2. THE WEB LEVELS THE FIELD
The low cost of publishing and syndicating Online Content serves as an equalizer giving SMEs an opportunity to compete with MNCs on even ground
3. A LINK ECONOMY The ultimate measure for success of any type of online content is the number of inbound links and user engagement it generates Good content is “rewarded” with better search rankings, which in turn, further boosts its popularity, etc…
Workshop time!
1. Pair up and introduce your businesses 2. Come up with 5 ideas for content relating to your partner’s business that you would be likely to link to 3. List the topic, media, attraction and estimated cost (time, effort, $$$,‌) 4. Determine criteria for measuring success 5. Present your work to the group This is a brainstorming exercise: Don't shoot down ideas, don't criticize, keep it open
Don't say "you can" Say "I would link to..."
Content by Topic
Content by Medium
Products/Services Company information News Events TIPS/HOW-TOS* FAQS Lists CASE STUDIES TESTIMONIALS/CLIENTS Articles etc‌
Texts (HTML/PDF) Images Presentations Audio Podcasts VIDEO Forms/Quizzes Etc.
* Extra Credit: Why are some of the above in ALLCAPS?
Afterword
The inherent challenge in generating marketing content online is finding a sweet spot between content that is "link bait", and content that has commercial marketing value for your company SUCCESSFUL online campaigns are campaigns that resolve this in an optimal fashion
Questions?
Easter Egg
About this Image‌
in 1969 Barry Godber, a computer programmer in his 20s, provided the cover art for one of rock’s most revolutionary albums:
In the Court of the Crimson King
The album is considered a revolutionary masterpiece because it substituted rock’s blues foundations with jazz and classic elements
The outer cover is probably more famous than the inner‌
Sadly Barry didn’t live to see his artistic endeavor become a cultural icon.
He died of a heart attack shortly after the album’s release at the age of 24
Thanks! ‌I’m at mi@vimi.co Mike