Hello there – and the answer is – YES.  Now if you’ve been to any internet marketing workshops of seminars, or even surfing some of the forums you’ll no doubt come across the phrase “Content is King”. If you’re new to internet marketing, just starting out you’re probably not sure what’s meant by this and likewise how important it is, so today here’s just my take on why its just so important you get your head around this early on in your internet marketing career, so here goes

Being Online is Great, But ……You Need To Connect with your Visitors

Having taken your business online is a great move because of all the obvious advantages of having a low overhead, high margin business. However being on line is great but consider this the net is not called the information superhighway for nothing. If you don’t market your online business you’ll just get drowned in sheer millions and millions of sites out there and this my friends is where content comes in. …And if you don’t pay enough attention to creating content then you are making a big mistake.

The content on your website is of great value and your best business real estate, for a number of reasons. One thing the content of your website does is that it gives a first impression to visitors, If you have good, helpful and unique content then your visitors are more likely to be impressed and come back

Why Worry About The Quality?

Another benefit of greet content used in your website is that it pre- sells whatever product or service you have on the site. Well written web content can steer a potential buyer to the sale, but the reality is many web visitors will visit a site at least 4 times before making a purchase so the ability to draw visitors back is key and to build Trust – this is vital – remember people buy people first – so the more people re visit, read more, understand you as one of the good guys the more chance they’ll buy and ultimately that’s what the whole end game is all about.

The ability to create a following of loyal readers who are drawn to your site based on quality content is a very powerful marketing tool that you should cherish at all costs, believe me.

If Content is King then Devote Resource to It

Understanding and appreciating the great value of content to your online endeavors don’t make the mistake of skimping on this area. Consider hiring a writer to do it for you if you cannot handle the writing yourself. A writer who understands search engine optimization, knows how to use keywords that would give your website worthwhile rankings from search engines.

Here’s Our Strategy

Now I tell you now for my part,  I write a big chunk of our content, now I’m not telling you that to brag but just because I believe it’s a skill and discipline that all Internet marketers should have and do.

But we also outsource to writers a big chunk as well, just purely to keep the volume flowing and especially if we want a series of articles quickly or that we feel unsure that we possess the skills to write professionally.

So our top tip is do both, keeping the quality top notch & here’s why ….

When you write content that is poor, you are indirectly telling visitors you’re not bothered, you don’t care that much about your site. In fact you are also by default encouraging them to seek out competing sites that have better content to offer. Writing is not the only content found on a website (possibly you have videos and images as well) but actual written content contributes the major and fundamental part. If your writing is poor, you’re really struggling with it then do not put it up on your website; it is better to outsource your writing, get some real quality so that your site can achieve credibility.

Terrific Sales Copy is Just as Vital

And it’s the same for sales copy – Well written sales copy is an art and is often learnt and developed with years of practice. That is why copywriters charge so much for just a relatively few words. However, these few words can change the rate of sales you get.

So again for your sales copy make sure the quality is good – do take your time and really craft it, there’s every chance that you’ll need to edit and re work it several times so do take that time to get it as professional as you can and consider this a little tip -. All sales copy must first of all capture your attention, and then rope you in till you get to the ‘call for action’ section. The old copywriting technique of AIDA is very relevant – attention, interest, desire and action – use and make sure you get them in the right order.

Consider It An Investment

If you do not have so much money to pay for writers you can limit the paid articles you include in your website to the home page and review pages and remember even if you have articles written, once paid for they are yours so if you choose to cut & paste, mix and match so using in different ways that’s ok. These are two major sales points and so the content there must sell. You can write the content for other sections yourself. You could use content from article directories however I still reckon having totally unique content is vital and my friends that means either write it yourself or pay someone else to write it – its that simple and consider it a sound investment.

So hopefully here is a brief insight that you have gained into why its vital you’re building quality website content that attracts both readers and search engine spiders. This is what will make your business online achieve relevance and relevance is what its all about – drawing relevant traffic, i.e. people who share an interest, have a problem they need solving in whatever the subject matter of your site is – this is absolutely key.

Constantly Refresh Your Content

A point to note also is that regular and consistent content added to your site at intervals will make your website fresh and draw more visitors to it. For my part I post to our blog as an example at worst every three days if not more frequently – and believe me it works.

Tony