Exploiting Useful Content

The struggle facing websites is attracting new users in an age where everyone understands how the internet works. Gone are the days when thousands of new users every hour were coming on-line for the first time, poking about to see what's so interesting about "the internets” everyone keeps talking about. Well, okay, those people are still around here and there, but you see what I mean.

Internet users are much savvier than they were ten years ago, when the whole game started, are now too hip to pay for things they know they can find for free. This goes beyond music or movies – specifically, I am talking about information. Research, for class reports or for business plans, requires tables, facts, and proof. For a website, this level of content is ultimately a very attractive draw. All too often, webmasters (or just businesspeople with a website) view their content as treasured secrets. If they release their collected wisdom, they muse, then anyone can do what they do. They feel it is better to guard their asset – information – and instead release nothing to a prospective client but sales pitches. Granted, some information shouldn’t be released to the public. The formula for Coca-Cola comes to mind. But Coca-Cola doesn’t need to release that much information. They could instead provide facts about their bottling process, their distribution chain, or how raw materials are found for their sodas or the bottles themselves. So too should a website examine what they know that is useful, and share that with visitors. Because a website can buy all the advertising they want, but when it comes to online, nothing keeps people coming back for more like a free information resource.

About the Author: Eric Reid

I am the Social Media Services Manager for Off Madison Ave. I've been with the company since 2006, when I was hired to do SEO, and link building in particular. When social networking sites started cropping up, at first I started using them to create backlinks - but they weren't the best for that, given all of the "nofollow" attributes. However, I did see the potential for all of the direct referral traffic they represent. Since then I've been actively pursuing both tactics for clients: Links that can help them for search, and social postings that get them involved in the conversation. It's about the coolest job you could ever get. ;)