Content not King

[John Scott]

http://www.searchengineblog.com/2006...-not-king.html

[bcombs]

And, in unrelated news, man lands on the moon.

Unfortunately, the idea that content is not king is news to all too many...



Brian

[John Scott]

That article is interesting if you read it all the way through.

[bcombs]

I've only got time to skim it right now (someone put a hell of a lot of effort into it), but it seems that the major point is that SEO is something of a "rich get richer" game. Is that right?

By the way, love the new avatar, John.



Brian

Edited 'cause I can't spell...

[John Scott]

Yeah, rich get richer is a good way of putting it.

[webprofessor]

There is more to it than that though. If you read between the lines you see that there are suggestions on how to be more successful.

- How to pick a niche thats not covered
- How to defend your turf
- How to orchestrate a successful launch

Its a marketing article not an SEO article.

[John Scott]

Originally Posted by webprofessor

How to orchestrate a successful launch

I think that is one of the most important and least covered parts of Internet marketing.

It goes to getting and establishing the lead. Once a website is recognized as the leader in an industry, it can be hard for others to break in or even compete.

I remember when I launched webmaster-forum.net (with lots of promotion), Wayne Luke at SitePoint posted in my (spam) review thread that it was just another webmaster forum and it would go nowhere.

Fortunately, the forum did succeed, but I think a lot of it had to do with the launch.

In that article, they talk of a glass ceiling. I think there is no glass ceiling. I didn't know a lot of folks when I started, and the foums succeeded nonetheless. I think it is about content and how you present yourself. If you treat other people right, chances are they will treat you right, but you gotta be sincere. I see people trying and trying and trying, and not succeeding because they have greed tattooed on their foreheads.

Don't worry about the money, just be the best at what you do, and the money will follow.

[webprofessor]

I'll have to disagree with you on the ceiling part.

I have been reading a book about marketing called "Crossing the Chasm" and he has a good analogy in there.

He says ( paraphrased )..
Launching a new product ( or site in this case ) in a market is like a D-Day invasion. Its much easier to attack a market thats undefended than it is to invade an area occupied by a fortified enemy. You may make some headway but eventually if your enemy is smart and has enough head start he will crush or contain you.

[John Scott]

I agree it's tough. I know it's tough. The is a ceiling, but it is glass, not steel. If somebody wanted to knock Pepsi and Coke out of the top spots, they could do it. It would be a bloody mess and it would require some awesome marketing, but it could be done.

I liked this part:

Originally Posted by the article

Huffington showed that it was still possible to quickly move up to the top of the charts. “You think the A-list is the A-list is the A-list,” says David Sifry, the CEO of Technorati. “But I’m telling you, boy, does it shift—and does it shift fast.” Cultural winds can drive blogs in and out of favor: When Sifry founded Technorati in 2002, many of the bloggers on his top-100-most-linked list were computer geeks, such as journalist Doc Searls and programmer Dave Winer. But as blogging grew to encompass politics and pop culture, Searls dropped to No. 96 and Winer to No. 126.

I think we see that in a lot of places. It's a dynamic market.

[bcombs]

WP,

Pick up a copy of "Inside the Tornado" by the same author. It covers what "Crossing the Chasm" covers in about 80 pages rather than 250. It also looks at the complete product lifecycle.

Many initiatives are not pushing early products in early markets, which is what "Crossing the Chasm" focuses on.

Good book, though. I just prefer the complete picture.



Brian

[webprofessor]

I plan on it. I have the new edition of the book and he mentions it several times of course.

[John Scott]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...lance&n=283155

That? Is it really that good?

[webprofessor]

Yes in my opinion it is.

I am a developer by training so I am always looking for books on marketing that can help me better understand that end of my business. If your a marketer you might not get the same mileage out of it but I couldn't say.

[webprofessor]

Also ..

Wall Street Journal recommends it along with a bunch of other books for Entrepreneurs . That goes a long way in my book.

http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/...needleman.html

[John Scott]

I'll have to read that. Thanks!

[bcombs]

It's a solid way of looking at a particular segment of the product lifecycle. "Inside the Tornado", IMHO, is better because it looks at the complete lifecycle.



Brian

[MagicYoyo]

Blogs are a new media. Thus the blogosphere is structuring itself. Definitely Internet is not the land of diversity. Quite the contrary because too much information from too much is unreadable. Things have to be simple & concentrated.

But I remind the long tail. When a market is mature, there is free profitable space at margin.

[Rankenstein]

Hmmm...that link at the top? I'm getting 'domain name does not exist'.