Content is (still) King
Previously, I’ve written about the special skills one needs to employ for website development, and how those skills are changing daily. Now, let’s look at what exactly is changing.
The technology one uses to implement their online presence, brilliant flash-driven database apps, rusty-gear cranking CGI or smooth DHTML layers is really irrelevant when compared to the content being delivered.
Consider some of the most popular, or at least, oft visited websites: Youtube.com and Amazon.com. Youtube.com specializes in delivering video content. That’s all. Sure, there’s built in methods for sharing videos amongst your Facebook and MySpace buddies, but for the most part, Youtube.com just delivers videos. Nothing too complex about the layout, nothing too magical about the interface. Just videos.
Amazon.com on the other hand uses a rather old school display layout, plugged with little media apps here and there. Amazon’s magic, however, still lies in content delivery – its ability to parse through previous customer purchases and selections enabling it to display content that you are interested in.
Of course, the average small business doesn’t have the ad power or the draw that super-shopping sites or the delicate art of the human spectacle might have. But well planned, well thought out content is still the biggest draw available. Not only does well planned content have meaning for the audience, but it helps build long term SEO.
