Content Is King
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Content is king.
Every time I hear this phrase, I think of the phrase "China has come", from Big Trouble in Little China. In the movie, a lot of bizarre, magical events happen, to which the people-in-the-know would nod sagely and say "China has come".
This is exactly how I feel about "Content is king".
There are many articles, blogs, posts, twitters, and whatever else out there that simply proclaim this, like some magic mantra, or secret recipe. Many say it on HubPages as well.
And if you do not understand it, then you must be a moron who cannot see how beautiful the emperor's new clothes are.
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What Does "Content Is King" Mean?
"Content is king" ... What the hell does it mean anyway?
It turns out that there are several meanings.
According to this TIME article, "content is king" refers to the claim made by many entertainment companies that what they produce, i.e. content, is intrinsically valuable because it can be delivered through a variety of media including movies, television, books, magazines, and the internet.
No matter how technology changes the world, they (the entertainment companies) will still be relevant because it is the content that matters, not the method of delivery.
As the article points out however, this "content is king" claim is no longer true, and "content is rapidly being devalued". Recently, entertainment companies have had to write down tens of billions of dollars in assets because income from their content has degenerated significantly.
Andrew Odlyzko noted in 2001 that this claim, however catchy, is not quite true. In his article, Content Is Not King, he explains, through a series of historical examples, why "connectivity has mattered much more than content".
Content Is King
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Outstanding Content
True or not, "content is king" is a very catchy phrase, so nowadays, we hear it almost everywhere.
When you hear "content is king" being bandied about in online make-money, get-web-traffic, forums, however, it means something a bit different. In these contexts, "content is king" means that in order to make money and get web traffic, you must first and foremost publish outstanding content.
"Outstanding content" usually means getting on your soapbox, and saying, with extreme confidence, that you have outstanding content. Sometimes it also means
- No spelling mistakes,
- Generally correct grammar,
- Conservative layouts,
- Brilliant information that you cannot get anywhere else, or
- Information presented in a brilliant style that you cannot get anywhere else.
The claim is that outstanding content is more important than web marketing, number of Twitter buddies, or anything else you might do to dress-up your sub-par sh*t to look like real top-par content.
Is Content King?
I suppose in a way it is, but not in the "oustanding" or "brilliant" way suggested above. Successful content is simply content that many will enjoy and/or find useful.
That is all.
A piece of content may have many spelling errors, poor picture resolution, and bad audio; yet still be the most popular piece of sh*t around. After all, American Idol may be very entertaining but not many would consider it a brilliant work of art.
So what makes their sh*t king, and my sh*t, well, just sh*t?
Vision and Perseverance
Successful content has little to do with writing in the Queen's English, or mastering your SAT vocabulary.
Successful content has little to do with academic brilliance, and being able to understand astrophysics.
Successful content has little to do with the number of friends that you have on Twitter, or the number of people that Digg you.
The most important part of creating successful content is to see what people want/need, before others see it. Once you have that, you just have to try and try again until you succeed.
For the importance of perseverance, check out quicksand's outstanding hub, You Cannot Earn Money Online Working From Home.
Gee, that sounds really simple; why doesn't everybody just do it?
Content Success
Actually, lots of people are trying to do it, and that is why it is so difficult to succeed.
There are many tools out there to track what people are searching for and are interested in; but then, everybody else has access to those same tools.
People commonly talk about using social networking sites to promote your work; which I personally think is not very time/earnings effective.
Instead, use online communities to get ideas and observe what people are interested in. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in this case it is your benefactor. Instead of spending all your time tweeting, stop for a minute ...
open your mind, and listen to what everyone else has to say.
When you can "see things that nobody else can see, and do things that nobody else can do", then you would truly be the King of Content.
Which do you think is most important for online money making success?
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Comments
Hey, interesting read!
"open your mind, and listen to what everyone else has to say"
I will! :)
[Feline Prophet] Editorial vs. Advertising, very interesting. I wonder who gets paid more? That would be one way to settle the argument :) My guess is that advertising probably gets paid more when times are good and vice versa. But then I am just speaking out of my toosh. Btw. what type of publication do you work for?
[Cindyvine] Thanks Cindy! Very interesting profile picture. :)
[Quicksand] Just curious, is that a picture of you as a kid?
The advertising guys always get paid more unfortunately...they bring in the moolah! Who said life was fair? I don't work for a publication any more, but I spent ten years working with various magazines and this was a constant bugbear with the put-upon editorial staff.
"The advertising guys always get paid more unfortunately"
I wonder if this is true in other types of entertainment companies, e.g. movies, t.v. and such. I used to work for a consulting company, but in the research division. It was much the same there, the front line consultants who brought in the moolah, get the moolah :) But I think this is less true of technology companies. Another interesting hub topic :)
Yes that was me as a kid. :)
That kid looks like he would have really liked a dog :)
Another very good article... Perseverance is the key to most things worth wild in life.
LOL! It was around that period that I got acquainted with a cat for the very first time. It took me several weeks to get over the fear. I have even written a hub about dikiKAT. :)
Substance over style - - very interesting concept! I'll never happen!
"Perseverance is the key to most things worth wild in life."
Hearing you say this, I was just thinking that my dogs have incredible perseverance. Probably why they are always so successful at getting what they want from me :)
[quicksand] lol - I must go check that hub out. My dogs will also appreciate some cat bashing instead of your usual woof,thud,thud. :)
[rchicaferro] "Substance over style - - very interesting concept!" lol - I know - not very original; but sometimes I forget, so I have to keep repeating it to myself. Also wanted to highlight that "successful" substance may not frequently be "quality" substance.
"I'll never happen!" - Well, quit wastin time here and get out there and write more hubs!
Dude, I love that movie, genius.
Personally I think traffic is king, with regards to making money from adsense etc., I know good content often brings traffic, but there is no doubt also there is much good content out there somewhere put up by people with no seo or link building strategies, and hence nobody ever see's it. Whereas with lots of traffic even if your content sucks, if your ads/affiliate links etc. are positioned top page above the fold, you'll probably still make some dollar.
Still trying to figure all of this out! LOL
Well presented material, shibashake. Like Peggy W., I'm still trying to figure out the answers to all this. My instinct tells me traffic is king. My heart keeps hoping that well thought out content (written maybe not in the Queen's English but in something a little closer than much English these days is) will win out in the end. My head, on the other hand, continues to tire itself out, trying to figure out what the most effective aims are. :)
Yes content is king can result a lot of traffic
[Mrvoodoo] I'm with you dude. That movie always cracks me up. What you say about seo is very true, but as a reader I get extremely irritated when I have to go through many useless bot-attractor links before I finally find a useful bot-attractor link :) Perhaps the people who are interested in seo but not content and the people who are interested in content but not seo should get together; then everybody wins ;)
[Peggy W] lol - me too. Mostly I just write about topics that interest me. The rest is just icing on the cake :)
[Lisa] You are being too modest :) Based on some of your forum posts, I would say that you are an old pro at this. I think doing a bit of keyword research will get you pretty far, but using social-networking sites for promotion is really not my cup of tea. It was extremely time consuming, and the results were less than stellar. Would love to see a hub from you about your own experiences on this :)
[abibakar] Thanks for dropping by :)
I believe content is king, but only if you are a king of writing, writing and doing more writing and never ever stop, just write, type and scribble and do it all again the next day, forever writing....DON'T STOP!!!!!.......and relax!
That is very true waynet, perseverance is key to any kind of success. To quote Edison, it is 99% perspiration.
But also take some time out to mingle and socialize with others. This will help with the other 1% part of success :)
I have been marketing on the internet for well over a decade and it has gotten a lot more complicated. Back then the content is king phrase meant that all you had to do to stand out from the crowd was put a couple paragraphs on your pages and not just images.
Now you need well written content, supporting blogs, social network accounts, etc; basically you need a lot of time.
"Now you need well written content, supporting blogs, social network accounts, etc; basically you need a lot of time."
Yeah, I think it is extremely difficult to earn money writing online. So many people are doing it and there is so much stuff out there, you would not see much in terms of income even if you *do* sink in a lot of time.
There are many easier ways to earn money. I wrote an article once about how it is easier to earn money playing online games than it is through blogging and online articles :)
However, I think that social networking sites are a great resource for observing human behavior, getting ideas, and testing strategies. After that, you can do a start-up and earn your fortune ;) It is still a long shot, but a lot more probable than earning a fortune through online writing.
Do you have an article on your online blogging experiences? Please post a link if you do. Thanks!
I think the process is as much time driven as anything else. My old site gets effortless traffic, newer ones hardly any, yet my content is lousy on the old page.
"yet my content is lousy on the old page"
One man's lousy content, may be someone else's useful information.
Although, I do agree with what you say. It usually takes a certain amount of time for one's work to bleed into the general online consciousness, even with rigorous promotion efforts. Sometimes, you can get extremely lucky and something just gets picked up very quickly, but that is the exception rather than the rule.
Still, I believe that it is not possible to keep "good content" down. If an idea fulfills some popular human need or want, then it will eventually become a success. What is less certain is timing, and who actually reaps the rewards.
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Feline Prophet says:
8 months ago
This reminds me of the constant war between the editorial and advertising divisions of any publication. The editorial side claims that without their content there would be no advertising, while the advertising guys claim that if they didn't sell ad space there would be no publication! Being from the editorial side I always make a case for good content...whatever the medium. Great piece shibashake!