The Importance of Content in Internet Success

I have always been blessed to have people around me that continue to push me into new ideas and new areas of conversation. I was having a conversation recently with a friend of mine and we landed on the topic of content. When it comes to content and Internet success my friend developed an equation that read something like :

(data + software + skills + network)/time

They also added:

Nothing has more effect on your denominator than does the creation of content. It’s time consuming, expensive and usually ignored at the price of things that are more fun – like software and network building.

I replied:

In my opinion content is involved in DATA. You need the content first and then the software and the skills second.

I wanted to expound upon the notion of content being involved in additional steps to marketing success. Here is a visual representation of what I am talking about:

Content is involved as a subset of data and skills. Data could mean a variety of things depending on the strategy and tools you are using to reach internet marketing success. We will speak in terms of blogging. In blogging the data you are gathering is two fold.

1. You are gathering data and information to write posts and gain more insight into certain topics.
2. You are using tools like Google Analytics to measure traffic and visits.

The skills subset of the equation is also two fold:

1. The skills you gain over life through reading, learning, and experiencing are what give you the ability to write content. I am obsessed with social media. I immerse myself in it on a daily basis (data) and because of this, I have the ability to write content.
2. Skills also have to do with your ability to use the SOFTWARE and tools necessary to take the data and skills and apply them to an Internet marketing strategy.

The learning curve for skills, data, and software can be wide but there are always professionals out there that can help you with the process.

Read some blogs. Develop your skills. Use the free software. Strategize and destroy the competition.

Author:

Kyle writes a regular blog at KyleLacy.com and is founder and CEO of Brandswag, a social media strategy and training company. His blog has been featured on Wall Street Journal’s website and Read Write Web’s daily blog journal. Recently, Kyle was voted as one of the top 150 social media blogs in the world (on two websites), and produces regular keynote speeches across the Midwest. He also just finished writing Twitter Marketing for Dummies by Wiley Publishing.