Why Content Matters: Analogy

I often have to explain to people why content matters to a website when it comes to marketing online. I usually go with a simple analogy that helps explain how a search engine views your site, and why regular, frequent copy changes are considered so important to your search rank.

Consider the following:

You are out on the town, looking for a fun place to spend the evening. 'Let's go to a nightclub' you might say. So you cruise main street looking for some excitement. As it turns out, you happen upon two candidates, each directly across the street from the other.

On your left is a nightclub seemingly bursting at the seams. People are queued up around the corner waiting to get in, and the place is clearly over crowded and full of life.

On your right is a nightclub that seems to have plenty of room. There is no line, and no crowd. You could get in immediately and would have most of the place to yourself.

Which do you choose? If you are 'most people', you will be drawn to the excitement of the crowded nightclub. There are reasons for this...

The crowded nightclub is alive with excitement. People want to be there, and there is life and activity there. Others are clearly interested in getting in, and the overwhelming crowd implies that there is something to see, even if it is 'itself'. Fun.

Search engines see your site in a similar way.

Search engines deliver a product to their customers. Their customers are you and I when we perform a web search. The results we expect to be relevant, current, and exciting. Search engines, therefore, are on the lookout for exciting places to include in thier search results. Places that have relevant content, and lots of activity are considered better results than sites that are slow, stagnant, and lonely.

The content on your site is what search engines look at in order to determine relevance and excitement. Your site is more exciting when it has new content to share. The frequency of your new content is a major factor, because content becomes old pretty quickly.

Want to get your site to the top of the search engines? Make it exciting with some interesting content. Often.

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