“Content is King,” is considered the golden rule of SEO. This phrase was first coined by Bill Gates in his essay in 1996 and is still relevant in digital marketing today. As technology has advanced, the capability to bring value has also improved. Original website content was once limited to text (see CERN’s first website) but has since evolved to become more useful by including other mediums (images, audio, video) and tools (calculators, models, simulators, and more). With this in mind, content and user experience should still be one of your top priorities in improving your website and growing your online business.
Creating and improving a website consists of several areas: the technical, the content, and the promotion. Ideally, each vertical should be led by a team of specialists or in collaboration with several specialized teams.
- Technical development would be led by web developers, and supported by SEO professionals.
- Content strategy varies, depending on the industry and the individual company’s needs. Content development could consist of writers, SEO, graphic designers, photographers, and videographers.
- Promotional strategy varies depending on the industry and the individual company’s needs. Promotional development could consist of SEO, Public Relations, and paid marketing.
Technical Excellence & How IKEA Does It
Although creating a website from scratch has become more accessible, the list of challenges has increased. Your website must be fast, mobile-friendly, and deliver the tools your users need, if appropriate. For some businesses, several text-heavy pages suffice, but for others, calculators and modeling tools need to be integrated into the site just to keep up with the competitors.
IKEA is one of the leading furniture sellers in the world and is a perfect example of engaging users with technology. While IKEA has a lot going for it from a business perspective (such as economies of scale, retail and online purchasing options, delivery and pickup options, product customization, great return policies, and many more), the folks at IKEA also support their in-store and website selling with room-planning tools on its website. Unsurprisingly, the planning tools are used for two out of the three top-selling categories, Bathroom and Kitchen. According to Statista, these two categories make up about 37% of their total sales in 2019.
A Masterclass in Content Creation by MasterClass
Content has definitely evolved to include audio, video, and interactive mediums and formats. Content can be created to engage users on a website or through various social media.
Even classic text-based pages have evolved – they are now formatted to be read and scanned easily and quickly. An example of a company that did this correctly is MasterClass. Established in 2015, this subscription-based educational website has created over 13,500 blogs on its website since its first blog on June 29, 2018. While it takes about three to 10 minutes to read each one, MasterClass posted an average of about 240 blogs a day. With one million YouTube subscribers, 2.8 million Instagram followers, and three million Facebook followers, it’s not surprising that the company is currently valued at $2.8 Billion according to CBInsights.
Promoting Your Business, Amazon’s Secret
There are a variety of ways to promote your business or your content, such as sharing a sneak peek of website content on social media, investing in paid media, reaching out to a reputable publication to write about you or even getting a mention from an influencer in their video or post.
Amazon is the perfect example of focusing on promotion. They built a separate affiliate business based on this concept. By giving influencers and entrepreneurs a stake in their sales, Amazon effectively created a part-time team of salespeople. Amazon’s Affiliate program is one of the most generous, paying out an average of 4% of sales. This 4% commission is responsible for about 53% of Amazon’s Annual 2022 sales according to Zipia. This is among a few reasons why Amazon is considered one of the most valuable companies in the world in 2022.
The Bottom Line in Digital
Competitive and technological pressures highlight the importance of each vertical individually, as well as the need for collaboration between the parts. The success stories are examples of companies that bring a unique value proposition to their individual industries. They are also great examples of what happens when there is a strategic collaboration between the three areas of digital marketing. Adequate research and consideration can be a winning strategy, putting you in lockstep with competitors, and eventually breaking out as an industry leader.
Art & Science provides the technical, content, and promotion verticals for websites to ensure an integrated, successful approach. Check out some of our website case studies.
– Leon Levizov, Associate Director, Media & Analytics