getting started - TheWayoftheWeb

Content marketing, user data and the dangers of free WordPress themes

Bit of a link post from me today as I’ve been working on a number of things for clients, and also updating some other projects. So rather than adding to the list that I intend to blog about someday, here’s some important things to consider:

Arm yourself with content, for Goliath is coming: Interesting post which reiterates a lot of the things I’ve been saying about content and marketing over the last 6 months – now is the time to start doing it. More and more companies are realising how useful content and social media marketing can be, and how much ROI it can produce, so you’re going to see more and more content fighting for attention. And given that it takes time to build an attentive audience, you don’t want to wait around any longer!

Myspace on the auction blog. What happens to user data?: Given that I’ve just been writing about social media content and user data from the perspective of future historians having access, it’s also important to consider what happens to that data if a site sells to another owner, rather than shutting down. How do you feel about your content, information and contacts being transferred? Another reason to adopt a hub and spoke model, with ownership of your own content/business/contact hub. And it’s so easy to do with the availability of self-publishing tools…

The hidden dangers of free WordPress themes: But although setting up WordPress, for example, is pretty easy, there are still dangers that you need to be aware of. For instance, only using themes from trusted sources, and checking them before you install them. Do you know what links are contained in the theme you downloaded from a random website? The original post shows the examples of how you can actually decode what could be hidden in a theme. There are a couple of solutions – one is to only pick themes from trusted sources, and the other is to bite the bullet and pay for themes from trusted sources. For instance, in my case, I tend to pay for themes from StudioPress, but there are some other good alternatives, such as Woo Themes (which I’ve used on some client sites, for example).

So why not spend the weekend getting started on your 2011 digital content and marketing. And feel free to pose any questions in the comments – if I can’t answer them, there’s a growing number of people reading this site who probably can!

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Don’t wait for your ship to come in…

It was while I was working as a journalist at Motorcycle News that the news came through that legendary motorcycle racer Barry Sheene had died. After his death, a tribute poster was created for charity, with a suitable photo and the quote;

‘Don’t wait for your ship to come in… Swim out and meet the bloody thing’

That’s true of most situations, and especially in digital. The access to self-publishing, information and knowledge, collaboration, computer power, cloud storage and more means that there’s never been a time when it’s been more likely you’ll find someone else could be already implementing your idea, or your rivals are innovating in a new way.

'Swimming Boys' by TheWanderingAngel on Flickr (CC Licence)

But the flip-side is that all of that stuff is just as available to you if you go and make use of it. If you’ve been thinking about creating a website, for example, you could have a working example up and running on a free CMS in under 30 minutes. Most importantly from a business perspective, you start listening to your customers and monitoring your rivals quickly and relatively easily, all for free.

It’s already the time:

2011 is definitely the time to do it – in fact 2010 already was. You can still run an entirely offline business, but if you’re ignoring digital, you’re ignoring a huge source of revenue and opportunity. The repairman who fixed out cooker today was completely unaware that we found him via recommendations on an online forum, and he would have been equally unaware had anyone written anything negative about him (they didn’t, and he did a great job at a very reasonable price). The fact is that simple tools exist to allow him to be made aware when something business-critical is being discussed.

So why hire someone?

You might be wondering why I’d emphasise how quick and simple it can be, considering most of my living comes from helping people create and market digital content.

It’s really quite simple, and it’s the same reason I’ve paid for design and development help for my own projects. The opportunity is there for me to learn those skills (as far as any natural ability might let me), but I’d rather concentrate on content and marketing, as that’s where my natural skills and experience can best serve both my clients and my own projects.

Plus, there’s nothing to say you can’t get started, and come to someone if and when you discover areas in which you need help and advice.

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