Google’s aforementioned post gives some very high level advice on the nature of content on a website with a list of thought provoking questions such as;

• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopaedia or book?

However, it can be hard to be objective about your own site as you know what it is about and that it can be trusted. This brings me to the first key stage in creating great content for your website.

Who is your target audience and what are they looking for?

It is not possible to determine if your article provides ‘insightful analysis or interesting information’ if you do not know what the reader considers insightful or interesting. Audience analysis is the first and vital stage in content marketing. Once you have determined who your target audiences are you can get an insight into what they may be searching for and then create content which accommodates their needs. There is no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ in a profit generating content marketing strategy.

For example, travel destination content should be tailored to your audience group, whether they are students/young people looking for a basic package or a family looking for an economy but good quality package. There should be two dedicated pages for each destination with unique content which will engage with that audience/customer group specifically. A generic ‘about this destination’ paragraph on both pages with a line at the bottom relating to that audience will not suffice from a search engine or conversion perspective.

What type of content?

Content does not have to be words by any means and during your audience research you should be able to identify the types of content your audiences will respond best to. Content could be:

• A page of interesting and engaging writing
• A slideshow
• A video
• A collection of images
• An audio file e.g. podcast
• A screencast
• A game
• A widget or tool
• A teaser/introduction to a downloadable piece of content

It is important to note that from a search engine optimisation perspective words are the best way to get good search engine rankings. However, well optimised videos, pictures, podcasts and so on will come up in Universal Search Results which, when triggered, are placed above the standard search results. In addition optimised copy can be placed around these types of content so that the page still ranks well in search engine results.

For example, a couple going on a luxury holiday are likely to want to see pictures of their resort at the very least, with a video or virtual tour of the room and facilities if possible. On the other hand people going on a budget holiday are less likely to want to see anything more than photos of their room but may be interested in reviews or video clips of local attractions such as bars, waterparks and so on. Tailoring the content and medium to your target audience will encourage people to book with you as you have answered all their questions and removed the need to look on other websites for more information.

Content Promotion

The next stage of your content marketing campaign would be promotion through outreach, linkbuilding, social media activity, email marketing and much more, depending on your target audience and where they are active online.

As Google is currently recruiting a Content Marketing Manager for their London Office I would guess that they consider quality content to be the way things are going and getting this right now will be highly beneficial in the long run. Do not wait until another algorithm update drops your site out of the rankings to start changing your approach to onsite content. Whilst an overhaul of existing content may be arduous and time consuming at least apply these principles to all new content creation, even if it requires a slightly bigger investment in time and equipment at this stage. It will pay-off in the long run and save needing to spend lots of cash on crisis response in the future.

Search engine optimisation best practice means that your most relevant keywords are placed as high within the website structure as possible. This is because the higher within the website structure the more important search engines such as Google regard the content.

By combining the principles of information architecture, particularly taxonomy, a way of categorising subjects, together with thorough SEO keyword research, you can create a perfect sitemap.

Now that’s what I call search architecture!

Human capital, by it’s nature is an intangible asset and therefore is so difficult to quantify it is usually omitted entirely from our society’s measure of profit. As the knowledge economy continues to grow and replace our previous industrial economy, we need to find ways to effectively measure our intangible assets. In a virtual world, knowledge experts can use their skills, relationships and experience to create value with minimal requirement for tangible assets such as buildings and raw materials. The current intangible assets accounting standards suggest looking at measuring this value based on the cost to attain the knowledge so would this include education fees and books alone? What about food, internet access… could this be extended to all living expenses incurred from birth? Suddenly the true value of a human is reflected by the total life investment of an individual and its interactions with the wider community. The cost of raising a child to 21 is reported to be £210,000 what about their share of public services and the other 75% of their life? We’ve got to be looking at least a million?

The reason that defining the intangible is so important is so the true value of “human capital” can be properly accounted for. For example over 20,000 people were killed due to the Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) chemical leak in Bhopal in 1984 and now more than 25 years later thousands of lives are still affected and the organisation has never had to properly account for this. If accounting for intangible assets is made mandatory, companies will have to pay for the true cost of their operations, dramatically reducing their “profits” by being forced to pay for the true value of the human (and environmental) costs. Once accounted for, costs would soar to ensure safety was paramount and maybe some projects may no longer be seen as being “worth it” at all.

Whilst adoption of intangible asset management isn’t mandatory, another intangible asset that may hold the key to sustainability is brand value. With access to social media, we have the power to either contribute to or harm brand value and this means the intangible assets are no longer controlled by the brands. Therefore even if intangible assets aren’t accounted for, it is in every brand’s best possible interests to measure and protect the value of their human capital… their employees, partners and customers.

Further reading on intangible assets

With traditional sales stalling and netbook sales going through the roof, investigating this lucrative new market and audience, is surely not something that publishers can afford to ignore.

Yet is applying a traditional business model to a shiny new online format the right path? This article investigate whether charging for premium access to content is the best policy:

http://www.masternewmedia.org/kindle-dx-charging-premium-access-for-content-best-strategy/

This is a great example of how charities, publishers and retailers can monetize their video content, particularly when used as part of a viral, linkbuilding or integrated search campaign.

Although, you do need to be one of YouTube’s advertisers – so it’s not free, but Charitywater.org generated $10,000 from one video in just one day, so it definitely has the power to deliver results.

For more on this story, read the original post from TechCrunch:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/29/youtube-to-broadly-release-call-to-action-overlays-allows-linking-off-site/