Page 10 - index

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Content blindness:

How can it be

overcome?

The consequence is a user who sometimes expects
Banner blindness, and advertising blindness in general, the worst regarding real content on websites.
are not uncommon and actually long-known phenome-
na. Kind of new, however is the content blindness that Now, to turn this attitude inside out, the symbiosis be-
has been caused in the aftermath of the Panda update tween offers, web design and content is essential to
since it downgraded the direct user feedback on the retain existing and to attract potential new customers
page which has long been considered as a ranking fac- with informative and useful content.
tor, which is tripping many webmasters and SEOs up.
Relevant content offers convincing arguments
Content-blindness can be overcome by no longer con-
sidering the content only as a means to an end, but cre- A subpage should always be structured and designed
ating a symbiosis between the demand of the target in such a way that it supports the primary content
group, the web design, your own offer and of course the along with its media content. Here, responsive web
content itself, instead. design as well as target group-oriented design can
therefore pay off. The primary content may be support-
Eliminate content blindness by changing standards ed in various ways, such as appropriate photos and
videos, suitable formatting, tables, or additional links.
For years "Content is King" has been prevailed as the Besides that, a perfect installation, in a clear and user-
favorite phrase of many SEOs, whereby the content friendly design, definitely works wonders, if the user
was probably “the king" only in their own world of really wants to perceive and read the content.
thoughts. In reality, there were mainly SEO texts without
in-depth content and especially without a unique factor. Especially, since ballyhooing advertising promises do
not work anymore today, as I mentioned often enough,
To fight content blindness already at its origin, the popu- successful content marketing strategies have to com-
lar adage should therefore rather be "Quality is King", bine know-how and skills from different disciplines.
because good content means on the one hand exper-
tise, but on the other hand entertainment for the users Loyal customers, fans and followers can only be con-
as well. vinced with attractive content that values relevancy,
utility and entertainment. Thus, the combination of PR,
Before content gets considered and perceived by read- sales and marketing knowledge, along with some basic
ers, it needs to be integrated appropriately into the SEO techniques, is becoming the solid foundation of
page. The web design should be laid out and structured an effective content marketing strategy. With interest-
so that it puts the content in the foreground - no matter ing and useful web content, customer loyalty increases
how short or long this content turns out to be. Only that automatically and ultimately grows the customer base.
way the content can actually be aligned with the target
group, while at the same time maintaining the highest And once users are aware of the contents and assess
quality. Therefore, webmasters, SEOs, companies and them as good, they will step by step become less
agencies must recognize that content blindness does "blind" to your hard work. ◊
not "just happen" and wasn’t created suddenly over-
night. By Daniela La Marca

Content blindness of the user is rather the result of
many years of bad content management, in which
countless webmasters preferred quick and cheap con-
tent, instead of relying on genuine quality.

10 Asian eMarketing August 2014 - Content Marketing