In failing to provide visitors with great information content, most of today's Web sites are missing a golden opportunity to create loyal customers-and leaving a fortune in new and repeat business on the table. According to Web marketing expert David Meerman Scott, too many marketers focus on style over substance. While a site may win awards for graphic design, Scott demonstrates that the key to Web marketing success is compelling content, delivered in new and surprising ways. In Cashing in with Content, he interviews 20 of today's most innovative Web marketers, sharing their secrets for using content to turn browsers into buyers, to encourage repeat business, and to unleash the amazing power of viral marketing. The book features a diverse range of content-savvy organizations from the worlds of e-commerce, business to- business, and government/not-for-profit, including the Wall Street Journal Online, CARE USA, Kenyon College, Alcoa, Tourism Toronto, Weyerhaeuser, Booz Allen Hamilton, and United Parcel Service.
| Acknowledgments | xvii | |
| Foreword | xix | |
| Introduction: Content: The Missing Ingredient | 1 | |
| Selecting Content-Smart Sites | 2 | |
| Asked and Answered-Marketing on the Web | 4 | |
| The Web Isn't TV | 5 | |
| Branding Is for Cattle | 6 | |
| The New Publishers | 7 | |
| Getting the Most Out of this Book | 9 | |
| Part 1 | E-Commerce | |
| Chapter 1 | Crutchfield: A Friend in the Electronics Business | 13 |
| Turning Complexity into Opportunity | 15 | |
| A Little Friendly Advice | 15 | |
| Car Stereo for Everyone | 17 | |
| Creating Content That Sells | 19 | |
| Customer Feedback | 20 | |
| Cashing In | 21 | |
| Chapter 2 | Alloy: Generation Y Marks the Spot | 23 |
| Like, Keep It Fresh | 24 | |
| Quizzes, Guys, and Style | 26 | |
| I Wanna Go to the Mall.com | 27 | |
| Cool? Click. Buy | 28 | |
| Cashing In | 29 | |
| Chapter 3 | Design Within Reach: Form Follows Function | 31 |
| Going Against the Grain | 33 | |
| Please Take a Seat | 34 | |
| Newsletter of Note | 35 | |
| Cashing In | 37 | |
| Chapter 4 | mediabistro.com: Pitching Content to the Media | 39 |
| Online Community for the Media | 41 | |
| Media Community | 43 | |
| Media Content to Sell Media Services | 46 | |
| Cashing In | 47 | |
| Chapter 5 | Esurance: Content Replaces Agents | 49 |
| Great Content as a Marketing Tool | 50 | |
| Driving Traffic to Auto Insurance Content | 51 | |
| Content Drives Transactions | 54 | |
| Ensuring Compelling Content | 56 | |
| Cashing In | 58 | |
| Chapter 6 | Aerosmith: Content for Extreme Fans | 59 |
| Not the Same Old Song and Dance | 60 | |
| Walk This Way | 63 | |
| Roadies, Managers, and the Chef | 65 | |
| A Band and its Fanatic Fans | 66 | |
| Aerosmith, the Brand | 67 | |
| Cashing In | 67 | |
| Chapter 7 | The Wall Street Journal Online: Free Content Sells Subscriptions | 69 |
| Selling Subscriptions with Free Content | 72 | |
| Not Your Father's Newspaper | 75 | |
| Cashing In | 77 | |
| Part 2 | Business-to-Business | |
| Chapter 8 | Alcoa: Content Drives Large Deals | 81 |
| It All Starts with Dirt | 83 | |
| Bright, Shiny Content | 84 | |
| The Good Guys | 86 | |
| Crafting the Content | 87 | |
| Cashing In | 88 | |
| Chapter 9 | Weyerhaeuser: Managing Trees with Internet Content | 89 |
| Seeing the Forest for the Trees | 90 | |
| Content with Priorities | 92 | |
| Excellent Corporate Neighbors | 93 | |
| Growing (Content) Like a Tree | 95 | |
| Cashing In | 95 | |
| Chapter 10 | ebuild: Everything for the Professional Builder, Including the Kitchen Sink | 97 |
| Building ebuild One Room at a Time | 98 | |
| My Bucket Is Your Taxonomy | 100 | |
| Tagging Content Makes It Useful | 101 | |
| Cashing In | 102 | |
| Chapter 11 | ServiceWare: Level the Playing Field with Content | 105 |
| Are You a Call Center or a Help Desk? | 107 | |
| Hard Data and Useful Information | 109 | |
| If You Have Great Content, Get It Out There | 110 | |
| Cashing In | 111 | |
| Chapter 12 | Colliers: Commercial Real Estate for the World | 113 |
| Content from Warsaw to Sydney | 117 | |
| Real Content from All Over | 117 | |
| Cashing In | 120 | |
| Chapter 13 | Booz Allen: Career Content | 123 |
| The Right Fit for You? | 124 | |
| We Want You to Work Here | 126 | |
| Please Complete Your Profile | 127 | |
| Career Content Creation | 129 | |
| Cashing In | 130 | |
| Chapter 14 | UPS Investor Relations: Delivering Stock | 131 |
| Airplanes and Those Funny Brown Trucks | 134 | |
| Environmentally Friendly | 136 | |
| On-Time Delivery | 138 | |
| Cashing In | 138 | |
| Part 3 | Nonprofit, Education, Healthcare, and Politics | |
| Chapter 15 | CARE USA: Content Fights Global Poverty | 141 |
| Content to Drive Donations | 143 | |
| Comprehensive Content in a Soundbite World | 145 | |
| Get Involved with Content | 146 | |
| Cashing In | 149 | |
| Chapter 16 | Tourism Toronto: Hit the Site and Hit the Town | 153 |
| Individuals, Groups, and Conventions | 155 | |
| Content to Book Trips | 156 | |
| Recovering from SARS | 157 | |
| Content Voyage | 159 | |
| Interactivity and Small Bits of Content | 160 | |
| Cashing In | 160 | |
| Chapter 17 | Kenyon College: A Literary Tradition on the Web | 163 |
| The Right Way to Rebuild a Web Site | 166 | |
| A Site That Speaks to All Constituents | 166 | |
| Literary Content | 167 | |
| Cashing In | 169 | |
| Chapter 18 | Sharp HealthCare: Putting Patients in Control with Content | 173 |
| I Need to Know Fast | 175 | |
| Viral Healthcare Content | 176 | |
| Healthy Demographics | 179 | |
| Creating Compelling Healthcare Content | 180 | |
| Cashing in | 181 | |
| Chapter 19 | Dermik Laboratories: More than Skin-Deep Content | 183 |
| Aggregating the Best of Available Content | 185 | |
| Maintain Integrity | 188 | |
| Drive Interest in the Category | 189 | |
| The Right Stuff | 191 | |
| Cashing In | 191 | |
| Chapter 20 | Dean for America: Internet Presidential Politics-The New Grassroots | 193 |
| Introducing the Presidential Blog | 196 | |
| Making Readers Feel They Have a Stake | 197 | |
| Meetup with Other Supporters | 200 | |
| Internet Content: The New Grassroots | 201 | |
| Cashing In | 202 | |
| Part 4 | Putting Content to Work | |
| Chapter 21 | Best Practices from Innovative Web Marketers | 207 |
| Marketing with Web Content | 208 | |
| Best Practice #1 | When launching a new site, start with a comprehensive needs analysis | 209 |
| Best Practice #2 | Speak with one voice to create a consistent site personality | 210 |
| Best Practice #3 | Dedicate editorial resources to create consistent and informed content | 213 |
| Best Practice #4 | Encourage browsing by using appropriate self-select paths | 215 |
| Best Practice #5 | A separate URL or blog facilitates providing targeted content | 217 |
| Best Practice #6 | Push content to users to pull them back to your site | 219 |
| Best Practice #7 | Don't forget images-original photos are powerful content | 221 |
| Best Practice #8 | Consider making proprietary content freely available | 223 |
| Best Practice #9 | If you serve a global market, use global content | 225 |
| Best Practice #10 | Include interactive content and opportunities for user-feedback | 227 |
| Best Practice #11 | Use content to trigger viral marketing | 229 |
| Best Practice #12 | Link content directly to the sales cycle | 231 |
| Practices Make Perfect | 233 | |
| Chapter 22 | Lessons Learned | 235 |
| You're a Publisher Now, So Think Like One | 235 | |
| Make Content the Focus of Your Site | 236 | |
| Focus on Your Customer's Problems | 238 | |
| A Web Site Is More Art than Science | 239 | |
| Content Drives Action | 240 | |
| A Special Note to Executives | 240 | |
| What Content Means to Marketers | 241 | |
| About the Author | 243 | |
| Index | 245 |
The development of free, valuable content is a great strategy for creating a website or blog. "Cashing In With Content" provides a thorough overview of how to accomplish this. Twenty examples of various organizations who have successfully used this strategy to improve their businesses are provided with a corresponding collection of best practices and lessons learned. I highly recommend this book to those wishing to develop a high traffic website or seeking to transition their business from offline to online.
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Overview
In failing to provide visitors with great information content, most of today's Web sites are missing a golden opportunity to create loyal customers-and leaving a fortune in new and repeat business on the table. According to Web marketing expert David Meerman Scott, too many marketers focus on style over substance. While a site may win awards for graphic design, Scott demonstrates that the key to Web marketing success is compelling content, delivered in new and surprising ways. In Cashing in with Content, he ...