Content is King! Who hasn’t heard this saying before?
The expression is commonly attributed to an article written by Bill Gates back in 1996, but if you search on Google Books you can find two books by historian A. Wyatt Tilby who used these words in 1914. And if you look further then you will find that “content is king” probably originated during the heydays of the British monarchy. It is a very old saying!
Content is king because it pays a living to the people who produce something (content). However, if you continue thinking, the fortune actually lies with the distributors (such as Google & Co). Therefore, there is an extended saying these days, attributed to Sumner Murray Redstone: Content is King, But Distribution Is Queen!
The peasants of British North America lived in poverty despite content being king. They were the farm workers, struggling to make a living, whilst the content queens – the traders – became rich.
Today, having now moved away from tangible products to the intangible digital product, this still holds true: “Content is King”, but those who take the content and redistribute it earn the most money! Bill Gates anticipated this back in 1996. He pointed out that it will be difficult to earn money online on content for years to come, at least for content creators.
Nevertheless, to be successful with a website, it is crucial to regularly create new, interesting and informative articles and to share valuable free content to attract new users. There is simply too much competition. It’s a hard life!
Enjoy our collection of quotes. We hope that they will inspire you to produce not just unique but intriguing and captivating content because this is extremely important to any website’s success. Nevertheless, bear distribution in mind too. 🙂
Give them quality.
That’s the best kind of advertising.
Milton Hershey
who founded the Hershey Chocolate Company)
Make it simple.
Make it memorable.
Make it inviting to look at.
Make it fun to read.
Leo Burnett
Be specific enough
to be believable
and universal enough
to be relevant.
Ann Handley
the author of Everybody Writes:
Your Go-To Guide to Ridiculously Good Content)
Above all,
you want to create something
you’re proud of.
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson
Human nature has a tendency
to admire complexity
but reward simplicity.
Ben Huh – addressing the SMX East conference in October 2009
which receives 375 million views a month across its 50 sites)
Stop writing about everything.
So many brands create content
and try to cover everything,
instead of focusing on the core niche
that they can position themselves
as an expert around.
No one cares about your special recipe…
Find your niche,
and then go even more niche.
Joe Pulizzi
he’s the founder of multiple startups,
including the Content Marketing Institute (CMI))
