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The True Shortcut to Valuable Content

Allard_TuolumneTrl Photo copyright (c) 2009 Gary Allard. Used with permission.Right. There Is No Shortcut (Sorry)

I recently picked up a new magazine that featured beautiful photography and great writing. At home, I flipped through and spotted a story from David Sedaris. (Yeah!) But I had read it before. (Boo.) Some of the photos I realized I had seen before. The whole publication appeared to be licensed content.

Not a bad thing, licensing content. Especially licensing great content, as this magazine did. But when you license everything … you’re not unique. In fact, you’re a disappointment. And in the online world where new and original counts for so much — traffic, word of mouth, popularity — licensing a high percentage of nonexclusive content can hurt you.

It may be the long way around, but imagine what we’d discover if we skip the shortcut to content and create something unique. Something innovative. Inspiring. Something that means something. Something with impact.

As a consumer, I want your point of view, your expertise, your experience. I want something valuable.

Here are a few things that are valuable to me:

  • A good story about cultures, scientific discoveries, or communities about which I know little, past and present
  • Environmental innovations and design and the direct impact on improving the lives of people, animals, and nature
  • Health, fitness, and what we’re all doing to keep it alive
  • Good food, great atmospheres
  • Outdoor exploration, urban, forest, desert, inner-city, wherever — by foot, by bike, by kayak
  • New artists, new writers, new local musicians

Now, to focus on those areas within my own writing, for personal, business and clients…

What’s valuable to you? Your business? Your customers? I’d love to hear about your plans.

Posted by Shelly Bowen on Aug 11, 2009. Filed under Web Content Inspiration, Web Writing and Editing

 

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