The Little Book Review

Book review by Brian Blackburn

Content is King: Writing and Editing Online by David Mill
Published by Elsevier, 2005 Paperback, 211 pages ISBN: 0-7506-6317-0

It is clear that the industrial revolution of the 21st century is the impact of the World Wide Web on our lives. We bank on line now, we transfer money on line, we buy stuff on line, we book holidays on line, communicate on line, meet wives and husbands on line and can even get our weekly groceries delivered without stepping out of our homes.

Many businesses are new that provide these time efficient services, but an equal number are traditional businesses trying to protect their market share from the “new kids on the block”. The competition is fierce to get to the top of the search engines, as if you appear anywhere but near the top of the first page will mean that you are already in second place. The ability to place your self at the top of the search engines requires patience, time and persistence, and an ever growing knowledge about how search engines work.

Content is King by David Mill is just one little book that can help you develop the skills to ensure you rank high on the search engines. David should know what he is talking about as he is a writer and journalist and heads up Scotland on Line, and is group Editor for The Mirror Group of Newspapers. Not just another hack, David explains succinctly what search engines need to ensure you get on the first page. Not forgetting that there are two equally important issues here, one, you need to get found and two, what you have written meets the requirements of your target audience.

David goes into the detail of copy writing, i.e. the ability to write material that is readable and technically does what it is supposed to do and that is persuade you to do something, and if it is small business you are in, then that something will be to sell your services or products. David goes from the fundamentals of on line writing through to tuning your texts especially for Search Engines” search engines just love the words we weave within the body text of web pages and nothing has a stronger influence on positioning”. Not stopping there David outlines how on line searching methods by potential customers must be considered to ensure you use the right “phrases” and not just pepper your web site with key words in the vain hope that the search engines will find you. If you are looking for a “block paving specialist in Tayside”, you may search for “block paving Scotland” perhaps. If you have neither of these phrases your site will potentially disappear in to the millions of other finds that have those words peppered in the web pages. Recent surveys indicate that potential customers are wise to the use of phrases. Two to three words phrase searches are the top of the list for searches, one word searches are very low.

As the web becomes more and more crowded out and the cost of web provision rises the need to develop internal business skills such as writing for your own website will become critical.

It is all in the title, Content is King, who is really best placed to describe the benefits of your business to potential customers? This book gives specific guidance in easy to read format on how to write copy to attract target audiences and compete with the professionals.