Practical History Of Content Marketing For Low Attention Span Readers

As internet trends go, there arent any industries unaffected by the rise of certain keywords. Specifically in the marketing industry, we’ve gone through “digital marketing”, “SEO”, and “SEM”, amongst others. The latest trend, however, calls for “content marketing”. Here’s brief history of the term, for those with typical “internet” attention spans.


Some people attribute content marketing to Procter & Gamble’s soap operas or to Apple’s “1984” commercial. Quite honestly, it could’ve started with cave drawings in Africa. It wasnt until businesses learned they could make money with it that it became popular.

Google Insights for “Content Marketing”

First, there were blogs, and with them came wider content availability. Regular people were able to use Blogger or Fotolog to share their thoughts without much need for technical knowledge.

Then, came social media, with mySpace and friendfeed. Businesses caught up with the idea of using those tools to reach customers. Again, the barrier of entry made it easy for even the tiniest enterprises to post their specials, sales, and products.

An abundance of content flooded the internet, and soon it became easy to drown in it. Businesses needed to be found, and from that came SEO. Back then, SEO was all about stuffing keywords to your web pages, from which arose the first calls for “content”.

Keyword stuffing increased the amount of garbage on the internet exponentially, and Google quickly found ways to dismiss it. First, by relying on other sites to link to each other, a popularity contest determine what floated to the top of the searches. The more links a site received, the higher it ranked on Google.

And the best way to gain links is by producing viral content. This content is what builds the foundation for successful online marketing. If you create an article that helps a customer’s problem, or reveals a breakthrough technique, people are more inclined to link to your site.

Up To Speed?

Now that you understand the rise of “content marketing” (no, it wasnt just an oligopoly of internet gurus that determined this term should exist), I plan on fighting my procrastination issues and share some ideas on how to produce content that works for your marketing.

Stay tuned, guerilleros!

2 Responses to Practical History Of Content Marketing For Low Attention Span Readers
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