Comment by natvod | Hacker News Reader

Comment by natvod | Hacker News Reader

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Definitely agree with this. I'm surprised so many companies still bother to produce content in the form of crappy articles on beat the horse to death topics.

It feels like having a blog is a must-have to be a legit company these days so a lot of companies hire someone to churn out $30 articles just to have one.

I definitely think companies need to reimagine content. First by moving away from the incredibly boring blog format.

Examples:

Beautifully designed beginner SEO guide (almost feels like a choose your adventure book): https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

Interactive visualizations: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/13/us/politics/20...

Collection of email templates: http://www.artofemails.com/sales-follow-up

>>> First by moving away from the incredibly boring blog format.

There is nothing wrong with the blog format per se. The problem is, as you correctly identified, crappy articles.

What your examples have in common is that they provide value to the user. That's the key no matter what's the medium you are using to do so. There's nothing wrong with the blog format that prevents you from providing value.

But blogs do tend towards presentism, by virtue of how they present their information... and those in the know are well aware of how easy it is to set up a blog, making the medium a little contemptible compared to a well-done "roll-your-own" webpage.

Disclaimer -- I work at Moz

Another great resource on, and as, content marketing similar in depth to the aforementioned Beginner's Guide to SEO:

https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-content-marketing

One company whose content I really admire is HelpScout.net

They do incredible stuff, especially with their design and presentation. The content itself isn't as compelling as, say, Priceonomics, but it is still very, very good.

I'm a big fan of the Helpscout content. It's an almost guaranteed click from me every time they send an email.

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