contentblindness1Banner blindness, and advertising blindness in general, are not uncommon and actually long-known phenomena. Kind of new, however is the content blindness that has been caused in the aftermath of the Panda update since it downgraded the direct user feedback on the page which has long been considered as a ranking factor, which is tripping many webmasters and SEOs up.

Content-blindness can be overcome by no longer considering the content only as a means to an end, but creating a symbiosis between the demand of the target group, the web design, your own offer and of course the content itself, instead.

Eliminate content blindness by changing standards

For years "Content is King" has been prevailed as the favorite phrase of many SEOs, whereby the content was probably “the king" only in their own world of thoughts. In reality, there were mainly SEO texts without in-depth content and especially without a unique factor.

To fight content blindness already at its origin, the popular adage should therefore rather be "Quality is King", because good content means on the one hand expertise, but on the other hand entertainment for the users as well.

Before content gets considered and perceived by readers, it needs to be integrated appropriately into the page. The web design should be laid out and structured so that it puts the content in the foreground - no matter how short or long this content turns out to be. Only that way the content can actually be aligned with the target group, while at the same time maintaining the highest quality. Therefore, webmasters, SEOs, companies and agencies must recognize that content blindness does not "just happen" and wasn’t created suddenly overnight.

Content blindness of the user is rather the result of many years of bad content management, in which countless webmasters preferred quick and cheap content, instead of relying on genuine quality. The consequence is a user who sometimes expects the worst regarding real content on websites.

Now, to turn this attitude inside out, the symbiosis between offers, web design and content is essential to retain existing and to attract potential new customers with informative and useful content.

Relevant content offers convincing arguments

A subpage should always be structured and designed in such a way that it supports the primary content along with its media content. Here, responsive web design as well as target group-oriented design can therefore pay off. The primary content may be supported in various ways, such as appropriate photos and videos, suitable formatting, tables, or additional links. Besides that, a perfect installation, in a clear and user-friendly design, definitely works wonders, if the user really wants to perceive and read the content.

Especially, since ballyhooing advertising promises do not work anymore today, as I mentioned often enough, successful content marketing strategies have to combine know-how and skills from different disciplines.

Loyal customers, fans and followers can only be convinced with attractive content that values relevancy, utility and entertainment. Thus, the combination of PR, sales and marketing knowledge, along with some basic SEO techniques, is becoming the solid foundation of an effective content marketing strategy. With interesting and useful web content, customer loyalty increases automatically and ultimately grows the customer base.

And once users are aware of the contents and assess them as good, they will step by step become less "blind" to your hard work.

By Daniela La Marca