Content is The Secret Sauce

The Internet is not the wild west. It's a digital universe, big banging into existence with a growth and reach very few of us can fathom. But the size and scope is not as important as the stake we claim in it: our universe, the website.

The building blocks of our website, the information has been apparent since the first website (August 1991). What's not been so apparent, veiled in technology, technique, flashy packaging and trends is the life force imbued within the information.

A website is not our digital signature, it's a pulse that beacons out to the universe signaling our existense — alive or dead. Early websites began as the offspring of traditional media — print. The term "Web page" will saddle our perception for years to come, but the young universe will not be held to any perception, at least not in it's adolesent stage.

As the world wide web is still less than 20 years old (compared to the movie industry, we're still in the silent movie era), we have a lot of growth and evolution ahead of us but there has and always will be a single constant — the content.

That measure of our existence. With 0 traffic, we don't exist. With more than that, someone in the world is touching us. And it's been that way for most of the 20 years that we've had websites. But as of late, something has changed.

The term "social networking" carries a heavy connotation of what the nacent system of connections represents. It's very young, but also very powerful. The names of the portals are thrown around like candy at a parade but the benefit is the establishment of an infrastructure that will outlive the names. Marketing has been a measure of numbers of influence, but now we can actually see, talk with, get to know who you're speaking with. These new tools are taking us way beyond traffic statistics and search engine bait.

Our best friends are those we see often and enjoy their company. And really, when it comes to these friends the venue is not as important as the sharing of stories.

Through all the screaming signals out in the digital universe, connecting and re-connecting with an audience by way of a great story will always prevail. It's not easy to tell a great story, but it's easier than trying to make sense of all the options of how to grow your claim in the digital universe.

Start telling stories, and keep doing it.