3 Reasons Why I Hate the Term “Content Is King”

content is not kingWho don’t heard the term “content is king” before?

Please stop saying it, tired of hearing it all over the blogosphere.

I’m sorry but that doesn’t make any sense to me. Who made up this crazyness among the bloggers? I have never seen any blogger write about how we should make the content into King, but still we use the same term.

Is really content the King?

No way!! You can’t succeed in blogging by having only content. Agree?

Okay come along with me, I will show you what ingredients are really required and how you can make your blog a success by ditching content is King myth.

There are 3 major factors that people are forgetting.

  1. Network
  2. Design

  3. Traffic

Without having the above three things can it really possible for anyone to make money blogging?

1. Network

Do you know what makes a blogger more popular?

By being everywhere. 

Inter”Net” + “Work” to build relationships = Great results!

Network is the key to success.

What do you say?

But we are forgetting to build connections with other bloggers. Most of us putting more efforts on creating only the content. Yes, in the early stage of blogging, one should focus on creating great content. But, they also should focus on networking and making relationships with others.

“You build, they will come” is just a dream.

You have to shout out and work hard to let others know about your content. Without building a network around your blog it’s impossible for you to take your blog to the next level.

Best ways to build a network:

  • Actively participate in related forums.
  • Guest posting.
  • Regular blog commenting.
  • Using Social Media to build connections.

Now don’t get me wrong. You can’t do all these things at once, but you can do them alternatively. Start being everywhere by reading and commenting on other blogs. Later increase your popularity by guest blogging, joining the forums etc.

2. Design

If content is King, design is his queen!

And queen should always look sexy 😉

Generally custom design is better than the free themes.

Why?

Using a free theme is so easy, but it’s also easier to walk away from your blog! Because most of the bloggers already using the same free themes and you can’t create a good impression on your blog when someone visits.

2 simple ways to make your design more better:

  • Hire a professional to design your site
  • Buy a premium theme like Genesis or Thesis, and customize it yourself

If you know nothing about coding, there are so many videos and tutorials out there to do this. And you can always use the child themes if you don’t want to touch the code!

Note: Always make sure to test your blog in different browsers. Use this tool do that. It’s always better to find your blog’s design mistakes before your visitors or readers do.

3. Traffic

The best quote I ever heard about driving traffic to any site is this..

Try to stick with one traffic source at a time.

Let me tell you more clearly.

If you focus on every traffic source, you might not get the desired results. Know your best traffic source first, is it Facebook? Twitter or search engines?

Then concentrate more on bringing more traffic from them.

It’s always better to drive traffic from search engines, also called “organic traffic”. Because it’s free, effective and can generate better results in the long run.

So optimize your blog posts to the search engines, include relevant images, tags and keywords to better optimize your content. But don’t do keyword stuffing by using relevant keywords too often and making your content indigestible for the readers.

Conclusion: Content becomes King only when you have the above 3 things. Without having them, even if you have great content, you can’t build a better blog.

Over to you

Have I missed anything in this post? Do share your views, I would be glad to respond to your comments.

49 thoughts on “3 Reasons Why I Hate the Term “Content Is King””

  1. Yes, content is king. Because appealing posts make a person stay and read one’s blog.

    And perhaps learn decent grammar and spelling. This also constitutes good content.

    Reply
  2. Hi Rahul, you have written an article in which many people will disagree and I am one of them!

    “Content” and “Marketing” are the two different are two term used in SEO. And when it comes to SEO the content is much ahead of marketing.

    Therefore the term “Content is King”

    On other products like McD and Pepsi, etc., Marketing is more important.

    Reply
  3. Rahul, i agree with you . there are many websites whose content are not good and still their ranking is good. The best example is : Article Submission websites where articles publishes without any approval and they gets benefit from it.  I liked your article , carry on writing.

    Reply
  4. Well I agree we need traffic towards a blog in order to survive. A majority of the efforts must focus upon bringing high quality organic traffic that converts well. Focusing on content alone would not reap the much deserved benefits out of blogging.

    Reply
  5. Hey Rahul,
    I see many of these mistakes on my clients’ websites and advise them on it. Sadly, new bloggers do not always take constructive criticism too well. My response: Do you want to be right, or do you want to make your blog successful? Thanks for a great post.

    Reply
  6. Great Post man! Before now, if content is king proper Whitehat SEO is queen, but now Traffic is now the Queen

    As for your thought about Traffic, I absolutely disagree that one should stick to one traffic source at a time, its so wrong man, Organic traffic is the worst traffic strategy as it not stable and reliable.

    If not money man, Paid traffic is the best as you are in control of your biz! just imagine sites that were affected by google panda/penguine updates, it was a complete disaster man.

    And google gives over 80% of Organic Traffic, and you know how their monopolized SEO algorithm has been wrecking and ravaging havoc on websites. On this note i disagree with your point

    Jerrywhyte
    MediaTechBlog.org 

    Reply
  7. Pingback: Encounter With a RUDE Blogger
  8. good article , i am the one who spend more time on designing more than creating awesome contents 🙂

    Reply
  9. I am not being judgmental here, but just sharing my opinion. How do you expect to drive in quality traffic and that too a sustainable and ever growing one without having great content? That’s absolutely impossible! One cannot expect to grow the traffic without having good content. Great content is the foundation of any blog, without that it will crumble in no time. The other 3 points that you have mentioned are only valid if we have or are committed to creating compelling content on our blogs.
    So in a nutshell it again comes back to the same old cliche’ – Content is still the King! 🙂

    Reply
    • You got it all wrong, He said that Content will always be No.1 or King, only when supported by these 3 features. See, If you have really great content with a page that loads for 15-20 seconds… Your blog won’t do well, will it?

      Reply
      • If a page has only content, and it loads for 15-20 seconds, you’re on a dial up connection.

        Content is, and will be the king. You CANNOT even THINK of a blog without content. CONTENT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT, AND HAS THE MOST PRIORITY.

        As I mentioned in my comment, take a look at shoutmeloud. The design is downright ugly. Still, it’s popular, isn’t it? Why? Because of great CONTENT. 

        Reply
        • I agree with you guys, but that is not the exact point.

          What our guest author says is, content becomes king only if it has a kingdom surrounded by stuffs like good design, traffic, etc.

          You might disagree with this too, but what matters is, a naked blog with great content often ends unnoticed or gets less attention, but if you makeup it with good design and network it can gain good exposure. 🙂

          Reply
          • IMO, the phrase, “Content is King” means that a blog will be good only if it has good content, not “Content is the only thing you need for a good blog”.

            It seems that the author has taken the second interpretation, which is incorrect. 

            You cannot even start THINKING of design, network, etc, UNLESS you have good content. 

            Reply
            • You focused only on thing – BLAMING the author! That’s it.
              And no one can bear with whatever you say. I respect negative comments, but not foolish comments like this.. If you really don’t like the post, there is always a better way to present it. You are still a kid, there is a long way to go! So, focus on reaching other bloggers humbly not in arrogant way like this!
              You don’t even know how to respect other bloggers.  So, you don’t get any respect from me. This is the way I respond to stupid comments!
              Just check out your blog once! What a worst blog I’ve ever seen. You are selling links, and talking about the design of SML blog?? 

              BTW I’ve many other things to do kid! You can play all the day around here. Have a good day 🙂 
               

            • I see that you aren’t capable of responding to a basic question. Explain to me, the meat of the post?

              If you were a designer, you’d know. About respect? I have no need for respect from a blogger like you. If you’d atleast be literate, I’d give you some respect. You can’t even form sentences properly. Me, being a kid, know a lot about English than you.

              Am I selling links? Do you know the meaning of “Exchange” [*abusive word removed*]? Even if I were, explain to me how Link selling is related to DESIGN? Are you acting dumb, or really are?

              If you meet another designer, be sure to ask him if SML’s design is good.  

            • Dude, what is going on? I never thought this will end like this. Of course, we hate things but we don’t need to show or tell them. Rahul was kind enough to tell readers his view “Why he hates the term *Content is King*”. If you don’t like this post, then a simple comment expressing your views was more than enough. 🙁

              As I told you, please please don’t use words that hurt others, I’m sure there are people watching this debate, it could damage reputation to all. I’m really worried, because you are also a guest author of HBB and you know the feelings of bad comments. We can’t put an end to silly fights, we can keep on blaming each other. I respect both of you, contributed a lot to HBB and please end this now.

            • Rahul,
              Mud wrеѕtlіng wіth ріgѕ – Dоn’t dо іt, bесаuѕе уоu nеvеr wіn, аnd еvеntuаllу уоu rеаlіzе thе ріg еnјоуѕ іt.

  10. First thing that strikes users eye is design and then if he/she likes it then they go further to read your post.

    Some times we see that few blogs with out having good design have lot of readers, the reason is that they had good content and network.

    So according to me content with design and network is important.
     

    Reply
  11. So apt! Well people tend to only focus on content & then they forget to design some amazing template! Well, also they tend to forget the featured features that can attract the site to a new height! Well, this can really make the things more easily attractable! One should forget that only content can do wonders but what if there is no traffic?

    Reply
    • Of course, traffic matters. But with great content, comes regular readers. So you’ll be getting pretty good traffic through this, excluding social media and search engine traffic.

      Reply
  12. Content may be king but brevity is the queen in my opinion, especially on the web getting the point over with less words is the real artform, of course you need to include your search keywords within the content

    Reply
  13. Totally disagree, a poor post.

    Content is, and will always be the king. You CANNOT have a blog without content, THAT’S WHY CONTENT IS THE KING.

    Check out shoutmeloud. Like the design? It’s atleast 5 years old, still, it’s one of the great blogs. 

    Keep doing what you want with the 3 factors, lets see how much traffic you get, if you don’t focus on content. You do not understand the mere meaning of the phrase.

    As for “Design should always be sexy” I’d recommend that you work on your blog’s design, get a good designer to make it for you. 

    There is no such phrase as ” Try to stick with one traffic source at a time.” This is a stupid phrase.

    You mean to say, if I most traffic from Google, I should ignore facebook and twitter? Don’t post on them, don’t share, nothing?

    If I receive most traffic from Facebook, should I ignore SEO altogether, as I’m getting hits from facebook?

    Really stupid post. 

     

    Reply
    • Content is King, Everyone knows that! I dint say it’s not king, but alone having a great content you can’t make a blog success.

      About shout me loud design? Do you know how creative it is?? You want all flash things or what to make a blog design good? Or someone should regularly change their blog design – What a rubbish.

      And traffic – you don’t need to be a jack of all trades to drive traffic. ViperChill used only twitter to promote. I don’t say it works for all! But I’m pretty much sure that by focusing on traffic source at a time give better results than focusing on every stream.

      And I think you don’t read the conclusion at all! If you still think it’s stupid content, let it be. Just stick with your policy – Content is KING!

      Reply
      • Yes you did.

        Creative? See the logo. ATLEAST 20 years back.

        You said in the post that you need to be. Now you’re saying that you don’t? Could you decide?

        Again, you’re contradicting yourself.
         

        Reply
        • First try to understand the MEAT in this article. Don’t try to contradict with me! And its not a good way to degrade others design(you are not the owner of SML, just you are a reader!) You can write anything as you wish on your own blog, but not here. You are indirectly degrading the value of SML(one of my favt. blogs here).

          Reply
          • Okay, you explain what is the MEAT of this article. 

            You’re contradicting yourself dude. I cannot contradict you. Do you even KNOW what contradict means?

            Also, yes, I can comment whatever I want. And I am DIRECTLY bashing SML because it’s one of the most stupid designs I’ve EVER seen. Share buttons next to logo? What a smart thing to do. Making the logo in paint? AWESOME! Having a flashing banner OVER the log? Smart!

            The rest of the design is acceptable the least, but surely not good. If you like the design of SML, you need to ACTUALLY see good designs. (Example, Google, Smashing Magazine) 

            Reply
            • Okay you asked for it – Get the [*abusive word removed*] out of this blog before hell breaks lose. If you think you can bash SML with your comments, then I can bring a big flamethrower and burn down your website. Look at your page’s alexa rank and PR, no wonder you are rotting there below. Cut down your frigging ego and learn to respect others, you’re making a mockery out of Indian Bloggers [*abusive word removed*].

  14. I agree, I also feel that the phrase “content is king” just doesn’t make sense these days. Everyone includes this point in his or her article when writing about – getting better indexing, SEO and a lot more. 

    There are many other things which determines the reputation or growth of a blog or a blogger. You have listed all the basic needs. Nice article.

    Reply
  15. Content is king.. but there are many factors like design, traffic, SEO which will are next to king and necessary for every blog…

    Reply
  16. Here’s how I’d put it –
    The king has to be loyal and courteous to his subjects, so that is where networking with your blog readers comes in, whereas he has to maintain good ties with fellow kings to avoid ‘war’ = networking with fellow bloggers.
     
    A king is usually a man of command and respect, so he wouldn’t want to hang out with cheap broads (free themes) he wants the best possible queen which he chooses selectively (neatly designed by yourself or a professional)
     
    Traffic? Every king loves to expand his kingdom doesn’t he? It is done with meticulous planning and usually taken step by step, just like the British did to India. Shows one source at a time works!
     
    You’ve highlighted the best points and as I was reading it I was drawing these comparisons mentioned above. Thank you so much for these, I am doing pretty good with my kingdom right now 😛

    Reply
  17. Bro you are really an awesome writer, want to meet you!!! So when is the next blogger meet in hyderabad!!!

    Reply
  18. Awesome post Rahul,
    I agree with you, Killer content isn’t king without good design and traffic, but I think good design and traffic isn’t going to come back to our blog again after one visit if we don’t have killer content.
    So again “Content is king”:P

    Reply
  19. I certainly agree that the network is crucial.  The network -readers as well as fellow bloggers and social media friends – is crucial in getting the word out.  Design, less so.  The design has to look professional and make it feel easy to read, but a really great design usually won’t make a big difference over a barely acceptable design.  So I would focus on content and the network.

    Reply
  20. Hey Rahul,

    Content will always be the king ! Even the point you mentioned needs good content , else its a waste of hiring professional to design and having a network mate !  

    Reply
    • Hello Sandeep,

      Yes, I do agree, content is always King. Read my conclusion at the end of the post once. I hope I’ve cleared your doubts. 

      Reply
  21. I still think that content is king but we need good seo of the content also to get good ranks in SERPs. By the way very nice post.

    Reply
  22. Content is king. I’ll say again. But ya the others are some soldiers who also helps in acheiving overall success.. A blog with good design but bad content will never be appreciated. SEO can’t be done without content and traffic will never come if there’s no good content.

    Reply
  23. First of all Thanks Rahul for this wonderful article.
    I would like to explain what I believe about “Content is king,Queen or something else”

    Iѕ соntеnt kіng? I thіnk thаt’ѕ оvеrrаtеd.
    Thе wау I ѕее іt… Mаrkеtіng іѕ kіng.
    Lеt mе thrоw ѕоmе еxаmрlеѕ fіrѕt:

    Cаѕе 1: Cоса Cоlа vѕ Pерѕі

    Sіnсе 1975, Pерѕі hаѕ bееn runnіng “Thе Pерѕі Chаllеngе” whеrеіn thеу hаnd 2 blаnk сuрѕ tо bуѕtаndеrѕ іn mаllѕ – оnе соntаіnіng Pерѕі аnd thе оthеr оnе, Cоkе, аnd thеn thеу’d аѕk whісh tаѕtеѕ bеttеr.

    Thе rеѕult? Pерѕі tорреd thе сhаllеngе.
    But Cоса Cоlа іѕ ѕtіll thе numbеr оnе ѕоft drіnk. Whу? аdvеrtіѕіng.

    Cаѕе 2: Problogger.net

    It’ѕ wіdеlу ассерtеd thаt Dаrrеn іѕ thе #1 blоggеr whо blоgѕ аbоut hоw tо mаkе mоnеу blоggіng (And I аmеn tо thаt) but dоеѕ Dаrrеn gіvе “thе” bеѕt соntеnt аbоut blоggіng tо mаkе mоnеу? I’m nоt ѕауіng thаt Dаrrеn’ѕ соntеnt ѕuсkѕ, Dаrrеn gіvеѕ hіgh осtаnе іnfо. But dоеѕ hе gіvе thе bеѕt соntеnt аrоund thе blоgоѕрhеrе?

    Of соurѕе nоt, thеrе аrе а lоt оf blоggеrѕ оut thеrе whо gіvе hаrd соrе аdvісе оn blоggіng but thеу’rе unnоtісеd. Whу? Bесаuѕе thеу dіdn’t mаrkеt thеmѕеlvеѕ еnоugh. Thеу hаvеn’t роѕіtіоnеd thеmѕеlvеѕ рrореrlу. Dаrrеn роѕіtіоnеd hіmѕеlf аѕ THE Prоblоggеr.

    Cаѕе 3: MсDоnаldѕ

    Lеt’ѕ fасе іt.

    Thеу dоn’t hаvе thе bеѕt tаѕtіng burgеrѕ.

    Thеу dоn’t hаvе thе bеѕt tаѕtіng frеnсh frіеѕ.

    But thеу dо knоw whеrе tо рut thеіr brаnсhеѕ.

    Onе оf mу dаd’ѕ MBA tеасhеrѕ оnсе ѕаіd “MсDоnаldѕ іѕ nоt іn thе fаѕt fооd buѕіnеѕѕ, thеу’rе іn thе rеаl еѕtаtе buѕіnеѕѕ.”

    Cоntеnt іѕ јuѕt а раrt оf mаrkеtіng

    I реrѕоnаllу bеlіеvе, аnd thе wау I аррlу іt tо mу buѕіnеѕѕ, соntеnt – іѕ јuѕt раrt оf mаrkеtіng.

    Thеrе аrе а lоt оf реорlе оut thеrе whо аrе tорріng thе сhаrtѕ but аrе nоt rеаllу “thе” bеѕt оr dоn’t rеаllу роѕѕеѕ thе bеѕt ѕkіllѕ – but thеу knоw hоw tо mаrkеt thеmѕеlvеѕ.

    Anоthеr quісk еxаmрlе: Bruсе Lее, nоt thе ѕtrоngеѕt, nоt thе quісkеѕt but thе mоѕt рорulаr mаrtіаl аrtіѕt еvеr.

    Thеrе аrе а lоt оf реорlе tоо whо hаvе “thе” bеѕt соntеnt, but аrе unknоwn.

    Of соurѕе, I’m nоt ѕауіng thаt уоu ѕhоuld јuѕt рut аll уоur еffоrtѕ іntо mаrkеtіng – аgаіn, Cоntеnt іѕ раrt оf mаrkеtіng – уоu hаvе tо dеlіvеr.

    Nоt nесеѕѕаrіlу thе bеѕt соntеnt, but “gооd еnоugh” соntеnt tо kеер thеm соmіng bасk.

    Sо іn соnсluѕіоn: Mаrkеtіng іѕ kіng.

    Above mentioned comments are just of my personal viewpoints and works for me. I don’t want to force my opinion on someone else.

    Let see what you think.

    Reply
    • Hello Amrik,

      You’ve guest posted here without the acceptance from Pradeep here in the comments section 😉  

      I really liked the value you’ve added to this post. And you’re absolutely right, the right marketing efforts with the right people can bring any blogger massive exposure. It’s all about the END results not about how we start.

      And your second point was so amazing Amrik. Everyone who is reading the comments section should read that point.

      Thanks for stopping by and dropping your insightful comment.

      Reply
      • It’s my pleasure getting an opportunity to leave comments on your your post.
        Good Luck

        Reply
  24. again very nice articles @mr. rahul 🙂 i am agree network, design and traffic very impotent (king) in blogging career

    Reply
  25. Hi,

    We should keep one thing in mind if we are facing some problem then definitely there will be some solution for that. We just only need to take that thing like a challenge.

    Reply

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