Top Blogger / Publisher LIZ STRAUSS recently said, "If I said it once, I must have said it a million times — no I don’t exaggerate . . . much — still the point is the same, blogging is NOT about writing, it’s about the people. The people are who bring the ideas, who give an event life. The halls are quiet and desolate without the people walking in them."

I read a great article this week by Stoney deGeyter at Pole Position Marketing..."With the rise in popularity of blogs and social media sites it's no wonder that more people spend their time reading online than anything else. While time reading and gathering information online has increased, time spent shopping has actually decreased, down over 2% from a year before. We know people like information and we know they like to communicate.

In no way do I want to diminish the importance of content on e-commerce websites. Having a database of information that helps visitors make their decision, helpful tutorials, etc. can improve your visitor's overall experience and keep them coming back to your site. But the goal of all of that is to lead people to the sale.

What I would conclude, however is that we need to build websites that meet a number of users needs. Adding more content to your ecommerce site is not the magic bullet. What is, however, is creating a great user experience and providing just the right amount of information and customer engagement that consumers need to get to the conversion goal.

Many online stores are already paving the way by opening the door to ratings and reviews. Others are doing that by creating blogs to disseminate important and relevant industry information along with tips and tutorials. Still others do that by creating an information database that can visitors frequent to gain additional insights.

By building a community you not only sell more products but you build brand recognition and customer loyalty. And both of those are worth far more than a single one-off sell. So while content may not be dead (not by a long shot, really), there is a new king in the online marketing industry. Long live community. Long live the (new) king."

Content is still important. Just don't leave your consumers out of the mix. Look at YELP!  Yelp is huge! While content is very important, we have to realize the power has shifted. The people, the public, now have greater power and input.  A Chicago restaurant invited 100 Yelp-ers for an evening of food and wine and a-list fun! The next day, 100 glowing reviews flooded the Internet. It's about the people. COMMUNITY. PARTICIPATION!