When it Comes to Content, Who Cares if there’s an App for That?

Posted: January 01, 1970

[caption id="attachment_11529" align="alignright" width="650"]Image: Copyblogger[/caption]More and more we hear that mobile devices and apps will become the end all and be all for delivering content. So, should you spend any time or invest any money in updating your website? Absolutely. It's very unlikely that apps will completely conquer websites for information and content.

Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media, shares his thoughts on why we'll always need websites for content.

One of the more satisfying aspects of the nearly 8 years of publishing Copyblogger has been the renewed praise for email marketing. Misguided pundits had proclaimed it dead for years.

Email, of course, is alive, well, and had never left the building. That’s because email still converts to sales at the highest rate of any online medium, while social media barely registers.

Email may be “old,” but it works.

The other favorite target of the doomsday punditry is the web itself. Specifically, the tried-and-true website.

The latest in a long string of “web slayers” is the app. You know, those software programs on your phone, tablet, and laptop.

Don’t Believe the Hype

George Colony, head of analyst firm Forrester Research, has – for some unknown reason – been trying to make the case for the death of the website in favor of apps for years. In his words:

Websites will become the AM radio of the Internet.

How incredibly pithy — and completely wrong.

I’ve got nothing against analysts, but they are generally more adept at hyperbole than the day-to-day reality of online publishing and marketing. In other words, everyone wants to be a thought leader, but you’re smart to carefully consider whose thoughts you follow.

If I follow Mr. Colony’s reasoning correctly, he sees that the Millennial generation loves apps, and they make purchases via apps at higher rates than older people. Therefore, there will be no need for websites in the near future, because for whatever you need, there’s an app for that.

Lots of people like apps, even old people like Mr. Colony and me. My kids love a particular type of app the most – those are called games. And they buy items they need to progress within the game via these apps (when I let them). That’s called an in-game purchase.

Juniper Research reports that revenues from mobile in-game purchases totaled $2.1 billion in 2011, and are expected to grow to $4.8 billion by 2016. This is the vast majority of the in-app purchases Mr. Colony relies on to this point.

Read the entire article When it Comes to Content, Who Cares if there’s an App for That?, at Copyblogger.