How to stand out in the age of the zettabyte

Here’s a fact that never ceases to be amazing, published this week by the Guardian:

All human language used since the dawn of time would take up about 5,000 petabytes if stored in digital form, which is less than 1% of the digital content created since someone first switched on a computer.

While we’re still getting used to the term ‘petabyte’, a new word has been coined to cater for the vast quantities of data that are being stored online daily – the zettabyte. And even that’s not expected to be adequate for long.

Those of us who already find the Internet a vast, unnavigable place may emit a sigh at this point. For you, as a small business owner, there are three golden rules in the face of all this data:

1. Make your website findable. At this moment in history, that means optimizing for search engines. As the web proliferates, more and more it will be true that those who are not on the first page of search engine results will simply not be found.

2. Make it worthwhile. With so much content online, users will not give the time of day to anything that fails to live up to the highest standards. Well, when there are so many alternatives, why would they?

3. Make it memorable. From your URL to your content, ensure that you provide content that will stick in the mind because it will be the memorable sites that get customers returning time and again.

It’s not so hard, but these three rules will make all the difference in the age of the zettabyte. And we can help you with all of them: just drop us a line or give us a call.