Where Content Rules, The Oatmeal is King

Pop culture and the Internet made me. All the opportunities I’ve had in my career stemmed from a  website devoted to an intense love of sharing Japanese pop culture and food, and arguing on high brow topics such as whether Cowboy Bebop is better than Neon Genesis Evangelion (hint: it is.) The site was popular, highly trafficked and tons of fun.

Fast-forward three years after I left the anime bloggo-sphere and I’m still devoted to my first love—using the Internet as pulpit and storytelling medium. Yet I meet people regularly who have no clue what it means to inhabit a digital space. No clue what it means to sell on or set up a site that doesn’t sear the brain into a self-induced coma to protect against flashing gifs, body text in Comic Sans (or worse, Papyrus), Google ads all over the page and mind-numbing self-promotional copy dedicated to one thing: selling their stuff.

This isn’t how you get eyeballs on your page and move ideas or product. The way to do that is with consistently good copy and fresh content enhanced with related graphics that enriches the reader’s day. It’s with simple, smart web design focused on usability.

Nice Layout & Killer Content- Copyright © 2013 Matthew Inman

A great example of this is The Oatmeal. The Oatmeal was created and is run by Matthew Inman, a Seattleite with a knack for making grammar interesting, cats deadly, and for offering life-advice and opinions on everything from religion to food.

I didn’t find The Oatmeal by searching for “funny webcomics”. I didn’t come across him by wanting to know the definition of “literally”—I found him when a co-worker tweeted a comic of his. More tweets followed. Neil Gaiman, literary deity and hero to goths and geeks around the globe, re-tweeted Inman’s comic on the state of the music industry.

The site has excellent word of mouth marketing. Why? Because Inman offers content people want to read, share and/or revile. His layout is as clean as freshly-bleached linen and the ads he chooses to run won’t make your eyes vomit.

His content is 100% unique, funny and smart. Most is edgy, razor-sharp, and cuts plenty of folks. They in turn link like mad to what they disagree with, a kerfuffle may ensue, and then more eyeballs are parked on The Oatmeal.

Note the Unobtrusive Ad- Copyright © 2013 Matthew Inman

Inman also sells prints and apparel of his comics and has monetized his site. He recently released a book of his work that hit the NYT Best Seller list. He blogs about his appearances at comic conventions, backs causes people believe in and doesn’t shove what he’s selling down throats. Though self-promotion is involved, mostly what Inman is selling is a good laugh, or in some cases, a good argument. People come for the content, which might later turn into sales. 

When it comes to marketing, online and off, it’s not about you at all. It’s about them, those folks out there in Internet Land who’ve come across your webpage and might be back. And if they really like what they see they’ll tell their friends via a link on either social media or their own blog/site—classic word of mouth marketing and the best, easiest and cheapest way to get noticed online. Do what you love, do it well and smartly and you’ll be seen. It’s the purest form of SEO. The Oatmeal is a great example of what Internet marketing should be: following your passion, being true to it and giving people the opportunity to share that love via sales and page views.