...about the necessity for a website to have fresh content and look alive.

Fresh content gives you better search results - in recent weeks we have seen posts in digg and other social media sites appearing at the top of a SERP. (search engine results page.)

It also shows visitors that you are alive and well. 

"..entrepreneurs have figured out a way to create forms of interactive excitement about their niches with linkbaiting and PR ideas, online forums, blogs, YouTube accounts of their exploits, and so on," writes Goodman.  "Sure, thats hard work! Harder than their competitors are willing to put in. But the long-term rewards tend to come to those who stay top of mind."

Yes, fresh content is hard work. Social media is hard work. But it does pay off.

eMarketer predicts that $27.5 billion will be spent on various forms of Internet advertising in 2008.  The cost of hiring a good SEO writer and a savvy social media team that can actually get a pulse on your website is less than many other forms of online advertising.

We did a comparison for a client recently.  The cost of a PPC visitor to their site is 65c. Organic search traffic is 14c per visitor. Blog and social media traffic is  27c.

Del.icio.us

Digg

Reddit

Furl