More than two hundred years ago, Scientist/archeologists accompanying Napoleon in his conquest of Egypt, discovered a big black stone. They were no doubt hot and dusty. The stone was large. Its quite amazing, in many ways that they bothered with it at all, especially since in weighs over 1,700 lbs, but bother they did and as a result the ancient world of the Egyptians, once a complete mystery began to open up. In 1801, British troops chasing the French from Egypt took possession of the stone and sent it to it’s current home in the British Museum where it has become the most visited exhibit of all, and possibly the most famous single stone in history. I’m talking, of course, about the Rosetta Stone.
The stone was discovered by troops repairing the walls of an old fort. The quickly recognized that it was important and dragged it out, sending it to Cairo for study. Napoleon himself came to see it, and when the French surrendered to the British in Egypt, the stone was just one of many antiquities which were the subjects of major dispute. The French refused to hand them over, the British refused to accept anything less. French historians and scientists were so outraged by the British claim to all their discoveries that they threatened to detroy them all if they were not allowed to take them to France.
As a result, there was a compromise. Scientists were entitled to retain some of their finds (especially the biological specimens) as personal property, and the French attempted to retain the Rosetta Stone the same way, however by some means the British got hold of it and it was taken to England to be presented to the King, displayed in the British Museum and of course copied. Plaster casts were then sent to the principal Universities; Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Trinity College in Dublin and the real work began; what exactly did the Stone say?
All this is far from Content creation for websites, or even article marketing, but the Rosetta Stone does have something to tell us, almost 2000 years after it was written.
The stone is famous because it contains a single inscription not in one language, but in three; ancient Greek, demotic and hieroglyphic. Scholars understanding of the first two, gave them the key to the third, the language of an ancient civilization which until that time, had been lost for around 1500 years. By writing in three, different languages, the scribes had ensured the script was understood by all. The stone dates from a time when Greek was the official language of the Egyptian government, but demotic was the language of Egyptian documents, and hieroglyphics the ‘language of the Gods’. The stone had inscriptions in all three languages in order to address three different audiences, and that is something we can learn from.
Article marketing is a way to bring visitors to your web site. It is also a way to build a reputation for expertise. But there are other important audiences you need to address, and other forms of writing to use. Blogs, such as this one, are an important way of maintaining a dialogue, finding out what interests people and letting them get to know you. Newsletters are a vital component of your business as they keep you in touch with existing customers who are often the best source of business. Tweets and Facebook pages are another way of spreading the word about what you do.
There is no one type of writing, there is no one place to post articles there is no single strategy to follow. The world is more complex; the world is more fun than that. Learn from the ancients and devise a strategy to address a wider audience by talking to them in different ways. Never in history had it been so easy to do so. You don’t need a team of scribes or a huge block of black granite to get yuor message out. Just sit down at your keyboard, write and be read.