The beauty of having a website is not the convenience. It’s not the animated graphics or the lack of overhead. No, the real beauty of having a website is that it can grow with your business.

A website is the only calling card that can change as you change. Grow as you grow. New products, new services or even a whole new philosophy and look can be applied almost instantly, giving both new and existing customers an accurate representation of your company’s direction. But tapping into this unique little marketing feature requires more than just a new color scheme. You need to change the way your view your website.

So many businesses go online with one goal and one goal only: market their products or services. And that’s fine. That is after all, why you’re on the web. But give your customers more than they bargained for and they’ll visit more often. More visits means more leads which in turn, means more sales. And that’s the whole point of marketing those products and services, isn’t it?

As a consumer, I can buy widgets from just about anyone. And while your price might differ slightly from a competitor’s, the widgets themselves are likely going to be the same. The selling point then will be the amount of service I’ll receive and the best service you can give comes in the form of content.

Good content opens up a whole new aspect of usability to your website. Informative articles, user manuals and step-by-step how-to’s are just a few examples of smart website content. Anyone can sell me that widget. But who can show me how to use it?

Think this type of service doesn’t matter? Think again. Even brick-and-mortar businesses are recognizing the advertising benefits of information and have begun expanding their services to provide free instruction that compliments their applications. One look at the home improvement industry and you’ll see what I mean.

The brilliance of this marketing bonanza is that you don’t have to be an award-winning author to capitalize on content. There are freelancers galore ready and willing to write your words or you can tap into the surplus of free content already out on the web. But tap you must, before your competitor’s beat you to it.

The bottom line? If you build it, they might come but if you teach it, they`re more likely to stay.