My opinionated definition of what a “Content Developer” is…
September 4, 2007 by Valerie "Serendipity" Anderson
Overview of the Content Developer role
“What does a ‘content developer’ do?”
A Content Developer is responsible for delivering your visitors content of value to them while generating a higher word count/higher content to code ratio. They are able to contribute quality articles of interest that can be used in viral marketing campaigns.
A quality Content Developer can contribute to generating advertising revenues for your web site due to the number of visitors that are consistently drawn to your web site.
Some terms used to describe a Content Developer are copywriter, author, and even composer, depending on the scope of their chosen topic(s) that write about.
Major Benefits
“There is value in uniqueness”
The Internet is saturated with individuals dreaming of generating a liveable income from doing only original content development. This is a major benefit, especially for those who are trying to keep their costs under control.
Certainly you can go with a tried-and-true writer if you can convert your visitors however you can also explore the pool of new and upcoming talent and possibly negotiate more flexible terms for the work performed. In addition, there might be a few that will offer materials for free, do not be surprised when the writer expects some type of compensation for work performed. As long as your Return On Investment (ROI) is reasonable, the right Content Developer can really sky-rocket your popularity on the Internet over a short period of time.
Minor Side-Affects
“There is value in Keeping It Simple, Silly!”
Mathemtaically, “content is King on the Internet” makes sense. Yet there is also value in lacking content…I hereby coronate White Space as Queen on the Internet! LOL! 
All joking aside, too much text can frighten away even the most emboldened of explorers. Even with an internal search engine, if a visitor doesn’t know how to describe what they are interested in discovering on your site, they won’t care about the quantity of information on your site because they failed to find the one nugget of information they were hoping to find in the first place!
And now back to the Content is King show…
Augmented Benefits
“A steady supply of quality content can raise the street credibility of a web address and generate major buzz”
The Internet has so many shining stars uniquely a part of its own stratosphere…think of it this way. If you take out a classified ad looking for a Content Developer, you may stumble upon someone who has dreamed about becoming a writer for years and they decided to “give it a shot” when they responded to your ad. Over the years, this writer generates a medium-sized and loyal following for your site and has even branched off on their own. It’s a win-win for both you and the artist.
Diminished Benefits
“I can’t afford a Content Developer!”
There are not many drawbacks to hiring a Content Developer, except for the potential price tag attached to each piece of content you are purchasing. Yes, content is certainly king on the Internet, but if your visitor conversation rate cannot cover the expense of a Content Developer, you may not be able to afford this type of specialist.
The upside to this theoretically diminished capacity is that a majority of web sites are not fueled by daily additions of content (excluding blogging, media outlets and other sites that promise such a service). In fact, many web sites can generate relatively high conversation rates using only a handful of pages posted to the site.
Do you provide Content Developer services?
From time to time, I have had projects that were brand-spanking new, such as the musical acts I have designed for. Neither had a ready-made and complete collection of content needing to go onto the site. With these two instances, I remembered from my own experiences as a working musician that a musicians website should include the same materials that would be found in the traditional “promo packs” especially since sound bytes can be quite persuasive.
Yet there was also a limit on the content I could develop for them without becoming a full-time content specialist because that is not what I specialize in. As a work-around to this issue, one of the sites has a blog attached to capture the writings of the band members, so they are ready and able to perform as their own content developers. The other web site was designed to be fairly self-sufficient with updates to the schedule once a month. Both sites are displayed in the top 10 results if someone is searching via band name and both are receiving a small, but steady stream of loyal visitors which is important for musical acts.
In fact, with this new update, I decided to primarily focus on growing the content on this site rather than experimenting with how to generate buzz using but a handful of pages and animated graphics to promote and entertain.
