There are few things as disappointing as sitting down to your computer, downing your third cup of coffee as you sit there late into the night cranking up content piece after content piece, only to have it hit the internet to a chorus of crickets. What happened? You put everything you had into that content, poured out your heart, as well as all the information you know about a particular topic. What more could people want? The truth is, a lot more.

By now, we all know that they say content is king, and we're here to confirm, whoever "they" are, they're right. Content marketing is the foundation of a healthy marketing strategy. And while it isn't the end-all-be-all, it's pretty close. But not all content marketing efforts are created equally. Just like anything in life, you get out what you put into the process. Indeed, throwing some words on a page and thinking that customers and leads will magically start pouring in is a little naïve. That's why today, we're breaking down the four major steps to a killer content marketing strategy, starting with your audience.

When social media first came out, developing a following and getting likes and shares was the task at hand. It was largely reactive, rather than proactive and responded to the trends of the day, rather than setting trends. As professional marketers expanded the social media space, being proactive and building trends became the pathway for much of the traffic. As this has continued, organic social media has taken a back seat to paid social efforts. As with most endeavors, paid advertising is what grassroots efforts use to go from local hotspot to regional or national trends.

Your website's UI (or User Interface, a mix of visual and interaction design) functionality is imperative to a healthy functioning website. It doesn't matter how pretty your graphics are, how great your brand photos turned out, or how on-point your copy is if your functionality is lackluster. It's been a few years since the ideas of UI and its friendly cohort, UX (User Experience, the way the user interacts with the interface), have been regular parts of web design, given their success in product design the last decade. A user-centric model has become the mainstay of design and development. While engineers and graphic designers debate what's more important, function or beauty, less than pretty function regularly beats out beautiful confusion.

When it comes to a website, many companies either tend to either hammer something out themselves, buy one, and then let it sit. But your website isn't a succulent you buy at the market, set on display, and ignore for months only to find it's blossomed beautifully. Think of your website instead as a garden, one that needs constant tending, with different needs and changes arising with the changing seasons. Likewise, if you ignore its existence, it won't bare you much fruit. But hey, we know you're busy. You don't have time to comb through every possible web factor that could require maintenance.

Today we continue our saga into good website practices with PRIME's Director of Digital Development and website guru Ben Fjare. And while this topic is a multifaceted one in which each facet is a critical part of a well-oiled machine, today's topic stands out especially. Perhaps that's because today's topic is one that anyone who has ever tried to whip up a website—from Wix to Wordpress—knows deep down: your site is never really finished.

In this episode of PRIME's Wheelhouse, we will look at reasons why this is true, and more importantly, what you need to do to make sure your website is always the best (for the moment). To make life easier, Ben broke things down into five bitesize chunks for a more straightforward understanding. Let's dig in.