goodroi - 6:00 pm on Dec 7, 2012 (gmt 0)

Value is king.

Online businesses need to provide great value. You can do this with or without content.

I strive to provide value for each and every interaction with one of my online operations. Sometimes I can provide value by providing great content, other times my value is by helping them find another quality online resources with no wasted time.

As for promoting a new or unknown company, providing great value will eventually work (probably slower than you like). People will refer you to friends, tweet about you, blog about you and in general expose you to the marketplace. Personally I would look to use multiple channels to promote a new business.