When it comes to creating content online, what is your main focus? Is it to provide value to your audience, increase traffic and sales, or to help grow your brand and bring awareness to whatever it is you specialize in? No matter which of these it might be, the content on your site is important and it shouldn’t be a rushed or half-effort project.
The best content on the internet today is much longer in words, more detailed, and full of original images, citations, and references to other sites. In short, if you are still focusing your efforts on writing daily articles that are just 500-words long, you are doing it wrong.
This is especially true when it comes to SEO and trying to compete against some of the top sites on the internet today. With over a billion active sites now pushing content out there, it’s not only harder than ever to compete, it’s also more of a pre-planning and marketing strategy game as well.
Find the Right Keywords Before You Start Writing
If you’ve ever wanted to set yourself up for failure and waste a bunch of time in the process, simply start writing content and publishing it on your site, then figure out how to promote and monetize it later on. This is something many site owners and bloggers are still doing today, and it’s killing their potential for success.
You MUST pre-plan and figure out why you are creating the content on your site, who it’s for, how you are going to monetize it, and also what keywords you should be using to rank in the search results.
This can easily be accomplished by first using a tool like Ubersuggest to do through keyword research. Not only is this tool free to use, it also pulls data right from Google Keyword planner (without the need to login) and shows how many times a word or phrase is searched for on a monthly basis.
Let’s say I wanted to create an article on “how to make money online”. It’s way too generic and broad, so we could plug that phrase into the tool and see what info and stats it spits out. You can see the results below, and I actually sorted it based on the “Highest CPC” amounts.
A few quick wins right off the bat are that an article focused around the topic of “how to make money online as a college student” is a clear winner, as it’s very specific and has low competition… but at the same time, the CPC is quite high.
The data is all laid out for it, it’s just a matter of searching through various keywords and search phrases until you find one that makes sense for your site and audience. Then you should also use variations of the chosen keyword or topic to create sub-headers and category sections within that same article as well.
The best thing about Ubersuggest? It’s free!
Always Use a Plagiarism Checker When Outsourcing
When it comes to creating content online, you have plenty of options to choose from. If you are low on money and have a talent for writing, you can simply create content on your own. However, if you have some money to spend and don’t have the time or talents to write on your own, then outsourcing your content is definitely the next best option.
However, just because you are outsourcing the content, don’t think you still won’t need to find a focus keyword and break down the content structure for your freelance writers. If you want your content written in the highest quality possible, this is something you should provide for them in advance.
At the same time, whenever outsourcing any type of content work, it’s important to always check text for appropriation. The last thing you want it to pay for content and have it published on your site, only to find out it was copied from another site and isn’t completely original. Not only will this waste your money, it could also get your site in a lot of trouble in the process.
So here are three simple rules to remember when outsourcing your content:
- Find a reliable writer that also understands how SEO works
- Have a solid focus on your content and make sure it’s at least 1,200+ words
- Always run a spelling, grammar or plagiarism check your articles
Follow these three simple steps before outsourcing your content, and you will be much more likely to find success in the search results, SEO, and also providing your audience with value.
SEO Reverse Engineering
There are plenty of tools out there for tracking keywords, search movements and your competition, but if you aren’t using them smartly, you are missing out big time. Two of the most well-known tools in this space are SEMRush and Ahrefs, but they aren’t the only players in town — plus they will also cost you upwards of $60+ per month as well.
SEMRush is great because they give you sample data with a free account. Ahrefs will give you a few days free trial with a credit card submit. Some of this data will be enough to get you started, but there is another great resource out there as well — and it’s Flippa.com.
Flippa, the online marketplace for buying and selling sites, is flooded with thousands of active site listings. Some sell for $1, while others sell for $100,000+. Within each of these listings is a gold mine of data that can be used to reverse engineer the SEO and business model for each of these sites.
Now, I’m not saying to copy the sites or their content and business model, I’m instead recommending that you reference and study not only how these sites make money, but also how and where they rank as well. By better understanding your competition, it will help improve your own results as well.
How to Implement these Methods into Your Own Blog and Online Business
To rank at the top of the search results and beat out the competition, you don’t just need ‘better content’, you also need better backlinks, SEO analysis, keyword targeting and more. With more than a billion active sites pushing new content into the search engines, it’s now harder than ever. These are the steps you need to follow.
If you are still struggling with any of these concepts or would like visual walkthrough videos on how to improve your own results with affiliate marketing and blogging, be sure to check out my new online course with 80+ videos and more than 6 hours of content. Use coupon code “JOHNCHOW” to save 85% off.
Whether you are attempting to make money online, start a new blog or simply improve the traffic to your existing sites — you MUST focus on creating better content and the promotion of that content, versus simply pushing out new content and hoping for better results.