No matter what your web site is, you will need to put together a plan for establishing high quality content. Content is not just used on you web site though. To rank high in the Google search engines you must use different types of content for many different reasons.
That being said, you will always want to accomplish two things with your content: Please the readers and please the search engines. If you can do both of these simultaneously then you are in for the makings of a good web site that will hopefully turn traffic into dollars.
Before You Begin
You want to get a solid list of keyword phrases that you are going to try to compete for in the search engines. These include short keyword phrases and long tail keyword phrases. Remember, the less competitive your keyword phrase is the more likely you are going to be able to rank for that specific phrase. Long tail keywords usually tend to convert more often than shorter keyword phrases so keep that in mind.
After you decide on your keyword phrases, you are going to have to decide how it is that you are going to get all of your content written. You will need to set up goals and systems for getting everything written. You can do this by hiring in-house writers or outsourcing your work load to a content writing company. You want to remember that when it comes to on-site content creation that quantity never trumps quality, as the more quality you have the more likely you will be able to gain new readers and hold o n to old ones.
3 Types of Content Creation Needs
Obviously your on-site content will be the most important part of your content plan. It will be the engine that drives traffic to your web site, and it will be the deciding factor on whether or not you will be able to make money off of your web site. However, there are other types of content that are very important if you want your online adventure to succeed.
Article Directory Marketing
There are a few different uses for article directory marketing. What you must know is that if you are planning to do link building, then article directory marketing probably isn’t your best choice. There links do not provide much “juice” and are really only good for creating “relevancy” – or in other words Google will be able to associate your site with certain key word phrases. It is possible to gain traffic from article directory marketing, but it is very hit or miss, and you may find that a lot of your articles do not rank for any keyword phrases that you would like them to rank for. This type of marketing is only suggested if you have the money or time to do this on a very large scale – like for instance 1k – 5k submissions. If you are able to do this, then you will be able to create a huge funnel of traffic that comes only from your article marketing submissions. Any volume less than 1k can be considered a waste of time – time spent better on doing other things with your content. Article directory marketing is the only instance where quantity comes close to matching quality (it still doesn’t however – nothing you put on the web can).
Guest Posting
Guest posting is one of the best ways that you can gain exposure for your web site. It is a form of link building, although you should not treat it as link building, and the links that you obtain from them are the closest thing to natural occurring links as far as it seems in the eyes of Google. I say you shouldn’t treat it as link building however because that can cause you to write low quality articles that won’t do the readers any good. Guest posting is much more than link building. It is building online relationships with other web site owners – relationships that can gain tremendous exposure for your own web site and that can provide valuable information for the web site owner’s readers. Guest posting opens the door for new networks of people – and you will be closing that door if you do not provide high quality content. Guest post writing requires you to have very creative and original writing – something that not everybody is equipped to do.
Press Releases
Press releases are some of the most difficult pieces of content to write. The point of a press release is to keep your customer base in touch with your business. It provides updates, news, and a look into what’s happening right now with your business or a look to whats to come in future. Press releases should be very catchy, and if they are done on the web then they should also be optimized for the web. A Persuasive press release that is perfectly optimized is hard to do, which is why it is a type of content that is usually outsourced to a company that usually has professional press release writers on staff.
So as you can see, there are many different uses for content. You will need to devise a plan on how you are going to get all of these needs for content accomplished. It is a plan that will not be executed over night, and your content will probably always be being updated and changed once you have more insight into what is working for you. Getting started is the hardest part, so always make sure you come up with a plan of action first!
Guest Post
This article was written by Philip Rudy. Philip helps to run and maintain ContentCustoms.com – an Internet marketing company that provides many different content writing services as well as SEO services.
