Days 15-16 – Write Content for your Readers – Not Your Wallet!
As I have been building onto the DIY Reviews website, one thing I have tried to stay focused on, is writing good content that just might drive demand! Regardless of the topic you have focused on building, there is usually something going in the world that relates to it. On Saturday, I wrote a post about the Top 10 Party Drinks for Halloween you can Make Yourself. The post was picked up on Digg and StumbleUpon after I bookmarked it and brought more than 10,000 visits over the past 2 days! As you can see by the post… I am not trying to blind people with BUY THIS advertising, I am writing informative and useful content they actually enjoy reading, that is on topic with the current time.. and have 1 simple AdSense block on the top of the post, just in case they want more topical information.
The result of the post was an additional 14 rss subscribers, as well as an undisclosed amount of AdSense revenue. :-)
Writing Content that People want to Read!
Today – I added another post to the DIY Reviews site I hope to be just as popular! It is not written to sell anything,but instead… deal with a very current issue alot of people are facing for the first time: How to Use a Voting Machine! The content of the post is very simple and easy for visitors to read and addresses a specific issue many may be asking themselves, or face on Tuesday!
As you read the post, you will notice I have linked out to several useful resources, including the history of voting machines, the entire hanging chad issue of election year 2000, and at the bottom, I even linked to a state by state map, where the visitor can go and learn about the specific equipment in their home town. Hell, I even learned a bit myself as I was writing it this morning!
Content that May Not Stand the Test of Time!
Someone will say… but Mark, isn’t this just a week long post that will fizzle out and be nothing in 1 week? Aren’t you just grabbing a current event and taking advantage of it for a few days? The answer is truly YES… but the long term benefits of doing this will reap long term rewards in links, stumbles, and RSS subscribers!Just for kicks… I am also going to submit this page to CNN’s Rick Sanchez today via twitter and see what kind of luck I have getting him to show it!
Remember – you are not always writing content for revenue – you MUST write compelling content, that can easily become mainstream… Only after you have proven your site as a great resource and gained the trust of readers can you begin to introduce more direct methods of monetization!
Whats Next after Writing a Great Post?
Most of the time you think… OK, “I got it written, people will flock to it” right? Wrong… you MUST spread the word about your great piece of work and get the link in front of as many people as you can, as quick as possible! Especially in the case of a time sensitive post like this, you have a very limited amount of time that it will even be useful!
Social Networking – Free Advertising!
- Facebook – Sign up, and make some friends! After you post, share it with your friends! If you are lucky, they too will share it with their friends.. etc etc. If you want to grab my Facebook account and become a friend, I can be found at: Mark Hansen on Facebook
- Twitter – Get yourself a twitter account and start using it! Once you tweet a story, people you have followed and follow may just take the time to read the post and write about it on their own sites! As soon as I posted this today, I sent a tweet to Shoemoney on Twitter, who had just posted about voting in 1 week. I sent him the url… and suggested it was a good read! If you want to follow me on Twitter, my twitter account is: Mark Hansen on Twitter
These are two of MANY social networks you can easily promote your post on!
Social Bookmarking – Get that Link out There!
- Stumble it! (My stumble account)
- Digg it! (My Digg Account)
- Spread it around like Wildfire!
You get the picture….
Send it the Media!
Sure… this may be a longshot, but you will never know if you don’t try!
Ask Others To Follow your Lead!
The true benefit of having all these social accounts, comes when people in your network start following your links and do the same. They stumble or digg your post or share in within their OWN network of people! Suddenly, you went from having a single post… to hundreds or thousands of people bookmarking it, and taking it mainstream! When people see it, ASK them to do the same as you, andhelp spread your message! Be ready, because oneday… they will need a favor from you as well, thas what makes it a friend network!
How Else do you Promote your Favorite Posts?
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- Days 10 & 11 – Rewarding your Visitors with Authority Content!
- Days 3 & 4 – Finding Sources for Content Ideas!
- Write Better Page Titles to Increase Web Site Traffic
- Calling all Readers… I Need some Quick Help!
- Days 13 & 14 of my New WordPress Website
- Days 6 & 7 – The First Week of my New WordPress is Complete!
- Weekly Wrapup of Some Great Content!
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I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
10,000 visits in 2 days and 7 new subscribers…WOW!!
You are setting a great example for us. This just goes back to your analogy last spring of planting a garden. Putting in the work now to reap a bumper crop later. But with several sites like this, the bumper crops may just be plenty over time with just a small number of sites.
That is what we all hope for in the work we are doing today.
Actually, I think it is easier to write posts like this. For me it is just hard to always be pushing to sell something in a post write up. Maybe we can all enjoy the process of becoming a site that Google and our visitors like.
hey Mark,
I sent reply to email again.
Now on this post, if I get social traffic which is not going to click on ads or buy from affiliate links, why should I work on social traffic.
Am I missing something? thanks.
BIG CONGRATS, MARK!
@ Roger -
Don’t assume your traffic wont click on your ads… the trick is not writing your content, like its an ad!!
The number 1 thing a site needs to succeed is traffic right? The number 1 way to get recognized in search engines is by inbound links right?
Write good content > brings the traffic > who bookmark your posts > which bring in the search engines > which scour for more content > which builds authority > which results in income!
Social traffic is not great for monetization, but it IS great for recognition and bookmarking!
@ GB – TY man!!
But, you have to be able to call your visitors to action as well with your content. The better you are at righting ad copy, the more income you make. I am not the best at this either btw …lol
@ Collin –
You are so very right!!
Your site looks like it would be a good addition for the Top Niche Sites… shoot me some info!!
Mark
That was a nice one!
Do you ever use keyword tools to find unexploited keyword combinations and use them for you next article title? I am sure one could get a lot of article ideas that way, and a lot of traffic too, but I am not sure if it would hurt the relevancy of the posts..
Solid Namer
I have found that even though i have a large base account in Facebook with all of my friends, I’m still getting unique visitors from them. They are learning more about me and at the same time becoming very interested in my site.
Mark this is some great stuff on here! Awesome and Thanks!
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