Having launched more than 100 specialist content websites
for clients over the last six months, I often get asked
this question. My answer is always twofold.
Over the long term, which I suggest is 12 to 24 months,
good-quality, highly focused and regularly updated content
websites will triumph.
Google and the search engines are getting far better at
separating the wheat from the chaff. They are 100% focused
on finding the best content for each particular search
request.
Once the search engines have visited your site and made an
initial positive assessment, they will keep coming back and
re-indexing your content. The more content you publish, the
more frequently they will return. The more they like what
they see, the higher they will rank you on the search
results pages. The higher up the results list you appear,
the more people will see your links and click on them.
Hopefully, some of these visitors like what they read so
much that they link to it from their websites or blogs.
These inbound links from other sites are seen as positive
endorsements of your content by the search engines, which
respond by improving your site's position on the search
results pages.
And so the virtuous circle goes on and the traffic to your
website increases.
The moral of this story is: keep publishing great content
and don't give up just because you don't see instant
results.
But this all takes time.
What can you do if you want to increase the number of
visitors coming to your website?
There is a lot you can do. In fact, if you undertook all
the activities that could build traffic, you would have no
time to create content.
So where should you focus your early marketing efforts to
get the greatest long-term benefits?
The answer is to build your presence, reputation and
authority with your target audience so that you have a firm
foundation of loyal and supportive readers who will help
spread the word about you and your site.
To achieve this goal in the shortest possible time, you
should focus on the handful of people in your market who
can make a big difference. They will be characterized in
the following ways:
1. They have a relevant audience of their own, probably
via their own website or blog.
2. They have a good reputation for being authorities in
your sector.
3. They are interested in what you write about.
4. They have shown they are happy to provide links from
their site to other websites.
These are the people you need to engage with, so they will
talk about you and what you have to say. If you are
mentioned in articles written by perceived experts, you
become endorsed as an expert yourself. This will bring
targeted and relevant traffic to your website and will
start building a loyal audience.
So how do you work with these very busy people who are
continually being pestered for endorsements?
Here are some good ideas:
1. Get on the Radar - The best way to get on another
blogger's radar is to get him or her to see you as a useful
and helpful ally. Most bloggers' sites allow people to add
comments after articles. The quality of these comments
improves the site and turns it into a community. To get
noticed, you should regularly add good-quality,
well-thought-out comments on all the sites you want to work
with.
2. Link to Their Blogs or Websites - Every successful
blogger or website owner knows the importance of inbound
links, so show your support by providing links to those
sites, referring to specific articles (with links) and
talking about them in comments and forums on other people's
websites.
3. Get in Contact - Once you have established yourself
as a supporter, it is time to get in touch directly. But a
word of warning; DON'T go straight in with a request for a
link to your website. This will undo all the good work you
have done so far. First you need to build a personal
relationship, so think about how you can help the person be
more successful. Here are some approaches that I know have
worked:
a. Ask if you can do an interview, which you will
publish on your site. Better still, make it a podcast that
you publish on iTunes and similar sites.
b. Offer to write an article about a subject you know is
highly relevant to that person's audience for exclusive
publication on his or her website. Try to become a regular
guest writer.
c. Ask if you can republish on your website a specific
article he or she has written.
d. If you have written an ebook, invite the person to be
an official reviewer.
e. Ask him or her to comment on a particular article on
your site that is relevant to something he or she has
previously said.
4. Meet in Person - Nothing beats meeting in person to
cement a relationship. Arranging to meet is usually best
achieved at industry events, unless you are fortunate
enough to live near the person.
5. Encourage Community on Your Website - Once you have
engaged with all the key influencers in your sector, your
ultimate goal is for them to start visiting your website
regularly to see what you are writing about. When they
visit, you ideally want them to leave comments or
participate in your forum. For this to happen, you need to
have created a community where you are visible and active.
Summary
Engaging with and being recognized by the key online movers
and shakers in your niche is one of the fastest ways to
build a core audience and credibility. Do everything you
can to help these people become successful, and you will
reap the rewards. Remember, to have friends you've got to
be a friend!
----------------------------------------------------
SubHub provides an all-in-one solution to enable you to
rapidly design, build and run your own content website.
Publish for profit on the web.
Website: http://www.subhub.com
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