Content, Content, Content
Content is almost as important as Links. Content should be original, compelling and informative. So join the Content, Content, Content mantra. Good content does require time, effort and thought. Many are tempted to opt for PLR articles, autoblog plugins or poorly spun articles – it does not work. In the recent Google “Farmer” update autoblogs, thin affiliate sites and sites with predominantly duplicated content were hit, and sites have disappeared off the radar.
Content Attracts Links?
It is often said that good content will attract links; for some sites this is true but smaller sites often do not get enough exposure to attract links. So you might need to encourage inbound links! If you can encourage “social buzz”, then more visitors will see your content and link back. You can encourage “social buzz” by adding Social Bookmarking buttons (there are many plugins available – we are using “Social Discussions” but we also like “Socialize”). We also use the PubSubHubbub plugin. PubSubHubBub is an open protocol created by Google which pings any new content you create to various hubs around the internet, and as a result it increases the speed at which your content gets indexed and ranked by the search engines.
Choosing Content?
As explained in an earlier post “Choosing Keywords” is very important. So your content has to revolve around the keywords chosen. Thinking up content can be difficult but we use Google Reader to find and deliver content about those keywords. If you need some help with Google Reader – there is an eHow video series: Google Reader. In essence this will deliver to you daily ideas, news, blog posts, videos and make the task of writing content easier. Be consistent about writing content – decide if you are going write daily, weekly or monthly. Make it quality content.
Content Resources
Perhaps you do not have the time to write or prefer to outsource anyhow! Well there are plenty of content writers out there! Guest bloggers are often willing to write original articles for a link back to their site or free advert. Here is a good resource for finding guest bloggers: http://myblogguest.com/. There are also other sites looking to publish material on blogs such as BloggingUnderground.com (they will provide original posts to quality blogs). If you are prepared to pay for articles – content writers will provide copy for a few dollars. For example, search for “articles” on Fiverr.com and you will find writers who will write content for $5 – in some cases 2 for $5! Check the reviews within the system for quality!
Content to Advert ratio
Following the Google “Panda” or “Farmer” update, sites were penalised for thin content (remember you need ORIGINAL and QUALITY content). One of the factors is the content to advertising ratio (e.g. adsense) – try to keep at least 60% content (original) to max 40% adverts. Also bear in mind your header, menu system, footer areas may not be unique on a page so we would advise to kick your
