Both! Right?
Well, after attending a panel discussion of local bloggers in Richmond, I’m not absolutely sure.
John and Sherry Tetersik from ThisYoungHouse.com, Arnold Kim from MacRumors.com and Jeff Kelley from Tobacco Avenue made quite a few points that resonated with me.
All bloggers stated that they didn’t practice any formal SEO strategies with their blogs…and all 3 had great traffic that is continuing to grow. As a matter of fact, ThisYoungHouse.com has jumped from 800 visits per month to over 360,000 per month…in a year! No SEO folks.
Just pure, compelling, unique content that is updated 2-3 times per day. This couple actually takes photos of projects from their home, not from magazines or other sites (well, on occasion they do). They have a growing community of readers who come back again and again and post comments!
When asked how they got readers, all of the bloggers agreed…“Good, regular content”
John and Sherry added that being a good consumer of other industry-related blogs has been key for them. This means…
- Reading and commenting on other blogs
- Linking to other blogs in posts
- Adding other blogs to your blogroll
Bloggers are known for their regular give and take…link love is often reciprocated.
One more point that is pretty key, in my humble opinion, is that they all agreed that a tightly focused subject in which a large group of people are interested contributes to their success.
I did look at the number of backlinks using Yahoo! and the numbers are quite impressive:
- ThisYoungHouse = 12,619 (Blog Age – 1 year, 5 months)
- MacRumors = 1,012,788 (Blog Age – about 9 years)
- Tobacco Avenue = 9,650 (Blog Age – 1 year, 3 months)
What’s important to note about these backlinks is that many of them come from pages on their blogs…another beautiful thing about the blogging platform. Think about it if you write 3 posts a day for 1 year, you will have 1,095 backlinks. In addition, with WordPress, each category generates its own page and each tag generates a page. You’ll probably have at least an “About” page and if you build your entire site in WordPress, you will most likely have more than a few pages.
ThisYoungHouse has actually become quite popular, has been mentioned in mainstream press and has a regular column in a national magazine, so I’m sure that many of their links are from other industry-related sites who genuinely think their content is great and link-worthy. I’d have to confirm, but I’m pretty sure (based on the number of hours they spend running the site) that they are not building many of these backlinks manually. This is what happens when you have a blog that generates a great following.
So, what’s the takeaway…there are several…
- Build a great website about a topic in which you know people are interested
- Nurture your website by updating content regularly (this is a lot easier if you have a blog, so the next one is…)
- Start a blog
- Give love to other blogs
- Don’t stress out about not ranking on the first page of Google for your keyword or phrase
- Focus on doing great work and building a community of readers
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]]>1. Brevity is underrated. This is true for anything you write, but it’s especially true for a website. Studies show that internet readers don’t read, they scan. One study said that they only read 28% of the words on the average page. Tip: Write what you need to write as succinctly as you know how.
2. Use short words and short sentences. A website is not the place to impress others with your multi-syllabic vocabulary and your ability to wite compound sentences. They tend to confuse many readers, and when readers get confused, they often feel inferior and move to a site that is easier to read.
3. Use simple words. Avoid jargon that is specific to your business or industry. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Better yet, call it a shovel. Why? Besides the fact that simple words are more widely known, they will make it easier for internet users to find your site when they search.
4. Bullets are your friends. Sentences that begin with bullets tend to pop off the page. That’s why job seekers use them on resumes.They grab your attention and that’s something you want your website to do.
5. Don’t forget Q&A. Speaking of grabbing your attention, readers love the question-and-answer format because they can skip around and read only what interests them. Using this format is a conversational way to tell readers about your company. Just don’t overdo it. One Q&A per site is probably enough.
6. Rewrite often. After you write the first draft of your website, rewrite it. Then rewrite it again and again. Spend as much time rewriting as you can because rewriting usually goes hand in hand with improving.
7. Ask for help. When you feel as though you are no longer making improvements to yoru website, ask a smart person you know to read what you wrote and offer suggestions. Think twice before you dismiss his suggestions because he is the first of what you hope will be millions of visitors to your website. If he finds something boring or confusing or wordy, chances are others will too.
Here are a few more resources for you:
- Valerie Haboush, copywriter – If you just don’t want to be bothered with writing or rewriting your website content, visit her website and email or call her. She’s great!
- Writing Content that is Reader Friendly
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Michael Fortin did an excellent job of explaining Features and Benefits in his blog post, The Oft-Confused Features And Benefits. This is a must read for anyone with a small business website. This practice is probably contrary to what you see all around you and what you’ve always done, but it works.
Remember, your website should not be all about you…it should be all about your prospect or client. Use language that speaks directly to them, not to a general group of people.
Another important point that Michael makes is to make sure that your language is suitable for your target audience, not your colleagues. Avoid techno jargon, acronyms and expressions that only the people in your industry are familar with. It may be helpful to ask a friend in a different industry what he would enter in Google’s search bar if he was searching for information about your company’s products or services. Ask another friend to describe your products or services and listen to the words that he uses.
Unfortuately, many of us are afflicted with the curse of knowledge that the Heath brothers discuss in Made to Stick. In a nutshell, it means that once you know something, it’s difficult to imagine what it is like to not know it. The consequence is you cannot effectively communicate your ideas to people who don’t have that knowledge.
However, you must get help and overcome that curse so that it doesn’t have a negative effect on your business success.
Here’s an excerpt from Michael’s article, but you should read the entire article to truly understand the concept:
… A Benefit is What That Feature Means.
A benefit is what a person intimately gains from a specific feature. When you describe a feature, say this: “What this means to you, Mr. Prospect, is this (…),” followed by a more personal gain your reader gets from the feature.Therefore, turn it around. don’t focus on a certain feature’s benefit. Rather, focus on how those features specifically benefit the individual.
Here’s an example using my private membership website, where members get access to videos of me tearing sales copy apart, and revealing copywriting tips, tricks and actual, tested conversion strategies in the process.
Feature: Watch a top copywriter in action as he writes killer copy, all recorded on video, using real salesletters and websites from real clients.
- Advantage: You get to learn how to write copy faster by understanding the logic behind successful copy (not just how to write it), and also learn copywriting tips, mistakes, shortcuts and proven results in the process.
- Motive: Reduces the learning curve, the risks, the effort and the costs involved in trying to do it all yourself.
- Benefit #1: This means you get real-world examples and actually see the process done before you, instead of plain textbook theory or swipe files that leave you scratching your head.
- Benefit #2: Using real-world examples means you can appreciate and understand what goes into world-class copy, so you can easily repeat the process on your own, in the future.
- Benefit #3: Repeating the process on your own also means you don’t have to pay an expensive copywriter to do a rewrite.
- Benefit #4: Not having to pay for a copywriter means you save money and get it done faster by learning proven, tested strategies you can apply immediately — without having to wait for someone to do it for you or explain it to you in some “how-to” course.
- Benefit #5: And learning proven, tested strategies means you eliminate the need to search for, find, test and learn everything yourself, and avoid making costly mistakes — without having to figure out what works (and what doesn’t) on your own.
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It’s not all about you. Yes, that’s right. Your content should not focus on you; it should focus on your customer. If your home page reads like an “About Us” page, you have some work to do.
Your content should include more “you” and less “I” and “we.”
In his article, “It’s the Customer, Stupid,” Bryan Eisenberg explains,
Are you talking about all the wonderful ways your visitors can benefit from your products or services, or are you talking about all the great features of your products, services, or company? In other words, are you speaking the language of “you,” or are you caught up in the language of “we”? As our friend Roy Williams asks, “Are you wewe-ing all over yourself?”
Realize that the words you use and how you use them are telling your visitors where your focus is. Want them to stick around and eventually take the action you want? Talk about them, their needs, their wants, and how they can get those needs and wants satisfied. Use customer-focused language. Otherwise, they’re going to feel like you’re the self-centered guest at the party. You may not be, but they only have your words to judge you by.
After noticing this common problem on websites, his company developed a calculator to measure a website’s customer focus, called the WeWe Monitor. Try it out and find out your score.
To interpret your score, Bryan suggests,
If you do want a rough guideline, there seems to be a clear difference between sites with CFRs of 60 percent and higher, and sites with CFRs below 60 percent. If your site scores 35 percent, you can be sure that you have room to improve. But remember the example above: You could score 67 percent (or more) yet still have room to improve. Again, it’s a guideline.
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