20 replies to this topic

[rjohnson]

Hello

Should the articles (content) that I create for a site , be directly related to the purpose of the site, or can I write articles dealing with the general subject of the site?
I'm sure what i said is confusing without an example. Let me give you one:

Lets say that my business is a martial arts academy with gyms in all 50 states of USA. I would like to be found on google, when people search for their (city name) + martial arts.  Let’s also say that my biggest competitor has been around for a very long time and dominates the SERPS whenever one searches for martial arts or self defense courses, etc..
If I wish to compete against this site, and want to get a good amount of quality inbound links ( by creating good content) , how should I go about it?

Everyone talks about creating articles, and then looking for other sites to give you a back link. But my question is this: What kind of content should I create? I can think of two options:

Option 1: Research the competitor’s site and go after his content (make it better than his). In my particular example, lets say that my main competitor has got a ton of background information on the different types of techniques, different forms of martial arts, its origins, etc...
Should I try to beat him by creating articles based on the same topics, but making them more thorough than his?

OR

Option 2: Should I create articles (on a weekly or even daily basis) that talk about anything related to martial arts that I read in the news, but not necessarily related to becoming a martial artist? For instance, say that I read on Google News, that North Carolina is a state where 1 out of 10 people know some form of martial arts.
Should I write an article about this, and then ask other related websites to post it, and link back to me with the anchor text martial arts in north carolina ?

My logic is this: People searching for a martial arts academy, are probably not concerned much with martial arts in the news. When they come to my site, they want to know if my academy is the best one in that area. But I'm asking this, because the way to outrank my competitor would be to get more links pointed to my site, correct?

What approach would you guys take?

I hope I made it clear and greatly appreciate your help.

Thank you

[Michael_Martinez]

Given the example above, I would publish articles about each dojo.

[rjohnson]

Thanks alot Michael. Good idea. Appreciate it

[EGOL]

I agree with Michael. Dojo articles. I would look to the instructional staff and top students to submit information about accomplishments, competitions, etc. This would take a lot of regular work (could be done by staff at each dojo filling out a web form) but I believe that it would get a lot of links, social traction and media use.

Edited by EGOL, 19 March 2012 - 06:52 PM.

[DonnaFontenot]

I would say "yes". Meaning? Create content that falls into both option 1 and option 2. You never know what will resonate with people. Your reasoning for each of the options above are spot on. So Yes. Do that. Both. The only thing I wouldn't do is try too hard to control the anchor text. Just share your content and encourage more sharing. And then, yes, also write about the dojos. All of these things combined can lead towards beating that competitor.

[A.N.Onym]

Assuming you have one website, not many, I'd recommend all the above and more:
- create best of the web content on the topic *and promote them*
- create content that's likely to go viral (related to martial arts, but maybe humorous, an infographic, useful and/or funny research, etc) and promote them
- post advice from your trainers, not just faceless articles
- post feedback from your students, preferrably, per each trainer (some might research a master, not just a dojo/location)
- have a subscription list that you can share the content with *and ask to share it on their favorite social network or two*

There are different goals for the website and there are different ways to accomplish them. This includes publishing local-oriented stuff and (hyper-)local guest-blogging to get local links to pages about dojos. But mostly, it's still about building a better website - unfortunately, one type of content won't be the pill one might be looking for.

[DonnaFontenot]

And speaking of types of content...video video video. How to's, cool moves, funny stuff you shouldn't do, what happens when you accidentally kick something you didn't mean to kick, etc. Make 'em great. Promote 'em hard.

[Michael_Martinez]

Absolutely, Donna. There are a ton of martial arts videos out there. I think if the dojos supplied videos the Website could publish them pretty easily. Of course, you would want to secure rights from anyone being filmed.

Assuming this is not really about a martial arts network but some other kind of business, demonstration and other types of videos from each location could come in handy. And with today's smart phones being so pervasive, it shouldn't be hard to get some decent (though shaky) video from all locations. My Android takes really good video and has a ton of memory. I can actually download it to my laptop via USB cable.

[rjohnson]

I would like to thank everybody that has taken the time to reply to my question (donna, egol, michael, and yura) .

Secondly, sorry that I have not replied earlier (was unable to). Finally, I would like to say that I believe my post was a little unclear, and my martial arts gym scenario was just an example.

I should have given you the facts to start with! I am working on a dental website. The dentist owns multiple locations across the state.
I’m doing the owner a favor, and I’m not charging for my time , as I’m far from a pro. But I have free time to research and learn more SEO and PPC.

Should I apply the same ideas for my dental site? I like the idea of producing video. Just wondering how that would apply to a dental site.
Should we film a patient's final result? After implants? Or root canals? I have a feeling patients would not want to appear on a video though.

Thank you

[DonnaFontenot]

No I wouldn't film a patient, but I would make a video that is composed of static images - like a slideshow - that shows various results after this procedure and that procedure. Like a brochure put to music and information flips along in the video. Now that's the boring one(s). I'd also do a humorous one - like fake images of dogs and cats and horses and whatever, with bright shiny human teeth in their mouths (photoshopped effects of course), or animated images of animals talking (think jibjab style), with human teeth doing the talking. You'll have to come up with the punch line on your own, but I would somehow segue that into a pitch for the dental work. That's the one I'd try to get links to and socialize somewhat.

[rjohnson]

great advice Donna. We can definitely work on getting those types of things made!

[A.N.Onym]

One thing that could greatly increase the site potential to get your (free) client customers is to relieve the visitors of all worries and provide guarantees, with patient proof, that your dentist can do it.

You might know that most dental patients have lots of worries and, what's more, they sometimes have acute pain that they can't fix themselves. So, naturally, they have a much greater need for an effective, preferably painless, solution to their problems, than those searching for a yacht (probably).

If you:
- identify your visitor worries and pains
- show how the dentist can resolve them efficiently and effectively
- word this concisely and precisely in most copywriting and, maybe, in a block on every page,
then you might be expecting a much higher conversion rate from traffic, than other dental websites.

Of course, creating articles might get you the traffic, but in this case, greatly increasing website conversion rate is one of the easiest ways to increase ROI (since in the case of a martial coach, proving the results might be harder, because the only evidence of success would be praise of other coaches, his students and their results in competitions and street encounters).

Edited by A.N.Onym, 04 April 2012 - 12:57 AM.

[Michael_Martinez]

Make sure you don't just ad lib any statements about what the dental offices will accomplish. They incur liabilities for claims made on their Websites so you want to have the copy carefully vetted.

[rjohnson]

One thing that could greatly increase the site potential to get your (free) client customers is to relieve the visitors of all worries and provide guarantees, with patient proof, that your dentist can do it.

You might know that most dental patients have lots of worries and, what's more, they sometimes have acute pain that they can't fix themselves. So, naturally, they have a much greater need for an effective, preferably painless, solution to their problems, than those searching for a yacht (probably).

If you:
- identify your visitor worries and pains
- show how the dentist can resolve them efficiently and effectively
- word this concisely and precisely in most copywriting and, maybe, in a block on every page,
then you might be expecting a much higher conversion rate from traffic, than other dental websites.

Of course, creating articles might get you the traffic, but in this case, greatly increasing website conversion rate is one of the easiest ways to increase ROI (since in the case of a martial coach, proving the results might be harder, because the only evidence of success would be praise of other coaches, his students and their results in competitions and street encounters).

Very true about increasing the website conversion. We need to work on that as we do not incorporate this strategy on our site.

For instance, in PPC, Dentistry is one of those markets, where spending money (say $200/day), won't guarantee conversions. But 1 conversion alone can give you a great return.

Make sure you don't just ad lib any statements about what the dental offices will accomplish. They incur liabilities for claims made on their Websites so you want to have the copy carefully vetted.

I will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks

[rjohnson]

One more thing. A few months back a coworker helped me with some link building (its actually his job).
I'm kind of ashamed that I accepted his help using this method, as I've always learned through this forum
to build links by generating good content. But I gave it a try.

He ordered a few paid social bookmarking packages, and postings on a private blog network.
The rankings for the few keywords that we targeted did go up to #1 page on google,
but only stayed there for a few weeks and then went back to page 4 or 5. I will not
do this ever again. I didn't receive any messages in webmaster tools so I'm guessing
google won't penalize the site any further(if at all). Is this a fair conclusion?

[A.N.Onym]

Make sure you don't just ad lib any statements about what the dental offices will accomplish.  They incur liabilities for claims made on their Websites so you want to have the copy carefully vetted.

I wonder how far can one go with being persuasive, based on visitors needs, preferences and worries, without tripping any liabilities =)

rjohnson, your website isn't penalized, as far as I understand, since the links have simply been discounted (or are being reevaluated to grant them a different weight). It doesn't mean that your site now doesn't have a history of getting shady links (which isn't that bad, but something to be better without).

[rjohnson]

I wonder how far can one go with being persuasive, based on visitors needs, preferences and worries, without tripping any liabilities =)

rjohnson, your website isn't penalized, as far as I understand, since the links have simply been discounted (or are being reevaluated to grant them a different weight). It doesn't mean that your site now doesn't have a history of getting shady links (which isn't that bad, but something to be better without).

Thanks Yura!

Since my post is about types of articles, what do you think of web sites/services that write articles for you? Some charge as low as $4 per article.
Common sense would leave me to believe that these writers are not specialists in any one topic, so they would mostly write generic non specific content.
Am I right or wrong?

[A.N.Onym]

It largely depends on the service, whether it employs specialist writers. But in general, cheap, mass produced articles are of low quality and are not recommended. It's much more time/budget efficient and effective to hire a more expensive, but much more professional writer to write a longer article about an interesting niche/specific, than to hire a general writer, who might have minor knowledge about the topic only from his writing experience.

I do have to stress, though, that such services *might* employ writers that have been writing in a specific niche for a long while (3-5 years) and can be considered experts in parts of the subject. However, these writers tend to work freelance or work with strong, established services, such as Elance.com (though the vast majority of Elance writers are below average, in my opinion).

In short, common sense didn't betray you: you'd be better off finding a good writer with excellent knowledge of the subject, who would help you not only create a high quality article, but also choose an interesting angle on the topic. Consider hiring these writers as a long-term investment, not a short-term investment with immediate payback.

P.S. Sometimes, the experts/clients themselves can write great articles, if you help them find the topic (i.e., not something boring, but something interesting that can also be useful on the topic).

Edited by A.N.Onym, 06 April 2012 - 01:13 AM.

[rjohnson]

It largely depends on the service, whether it employs specialist writers. But in general, cheap, mass produced articles are of low quality and are not recommended. It's much more time/budget efficient and effective to hire a more expensive, but much more professional writer to write a longer article about an interesting niche/specific, than to hire a general writer, who might have minor knowledge about the topic only from his writing experience.

I do have to stress, though, that such services *might* employ writers that have been writing in a specific niche for a long while (3-5 years) and can be considered experts in parts of the subject. However, these writers tend to work freelance or work with strong, established services, such as Elance.com (though the vast majority of Elance writers are below average, in my opinion).

In short, common sense didn't betray you: you'd be better off finding a good writer with excellent knowledge of the subject, who would help you not only create a high quality article, but also choose an interesting angle on the topic. Consider hiring these writers as a long-term investment, not a short-term investment with immediate payback.

P.S. Sometimes, the experts/clients themselves can write great articles, if you help them find the topic (i.e., not something boring, but something interesting that can also be useful on the topic).

I was going to ask you precisely that. At the dental office, both the owner dentist and the 2nd dentist have already shown interest in writing the article themselves. Who better than the actual dentists right?
Should I even talk to them about SEO or should I just allow them to write freely about the category?

[bwelford]

One painless way for people with knowledge to give you the content for excellent articles is to interview them. Develop a series of key questions then send your experts an e-mail suggesting that you interview them, given their standing in the industry. A little flattery sometimes works wonders. You can then write a series of interview articles and can also write other summary articles that compare and contrast what the experts say in the interviews.