How to Grow a Site Into a Successful Venture With Just Content Websites don't always require costly features, gimmicks or tricks to scale. Often it just comes down to good content.
By James Parsons Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Have you ever taken a long, hard look at the world of SEO and Internet marketing? It can be a horrendously complicated place. There's so much to keep track of, so much to make sure you do or don't do, so many guides (both relevant and outdated) available to follow, not to mention the number of companies willing to do the work for you. All these moving parts, it becomes a bit overwhelming for entrepreneurs to determine where to start and how best to use their time.
After building a successful website, one thing I discovered is that while all the above can help build your business, what it really comes down to is good content. Good content increases traffic.
That said, while I am able to run a successful website based on the power of content, I don't completely ignore the rules laid down by Google. I still pay attention to the mechanics of the site, the key phrases of the content and the tricky little issues that can escalate into Google penalties if left unchecked.
Related: The 4 Questions You Must Answer When Launching a Content Project
For those looking for a little assistance, here are a few tips.
Create a powerful foundation. If you want to grow a site through content, you need a powerful platform to put it on. Essentially, your site needs to meet two basic criteria:
- Easy to use. This is everything from a mobile-friendly design to a simple, clean theme.
- Fits Google's requirements. This means minimal advertising, an appropriate use of meta-robots directives, clean code and a fast-loading host.
All of this is a one-time investment with a revaluation every year or so.
Pure quality content can, to a certain extent, counterbalance a few of these aspects. Users will tolerate a longer load time to get to content they find truly valuable or forgive a slightly wonky layout, as long as they can find what they need. Google is a little less forgiving: attracting them with content isn't necessarily going to save you if the crawlers can't reach it through broken code.
Related: 4 Ways to Build Trust Quickly
Focus on high-volume content. Once you have the site set up, you need to produce content. I have high standards for the content I publish on my sites.
- I aim for a length of more than 1,000 words, though rarely beyond 2,000. Longer content gives more space to talk about the reasoning behind decisions, the history behind trends and the like. That said, I don't focus on the length. I write as long as it takes to cover the subject without fluff and with sufficient depth.
- I have a fairly tight focus on the content topics. I have an industry focus, and I stick with it.
- I have zero tolerance for typos and grammatical errors.
- I will sometimes let casual language slide. To make a point or to make a phrase stand out, the technically correct grammar sometimes falls behind.
- I jumped into publishing seven posts per week immediately.
The last point is really the key to thriving on content. Every piece of content is an opportunity. It's a chance to talk about a new subject, to attract new readers and to gain incoming links.
Have all-natural organic links. At this point, you've read pretty much my entire SEO strategy. I publish content and that content does the work for me. Due to their length, depth and value, they're often among the top ten in search results.
Let it be known that valuable content can stand on its own and attracts readers – some of them other blog writers. Some of these blog writers are going to be interested enough in the content to share it in a post of their own. These are valuable links. They aren't paid for, published by me on another site or part of link directories. They're entirely organic.
Related: Create Content That Gets Your Customers' Attention
Once again, it comes back to the idea that every post is an opportunity. I want to gain the attention of fellow bloggers who will link to my content, but I don't want to do it by shoving my blog in their face at every turn. Instead, I learn what they're interested in reading about, and I write valuable content on those topics.
Don't have SEO be your main concern. Link building isn't the only part of traditional SEO that I set aside. I also don't pay much attention to keywords. The idea of focusing on specific keywords for value has been on the decline for some time, and Google's interpretive search has further diminished it. I use Google's Authorship (a service that allows people to link their content to their Google+ profile), but I don't go out of my way to share every post I make on Google+.
The reason being is every step Google has made is designed to emphasize valuable content over search-engine techniques. They're slowly devaluing links, they're putting the squeeze on Authorship, they've diminished the power of keywords, all while promoting content that meets the various requirements and standards they set for relevance and value.
