We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about the types of content we can create and working with different industries on content that would work in those industries.

Obviously, if you provide content that your visitors are interested in (a hook), if you keep your site up to date with new, fresh, and valuable content on a regular basis, and if your site isn’t a train wreck from an optimization standpoint so that your pages will appear in the rankings, visitors are going to come back to your site again and again and again. They’ll bookmark your site and tell their associates. Link popularity will be built to your site and individual pages the natural way, without your working on an actual linking campaign.

The more content you create, the more opportunities you have for your content to show up in the search engine results under keyword phrases that are important to you.

Listen to me carefully. I’m not talking about junk content here. I’m talking about content that your visitors are interested in. I’m not talking about content for the search engines. The search engines will never be your customers. They don’t buy from you. Your customers buy from you. This content should be written for THEM.

Now, let’s talk about a different type of content: user-generated content.

User-generated content means just what it says: content generated or created by users to the site. This is content that YOU, as the Web site owner, don’t have to create. Think about it for a minute. If the users generate the content and get more involved with your site, don’t you imagine they’d want to link to your site?

Here’s an example: 

Let’s say you have a real estate site. What kind of user-generated content could you aim for?

First, let’s consider your target audiences. You have home buyers and sellers in your particular geographical area, but you also have very specific audiences. You have families with small children, empty nesters, young couples with no children, alternative lifestyles, singles, senior citizens, etc. Certain communities lend themselves to people in various income brackets. Your target audiences are varied.

Therefore, the type of user-generated content you can obtain will need to vary according to the audience. You can’t put everyone in a box.

Let’s take families with small children as one target audience. Why not set up an area on your site where they can post pictures of their new homes? Let the kids draw pictures and offer tours of their new homes in their own words. Let them describe their rooms and include a picture.

What are you doing, in essence? Providing a place where the Smith family can have an online diary of the moving and new home experience. The Smith family will show everyone their area on your site. It will be a great referral tool for real estate agents, and I’m sure the site will gain links due to these areas.

Let’s look at another example: the high income bracket. You might think they couldn’t possibly be bothered with something for your Web site. But what about pictures from their grand holiday parties displaying their exquisite homes? If you were the one taking the pictures, would they mind having their home displayed on your Web site? You could describe the home, the party, and the decorations beside the picture. Have a special section of your site set up for Exquisite Holiday Parties. Newspapers or area journals do this kind of thing all the time.

Remember, I’m just giving you ideas here. From these ideas, you can run with them or come up with ideas of your own.

What about a section where users could contribute content on how they landscaped their new home? Before and after pictures?

What about a section where users could say exactly what sold them on their home? Was it the kitchen cabinets? The master bathroom? The view from the den? Was it just one thing or a combination of things? That information would be fascinating to know.

What turned them off from other homes they visited? Empty nesters may not want to see a bunch of small children running around in the neighborhood.

Have a section on your site where kids can color online. If you’ve never done this before, do it! It’s a lot of fun.

Have monthly contests for the best picture, best party, best coloring, etc. Offer prizes such as gift certificates to local restaurants or toy stores for the kids. Post contest winners on your site.

Through all of this user-generated content, you’re building valuable link popularity the easy way. If your child is in a contest or your party picture is posted online, wouldn’t you link to it? Of course you would.

So how do you pull all of this together? When you sell the house, give them a leaflet about your Web site. Encourage the kids to color a picture of their new home and send it to you to be placed in a special area just for them. Tell them that they can enter contests by coloring pictures or taking a picture of their favorite pet in the house, etc.

Special Note:

The one thing I would caution you about is security for the home buyers. Don’t give out their addresses, and be careful when including pictures of the children. Let the children draw themselves in a colored picture, but I would be very hesitant to include a picture of innocent little children in a local neighborhood due to security issues for the families.

Maybe I’m being overprotective, but I don’t think so. I’m a mother.

Also, be careful about taking pictures of specific valuable pieces inside a home. Wide pictures of rooms are ideal.

How to Get Started

In any industry, if you use your past and current customers to help you build content, it’s a win/win situation for everyone. Use your permission-based e-mail list to help you get started.

Here are some tips:

1. Give them a reason to participate. Offer them a discount off your products or services, for example, if you can do so. Having a contest is a reason to participate.

2. If you have a contest, have a decent prize. This reminds me of the time that John Alexander and I won a contest at Disney World and won three stickers. Three stickers. Forget that. Make the prize worthwhile if you expect people to enter.

“Worthwhile” doesn’t have to be monetary. It all depends on the contest itself. I’ve won contests in the past where the only thing I won was the contest itself, yet the very act of winning was enough for me. I’m referring to writing contests, because these contests proved something to me as a writer.

3. If you have a contest, notify everyone about who won–not just the winner.

4. Post clear contest guidelines, if you go that route.

5. Treat everyone who is involved in your “inner circle” (the ones who post to your site) with the utmost respect. These are your special people. They’re helping YOU create content for YOUR Web site.

6. Encourage your inner circle to write “how to” articles to be posted on your site, tips, articles, etc. Home sellers could post tips for what helped them sell their home, for example. Or, how to clean up a house in record time when the real estate agent calls and is five minutes away.

7. As more people become involved in your inner circle, more content can be added, and your link popularity will grow the natural way–the way it should grow–one link at a time.

Good luck!

Robin