Here’s a typical scenario:

You have a Web site, and you know you need content.  Your Web site’s success depends on it. You’re trying to follow Matt Cutts’ advice (video here)on the three points of a successful Web site: crawlability, quality content, and a hook to get someone to link to you. But the “quality content” is giving you problems. A lot of them.

The dilemma is, you can’t think of any original content to write for your site. You sell used books online. Other than the books, what else is there to write about?

Plus, you’re a entrepreneur, not a writer. This presents a small problem too.

Let’s take this “problem” and come up with a solution. 

Our goal: original content for a used online bookstore and some help in writing it. 

What are the steps we have to take in order to come up with creative content ideas?

First, what do we need to know about the Web site?

1. What is the focus of the site? This is fairly easy in the case of the used bookstore, but it’s not so easy if the Web site sells a highly specialized piece of equipment. We need to understand what products or services the site offers. The more you understand, the better off you’ll be when you try to brainstorm for content. In the case of the bookstore, we assume this isn’t an affiliate store, but never assume. Know for sure.

2. Who are the target audiences? Every Web site has more than one target audience. Each target audience can be addressed with specific content just for them. Collectors are willing to pay a lot of money for first edition copies in excellent condition, and so are fans who are looking for autographed books. Writers are also a target audience for a used book store, and those who don’t want to pay full price for new books. Who else?

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Photo courtesy of Google, Inc.

I went out to eat last night at Outback Steakhouse, and one side of my coaster read:

“I searched for myself on Google and found nothing.”

Think about that for a minute.

Google has become so powerful in our lives that a coaster at Outback talks about the search engine. Plus, the ultimate slam would be to search for ourselves on the Big G and find nothing. Wow.

“Google” is now used as a noun, a verb, and an adjective. You’ll often hear TV and news shows refer to “Googling” for something when they’re searching on the Web.  (verb)

We often refer to Google-friendly Web sites (adjective). Google itself is a proper noun.

Yet, I can remember when Google was a minor engine and Yahoo! was the big game in town. Yahoo! was a directory only, and AltaVista was the Big Boy search engine. We didn’t particularly care about Google. We wanted to hear what Yahoo! and AV had to say. And believe it or not, this wasn’t very many years ago–maybe six or so.

Things change at lightning speed in the SEO industry (which used to be called the Web positioning industry).

When you watch TV, listen to how many times you hear newscasters or actors talk about Googling something. This is particularly true if you watch crime shows.

Also, watch commercials. You’ll see a lot of Google mentions there too.

By the way, I told you what one side of the coaster said. Want to know what the other side said?

“No Worries.”

:)

No worries, because if you take the advice from this blog and begin creating quality content that your visitors want to see on your Web site, your name or your Web site’s name will appear in Google. AND, your link popularity will be built naturally.

That, my friends, is the moral of this story. Google may be loaded with power, but use that power by giving Google what it wants to see: quality content and naturally built links. It will, in turn, give you what you want: a highly visible site.

Robin

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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?

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