Let’s start with a simple statement: Everyone wants more traffic to their sites.
Who would turn down more traffic? Nobody.
And yet, based on decades of experience and interaction with our customers and subscribers, we know where people are often failing. But what’s great is that it’s easily remedied with the right tools and a little bit of effort!
Let’s list what some beginners might do when trying to build an online business. If you recognize yourself in this take heart, because there is a way to improve on it!
If you aren’t making these mistakes pat yourself on the back – you’re already well ahead of the general crowd!
“Setting Up My Business”
- Look for free or very low cost tools and services. I don’t want to spend any money if I can avoid it.
- Find a niche that makes a lot of money. Ask other people what it is – I don’t have time to do exhausting research on it.
- Buy a domain.
- Put up a couple of pages of content. 200 words should be enough and I can buy some low cost PLR for that.
- Don’t edit the content – I bought PLR so it should be ok.
- Don’t track my visitor numbers, site engagement metrics or bounce time.
- Sit back and wait for the money to come in.
- Ditch this site after a few weeks and start on another one that will definitely make money this time. Repeat steps 2-7.
- Repeat step 8.
- Rinse and repeat.
Ok, that’s a bit simplified and there’s a slight smile in that list, but it’s pretty close to what many beginners do. We know because we get a lot of feedback from people.
The question is, does a work cycle like that work? Does it generate revenue?
The other question is just how hard is it to break out of that kind of work cycle and do better?
There is no shame in looking for low cost services, if they do the job. No shame in wanting to make money. But there is a gap in the rest of it. If you’re trying to guess what niche will make money, you’re just guessing and might end up wasting your efforts. The average person needs to spend more time doing serious research on a niche to save time and effort later.
By research, I’m talking about keyword research. If you fail to define your target well, is it really such a surprise that a beginner might miss it?
So a single and relatively simple addition to that list that would make a world of difference is do some good keyword research.
Why?
Look, the truth is that people searching online are not really looking to help you make money. They are looking for information to meet their needs.
It might be how to make money online, it might be how to take great baby photos. Whatever it is they’re looking for, they’re looking to meet their own needs.
They are looking for an answer to whatever their question is.
That’s why Google is such a hard nut to crack, if you want page 1 rankings. Google is looking for the best answers for the questions that people are asking online. Google already knows what people are looking for – if you happen to have the answer then you’ve got a great shot at hitting page 1.
So how do you do that – get onto page 1?
One of the most effective ways to get onto page 1 has just a few simple steps. But they’re steps that some people think are difficult, time consuming and hard. In fact using the right tools can make these steps fast and simple.
- Research keywords in your chosen and related niches.
- Choose keywords where your real competition is low (yes, there are plenty such keywords).
- Use the keyword and related keywords you find to create content that answers the questions people are searching for.
Items 1-2 should be pretty obvious, even if you’ve never done any keyword research in your life. But item 3? That may not be as obvious a workflow as it should be. Creating good content, that answers the search question, gives you a huge competitive advantage.
WHY?
First, you have to convince the search engines that your answer is a good one for the searches people make. But even if you do that, you also have to convince your site visitors that your content is quality. And you do that by…..
PROVIDE QUALITY CONTENT THAT ANSWERS THE QUESTION!
I’m not kidding. Seriously, if you provide quality content your site visitors are more likely to stick around and take your advice/click on your links.
It’s a bit of work, but it doesn’t have to be a huge amount of work. You’ve heard this before – work smarter, not harder, right?
There’s a lot of inexperienced people out there who will put up poor quality content. They don’t get the results they want.
It’s the ones who develop quality content that see the results. Yes, there may be some exceptions, but you’re far more likely to succeed by answering the right questions with the right answers.
Creating Quality Content
So how do you develop great content? Well it’s down to research again. You’ll notice earlier that I mentioned keyword and related keywords. By analyzing what people are actively searching for, you can structure content that meets their search and gives them a complete answer – even if that answer is a pointer to a more complete resource.
Keyword research is fundamental to determining what people want to know.
But it’s also fundamental to giving them the answer they’re looking for.
Time spent on keyword research is never wasted. Time spent on quality content based on that research is never wasted.
It can be incredibly fast to do good research and generate plans for quality content. You just have to be very focused.
How much time have you ever wasted on ineffective strategies? If you put that time to good use, doing careful research, you should expect to see better, positive results. Not too surprising, right?
There’s a simple truth that many people are not aware of. That simple truth is this:
The average person needs to do more keyword research so they can create content that ranks.
If you aren’t yet getting the results you want, maybe it’s time to focus your efforts with intelligent keyword analysis – it’s easier and quicker than you think.
If you’d like to join us on our live webinar where we’ll show you how fast it can be – and we’ll go into more detail about keyword research including how to find the real competition for a keyword – use the link below to register now.
