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Is Your Content Useless

By Vickie J. Scanlon



If you are one of those people that say content is just content, you may be surprised to learn that you are wrong. Granted,  content that is not specific to your website, is useless. Why? It has no relevancy to your website and thus, quickly eliminates quality backlinks, and more than likely leave your readers confused. However, with the right type of content, you will find it very useful in drawing traffic and building backlinks.

Let's discuss several different types of content that should be on your site.


Types of Content

There are two types of content that you usually see on a website or blog. In fact, I'm sure many have never thought of content in this manner, especially if you're a reader. But if you're a webmaster you should take note, it can give you a quick shot of knowledge that can help you draw traffic and the search engines to your site.  Let me explain.

Short-term content - short-term content includes news pieces, contests, or happenings on the Internet that is relevant to your niche. This type of content can bring in a large amount of traffic, and engage your readers', on a short term basis. However, news pieces or "in-the-now" pieces for your niche have to be written and published quickly. You hold on to the information without writing about the "news" for a week, your news is no longer news, but old news, and will not attract many readers.

Short-term content is more "look what's happening" or "what do you think" information. In other words, your content will spark an immediate interest or engage the reader. The bad news, this type of content will die rather quickly.

Long Term content - Content in this category can include blog posts (sometimes), how-tos, and reference material. This type of content, when found by the reader, is usually bookmarked for a later read. Why do you need this type of content? It gives your site "value". If you have a blog, you will probably have to reference back to it, to refresh people's mind, or let the search engines work it's wonder.

If you have a website, you can reference it within your article marketing to draw readers to another page of your website.

As you can probably surmise, long term content is good for link-building. Why? If the content on your site gives value to other people, and a webmaster feels it will give value to his/her readers, they will link to it. 

There is another type of content, that people forget. It's called filler content. I put the following in my filler content category: 1) e-commerce descriptions; 2) a specifically labeled item, in the form of a hyperlink or under a hyperlinked picture. Don't think filler content doesn't draw the search engines or people looking for a specific item-think again. (And trust me, the people who are looking for a specific item, and end up on your web page because of that specific hyperlink, is looking to buy.)


Necessary Keyword Tools

Now that you have a idea of the types of content you should be trying to aim at, you'll need to do several other important factors to move your content further. You need to watch your analytics and test. Let me explain further.

If you watch your analytics, you see what keywords are drawing people to your site. If you see what keywords are drawing traffic to your site, you will begin to better understand the needs of your target audience. And you can do most of that by using Google Analytics. You can learn a little about Google Analytics here.

In fact, Google Analytics is good for SEO, Adsense and your PPC programs.

Another tool that is useful, is a keyword tool. Keyword tools can be helpful in identifying what your target audience is already asking and what type of content they are looking for. And, it can help you to better segment your audience, and generate the right topics that will bring in more traffic. I have free online keyword tools on my SEO-Keywords Information page if you need help in this area.

So, is content useless? It can be if you don't know what content can do for your site. But if you learn early on how your content can benefit you, you'll see traffic coming your way, both today and tomorrow.



About Author:
Vickie J Scanlon -- Visit her site at: My Affiliate Place  how to information for affiliate marketers and internet marketers,  where to find affiliate programs,  tech accessories, and computers for business or home office.