Creating Content Plans for Scaling Organic Traffic
We specialise in buying distressed websites and turning them into something great. Nothing overly complicated, no super fancy design – just simple websites filled with helpful content.
Niche website rebuilds
Content websites – also referred to as niche websites depending on how specific they are – are one of the best ways to get started with online marketing and SEO without having a wealth of experience or advanced technical knowledge.
I focus on buying older content sites with age and authority, then rebuilding them into something new and useful for the reader. But what exactly does this mean?
Think of it like a house renovation – I pick up websites that have strong foundations, but they’ve typically been neglected or abandoned by their previous owner. They need work, effort and care to become tenable again.
So, I acquire the old property (website), then go to work repairing any damages (fixing technical issues), redecorating it (rebranding or modernising the website design), and then making the house habitable (optimising + adding new content). Simple.
Our Six Step Plan for Growth
Generally I follow the same 6-step plan when I acquire a website – keeping things as simple as possible.
Acquire
Acquire authoritative aged websites, either direct or from auction.
Research
Perform niche research, competitor analysis and create a content strategy.
Fix
Fix any current technical issues with the site and update the design.
Audit
Audit the current content, then publish fresh useful articles on a specific topic.
Monetise
Monetise the site, typically with affiliate links and display ads.
Flip or Keep
Scale the traffic up, either for sale or to keep the recurring revenue.
What makes a Good Content Plan?
A solid content plan is the foundation of success if you’re looking to attract search traffic – give me an ugly website with amazing content over a beautiful website with poor content any day.
Keyword Research
The keywords that you target will be the make or break of your content plan. If you target high competition keywords without the authority to compete, then you’ll likely find yourself lost amongst the 3rd and 4th pages of Google’s search results.
For most niche sites, start ups and SMBs, finding low-to-medium competition keywords to target that can generate enough traffic to your site is crucial – but, it’s also important to generate the right traffic too. There’s no point gathering an audience for your product if they’re not interested in buying.
Competitor Analysis
No two businesses are identical; but where there’s a Coca Cola, there’s usually a Pepsi not too far behind. This is true in the startup industry, as there’s an abundance of great ideas and products being developed that never find their way in-front of the right audience.
Thoroughly analysing the competition is necessary to maintaining an advantage. Your strategy, content creation and overall marketing plan should not be exactly the same as your competitor, but it’s important to know what they are doing (and even more important to know what you can do better than them!).
Optimised Content
There’s a common misconception that if your content is optimised for search, you’re prioritising your rankings in Google over your reader. This definitely can happen, and you’ll find websites scattered across the internet that are stuffed with keywords at the expense of the audience.
However from another perspective, if you don’t optimise your content for search, then it’s likely that no-one will ever read it. So, it’s all about finding a balance between the two – this is why I create the highest possible quality content first, then consider tweaking it later to keep the Google Gods happy.
Topical Relevance
Using “topic clusters” sounds complicated, but it’s really not. When you continue to post articles centred around the same subject, this increases your topical relevance in a search engine’s eyes – it helps to show them that you’re knowledgeable in this specific field or topic.
Increasing topical relevance with simple yet well written blog posts helps the search engine to really understand what your website is about – whether that’s software, technology or something else, keeping your blog posts focussed on one topic and interlinking them together is a great way to grow your traffic.
What are the best ways to monetize content websites?
When it comes to monetizing a website, there are various different options – some are more hands off than others. For the most part, I stick with these three.
Affiliate Marketing
Perhaps the best way to get started with digital marketing is by creating your own affiliate site. Genuine content is the way forward here.
Display Advertising
Display ads allow you to monetise almost any page on your website – even informational pages that get visitors with zero purchase intent.
Lead Generation
Though generating leads often requires a more hands on approach, the rewards can be much higher if you can achieve a low CPA.
Common Questions about Content Marketing Plans
What is a “content” website?
Content websites, also referred to as niche websites depending on how specific they are, are one of the best ways to get started with online marketing and SEO without having a wealth of experience or advanced technical knowledge. They are essentially websites narrowed down to a specific niche – like travel, or pets – filled with useful content for readers.
How do you create a content plan?
When it comes to content planning, it’s usually advised to create some form of editorial calendar. This can be important for social media and email marketing, but for increasing your traffic, a content calendar may not be necessary. More important is the need to create content on your site and get it posted, as new posts typically take a good amount of time to index and rank in search results. For quicker results you can look at optimising the posts that are already on your site, which can lead to an increase in traffic within days and weeks, as opposed to months and years.
How do you validate a niche to enter?
This is one of the most common questions people ask, as you want to make sure you’re entering the right niche before investing in new content. Ideally, you should create your content strategy plan, perform keyword research and narrow down on the topic simultaneously so you can get a better idea of the niche. I generally look for some (but not too much) competition with monetised websites, as this is a good indicator that a niche is worth entering.
Do you have a content team?
I currently have a small team of just a few writers, as keeping quality high is the most important thing for us – it’s the same for 90% of people I speak too, even the top content teams can struggle when the demand is higher than the supply. I generally decide on the right content to write to cover a topic in depth, and if I can’t create it myself, I’ll outsource it to somewhere with more knowledge in that field.
What content type works best for niche sites?
For most niche sites, I generally blend primarily affiliate (or commercial) content with informational content. Think “best” and “vs” articles for affiliate, and “what”, “how” and “where” for informational. If you want people the share content online with their friends, then you’re likely going to create some popular content based around current events, so I do a bit of that too.
How much content should I be producing for my niche site?
It depends on the monetization method. For display ads, as much as possible – you can’t have too much content. For affiliate, you’ll want to be a little more precise with your research and content posting schedule. If you can get one or two posts a week, then after two years you’ll have a site with 100-200 posts, which should be enough to bring in some cash.
What other channels do you use in your content strategy?
Outside of SEO, I do also concentrate on gaining email subscribers and creating social media posts too – whether that be Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or something else. The social media platforms that you use will vary depending on your brand’s goals. I also run paid ads towards affiliate pages too. However for the most part, I focus on organic traffic from Google.
How long should my content be?
However long it needs to be to answer the intent of the search from Google. This involves creating both short and long form content, but most importantly, matching the intent of search terms accurately. If that requires an in-depth 4000 word article of written content covering the topic in full, then great. Or, if this requires a shorter 1000 word article that still manages to fulfil the searcher’s request in full, then that’s fine too.
What content management system do you use?
We use WordPress as a content management system for the most part – there’s no need to complicate things by using another CMS. When we’ve acquired sites that aren’t on WordPress in the past, we usually switch them over to WP at some point as most users are familiar with it.