Last week, I was thrilled to discover that I now have 4 articles with over 100,000 clicks. Here they are:
- Oil vs Water based polyurethane: Which is better for hardwood floors? 155,890 clicks (written Dec 4, 2011)
- How long does it take to refinish hardwood floors? 141,773 clicks (written June 3, 2012)
- Can you change the color of your hardwood floors? 118,113 clicks (written Feb 22, 2012)
- What's the difference between red oak and white oak flooring? 107,134 clicks (written Jan 8, 2012)
This really shows the power of writing unique and evergreen content. These articles consistently generate traffic (and calls, appointments) month after month. Each of these generates around 3,500-5,500 clicks per month.
You'll notice that these were written 4-5 years ago, and yet they are still relevant today. That is ahat evergreen content is all about. It works every day of the year. These articles are geared towards those who are looking to redo their floors soon (i.e. within 3 months).
Do I have more recent content that is doing well? Of course. Check out this article on 2016 hardwood flooring trends. It's current getting 8,000 clicks per month. Or my 2nd highest for the month: Dark vs light hardwood floors - what are the pros and cons? This has over 6,000 clicks per month.
So what is the secret?
Actually, there is no secret. It's pretty straight forward. Write unique, relevant content that is evergreen and epic.
That's it.
Step 1: Listen to your customers and observe them. What are their top questions? What do they need to know? What are their concerns? This generally correlates to what they seach for on google. Write down each topic.
Step 2: Write epic content about that topic. My goal is just to write one epic article per month. (And from there, I hope that I will have 1 homerun for the year and 3-4 base hits...you can't always predict what will work well). My top articles are generally 1000+ words. Some are 2000-2,500 (and a few are 750 or so). I write what's appropriate for the topic, not to fill up the page. But, I try to choose meaty topics.
Step 3: Add pictures and lots of white space. Make sure paragraphs aren't too long. Make sure you have a good outline. (Actually, the outline is the 1st thing I do after the title. Then, I write the article, one paragraph at a time...and not all at once).
Step 4: Do some BASIC SEO. Make sure title has key words and key words are toward the front. This is your most important thing. If you care about long term search, it's more important to use the key words than to make it a catchy title (see my top performers above). Make sure 1st and last lines incorporate your key words. I'd advise you not to repeat the key words, especially in first line, but rather restate them. This will generally help your readers and will probably help you with google, too.
Add in some alt tags for your pictures. I generally use the header tags in the outline (i.e. the first line of the section). This is a bonus tip. This shows google what the article is about and guides your reader through.
Step 5: Link back to key and relevant articles on your site/blog. It's ideal to do some within the text (provided that they naturally flow) and you can also do some at the end. (In many of mine, I'll have a section that says something like "related articles" and then 3-4 bullets at the end.
Step 6: Include a strong call to action.
Step 7: Publish.
Step 8: Socially share (e.g FB, LI, Tw, G+, P, etc...whatever you use.). If you haven't joined Viral Content Buzz or Copromote, do so today. These are FREE services which allows others to share your content on social media (and you share theirs.
Step 9: Try to backlink to your article. Active Rain is a great place to do that. Write another article on Active Rain and link back to your new article. (just as I did here). Bonus: Ideal to find other places to do the same thing (e.g realtytimes.com, huliq.com, guest post etc.
Later...3 to 6 months later
Step 10: Go back and repeat steps 8 and 9 over time. Look at your analytics and see what's doing well. "Feed the strong." Every 6-12 months I try to go back to my top 5 (and sometimes top 10 articles to see what I can do to make them stronger). Add or update a paragraph add a picture or chart, add a video or something. Can I write another article on Active Rain to link back to it. How can I give it more energy? How do I make sure it's up to date?
A big piece of advice: One epic post will get you way further than 10 thin content posts. In fact, it will probably get you way further than 100 thin posts.
I hope this is helpful. Just my 2 cents for the day. Sorry no pictures, but I have to run now as I have a busy week ahead.
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