I launched my first Authority Website in March 2000.
I did not know it was an authority website.
We called them Portals back then. The term “authority website” had not been invented yet.
This first authority site was in a home improvements niche. (more on that later)
I don’t tell you this, to impress you.
I tell you, because I want to establish my “authority” as someone who has built and sold a number of Authority sites.
Authority Site Content Creation, What You Need To Know
Special Note:
This post is longer than most. It is tempting to skim – I do that all the time! However on this occasion, if you really want to create an authority site, this could turn out to be the best post you will ever read on the subject.
We plan to make this post available as a PDF Report. There is an option to register for that later in this article, along with a number of other options to fast track your authority website development.
4 Things You Must Understand Before We Start.
#1: Focus is critical
When it comes to getting an authority website of the ground, there are a relatively small number of things that really matter.
Get those right and your chances of building an authority site multiply!
You see, with Authority Websites, as in life itself, the the 80/20 rule applies!
[approximately 80% of results come from 20% of activity.]
#2: Invest in Authority Website training
You investment could just be your time but funds permitting, I would encourage you to purchase online training / join an authority website mastermind.
Many people who create an authority website are looking to initially replace or match their current monthly income. Still others are looking for a six figure income and a 7 figure exit.
Whatever your ambitions, you will at least need to invest the time to acquire the necessary skills.
Creating an authority website is not a get rich quick scheme. It is more of a Get Rich in 12 – 24 months scheme, provided you put in the effort.
For people serious about building an Authority Website, I recommend you invest in training.
-> Here is the only one we recommend.
It is by far the best course I know on selecting niches, selecting keywords, attracting back links and SEO. It contains over 120 step-by-step training videos.
#3: Start now, get perfect later!
As you will see, I am a bit of a perfectionist. I will revise and edit a post multiple times before pressing publish.
However, if you are new to Authority Websites, my sincere advice is: get started now, get perfect later.
We will cover this in more detail later, when we discuss scaling content publication and the pros and cons of hiring writers.
#4: It takes dedication!
Despite some 20 years passing since my first Authority Website, the fundamentals have not changed!
To create an Authority Website requires either:
=> extreme dedication as a content creator.
OR
=> significant investment in content creation.
Or in some cases, both!
Assuming you don’t have significant funds to invest right now, there are two things you need to know:
- Be prepared to create and publish content for many months before seeing any significant rewards.
- Only the best content (writing, videos, graphics) will do. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can rattle of a blog post in 30 minutes and expect to see huge success. Truth is, it takes many hours, even days and sometimes weeks to write a stellar blog post that is linked to and shared.
I am told the average novel of 90000 words takes 180 days (6 months) to write, assuming you write 500 words per day.
I know some of you are saying “but I can write more than 500 words per day”.
Perhaps you can. My point is, “can you write 500 words of exceptional content every day?”
One of my favorite books on writing is “First you write a sentence“. The author Joe Moran had a remarkable way with words as you can see in the first paragraph of the book.
The bit about deleting it and starting all over, resonates with me. I do that a lot.
What is an Authority Website?
In simple terms, an authority blog or website is a popular online place where people go to for information on a particular niche or topic.
Creating an Authority Website, remains one of the best and least expensive ways to create a six figure income.
How Do I Make Money With An Authority Website?
There are numerous ways you can earn money with an authority website.
However the four main activities are:
- Consultancy or business services revenues – my friend Clinton Lee is an example of this.
- Lead Generation (this is what I did)
- Launch an Information website and follow that up with your own range of information products. My Son Joshua Dunlop and his site Expert Photography is an example of this.
- Promote or sell other people’s products as an affiliate. (this is primarily how this website generates income)
The fourth option is by far the most popular and the easiest to implement for most Authority Website developers.
For starters, the offers you promote, will in most cases already have a high converting sales pages that you can send traffic to. Having a sales page that converts is essential. If you decide to go the affiliate route, make sure to find out the EPC (earnings per click) of the offer you plan to promote before agreeing to promote.
Option four can also be combined with option three. For example, as an Amazon Affiliate in addition to selling your own products.
The Good News About Launching An Authority Website Today
There is less competition than you think.
Not everyone will agree with me on this, but bear me out.
Off the people who launch an authority site, only a small percentage actually stick with it and bring their dream to a reality.
I don’t say this to discourage you, I say it, because the truth is that most people are lazy and are not prepared to do the work necessary to make their website a success.
In particular, as I mentioned earlier, they are not prepared to create and publish top quality content, month after month and they give up before the big pay day!
Remember:
Many website owners start out strong and full of optimism, but give up a few months later.
Optimism is good, but optimism combined with resilience, realism and determination is what you need to succeed in life and business.
Check out Jim Collins book Good To Great and in particular the Stockdale Paradox for a better understanding of why you need more than a positive outlook and optimism to succeed.
16 Things You Can Do To Turn An Ordinary Blog Into An Authority Website
No1: Select a Profitable Niche For Your Authority Website
Many Authority Website experts will encourage you to use ahrefs or SEMRush to find that magical niche with lots of traffic and low competition.
It is reasonable advice, but it should not be your only consideration.
You should also select a niche for which you have some passion and knowledge.
A competitive niche, that interests you and inspires you, is a better choice than a niche with lower competition. (that doesn’t interest you)
After all, if you are going to spend a lot of time building your very own Authority Website, your chances of success is greater if you are writing about something you have a passion for.
It may not feel like it right now, but there will come days when you won’t feel like writing. If you are passionate about the subject and the niche there will be fewer of those days. Picking the wrong niche for you will feel like pushing water up a hill.
Want some ideas about selecting a niche?
Check out this post by our friend Pat Flynn — Tips to Help You Pick a Niche
One “old school” way that I use to find niche ideas is to review the magazine rack in a large newsstand. Publishers spend a lot of money researching demand before publishing a magazine and the chances are high that if there is a magazine for the niche it is profitable and worth investigating.
Authority Website Success Story
Wirecutter (A website that focuses on electronics, home goods and tools reviews) is often mentioned as an Authority Website success story.
The Wirecutter was founded by Brian Lam in 2011 and purchased by The New York Times Company in 2016 for about $30 million. In the five years from its launch in 2011 to 2016, the company generated an amazing $150 million in revenue from affiliate programs.
But lets be honest, the chances of you and I creating another WIRECUTTER is not that great.
For starters a website like Wirecutter requires a significant investment (as off 2018 they had 100 employees).
This is why I also recommend you select a NICHE or sub-niche within a larger niche as your target market/audience. (rather than have too broad an approach)
No2: Find the perfect Domain Name for your Authority Site
Assuming you are starting from scratch.
You should try to secure a .com or at a stretch, a country domain extension such as .au or .co.uk
The most important thing is to get started.
Many people spend far too long trying to find the perfect domain, rather than get started. Lets face it, Wirecutter would not have been the obvious name to choose if your target market is electronics, home goods and tools reviews. (and it didn’t hold them back)
That said, if you can find a keyword rich domain that suits your niche, then so much the better.
Quick Domain Selecting Tip:
Try adding words like Tips, Hacks and Facts to a keyword.
This often results in a brand-able domain name.
For example: Entrepreneurshipfacts.com
As I write: AuthorityWebsiteFacts is available as a .com
If your niche was “Authority Website” that may be the domain for you.
Interestingly, according to ahrefs.com “Authority Websites” registers a Keyword difficulty of 52 (out of 100) which means it is a Hard Keyword to rank for – despite that fact its Global search volume is indicated at only 260
In above example I was surprised that all the extensions for FunFactsToShare including the important .com are currently available.
At ahrefs.com FunFactsToShare registers a Keyword difficulty of 31 (out of 100) which means it is a hard keyword to rank for – with a Global search volume is indicated at 2100 per month.
FunFactsToShare is a good example of a Key Phrase that in theory looks good. It is brand-able, great for social media, great for shares and with some content marketing likely to produce a lot of traffic.
However, there is an important question you need to ask….
Can you make money in this niche?
Traffic that you can’t monetize, is almost worthless.
Less traffic in the right niche will financially out perform high levels of traffic in the wrong niche. [That is not to say, that large volumes of traffic can’t be monetized.]
Two more ideas on selecting a Domain Name…
=> Think outside the box
Take for example Retireat21.com – a site that originally targeted the Young Entrepreneur niche and was founded by Michael Dunlop (who also founded this website). Michael sold Retireat21 some years ago – one of several authority website exits for him.
“Retire At 21” may not automatically make you think Young Entrepreneur, but it does make people curious and turned out to be an almost perfect domain for the young entrepreneur niche, ranking No1 in Google for “young entrepreneur” at one time.
=> Buy an existing domain
When Joshua Dunlop entered the photography niche he bought ExpertPhotography.com for $2000 from a domain investor. A significant investment at the time, that turned out to be one of the best business decisions he every made.
Sedo.com claim to have the best domains for the brightest of ideas. I have used them several times to buy domains. I have also sold domains using their brokers.
No3: SEO and keyword research
When it comes to SEO and keyword research we recommend using SEMRush
As mentioned earlier, don’t build your authority site around a random topic that you have no interest in, just because there appears to be little competition. (there are usually good reasons for low competition)
Important!
=> You should define your audience therefore your target keywords.
=> Once you define which your keywords, you need to divide them into 3 different groups.
- Easy to rank keywords
- Keywords you may rank for with some effort.
- Keywords you cannot rank for (at least at the beginning)
I would recommend you start with easy to rank keywords. This will bring some immediate traffic to your site although there will not be much volume. Think of it as getting your website warmed up with the search engines.
A bit later (3 – 6 months) you can focus on keywords that are a bit more challenging to rank for. This will bring a larger audience.
Later still, especially after you have built up some back links, you can target more difficult keywords that can bring the most volume of visitors to your site.
The above is a suggestion, not a rule. You can target keywords of any difficulty at any time.
However, I have found that using this approach to start with will give you some early wins and encouragement, which is essential.
More SEO Posts You Should Read
=> 10 SEO Blog Post Publishing Steps that Most Bloggers Forget
=> 25 Best SEO Tools For Successful Blogging
=> Link Building – Without The SEO Risks
No 4: Publish quality content
WordPress claims that 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month.
With that amount of new content published each month, whatever you write, needs to stand out!
Website visitors will quickly leave your page if you fail to engage them, or get their attention.
I find, the more quality content you publish, the more authority you have.
In particular, the more content you publish around a topic, the bigger the topical cluster you create and the more likely the search engines will take you seriously.
If you have a small website with a section about “beach decor” you can only cover a relatively limited amount of topics like “beach decor ideas” and “bedroom beach decor”. However, if you have a larger site you can approach the same topic from many different angles. Examples: “Christmas beach decor”, “vintage beach decor” or “rustic beach decor”.
It is my experience that the more content you create around the long tail variations of your main keyword, the more authoritative your website has for your short tail keyword.
Every post you write in your blog should be reliable, easy to understand, and shareable. When people read your posts they should not be bored. Your expertise and experience should shine through.
Quality content comes in many different formats. Use blog posts, tutorials, videos, podcasts, reports, resource pages, reviews and listicles to demonstrate your expertise. The more versatility there is in the types of your content you produce, the more likely you will become an authority.
=> Tips for bloggers who think they can’t write.
How many words should an Authority Blog post have?
The more the better, but there is a caveat.
The content must be engaging, entertaining and educational (the 3 E’s)
If it is none of those, don’t bother.
There are two other things you should consider…
1) Websites like Facebook and Instagram have reduced the attention span of visitors.
2) Most people are visiting your site using a mobile device.
If you have a long post (2000 words plus) the chances are high, that most people will scan it first, read the headlines etc and only then decide if it is worth taking the time to read the complete article.
If I am pushed to quote a number, I usually say 1500 words although personally I aim for between 2000 and 2500 words and the occasional mega post, like this one – which ranks well for “write a best seller”
It is my experience that the longer the article, the more chance there is of it ranking highly. There will however be exceptions, especially for review sites and travel lists.
I am told that posts with more than 2000 words receive the most social shares.
Also, the average word length for an article found in the first 5 positions in Google is approximately 1800 words.
That said, one of our highest earning blog posts has just over 1200 words in it.
Occasionally, I think we should add to it, but you know what they say, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
What about hiring content creators for your Authority Site?
With most start up authority sites, you will initially do the bulk of the writing and content creation yourself. Eventually, with some success you may wish to consider hiring content creators.
This is something we have done ourselves in the past, with mixed success. Here is one of the better writers we hired.
Finding good writers who can write in your preferred voice is more difficult than most people appreciate. It is also more expensive than most people realise.
Sure there are writers who will do 5 blog posts for $100 – but most, if not all, are rubbish, often created using article spinner software. Article spinning often results in articles which are hard or even impossible to read. It creates a terrible reader experience and you should not do it.
It is my experience, that the least you can pay for a somewhat decent article (that you will almost certainly have to tweak yourself) is $60.
In reality, for a high quality writer you will need to pay$200 – $500 for the longer, better researched posts.
Not everyone agrees with me on this, but that is my experience.
In my experience, it is better to pay $2000 for 10 outstanding articles that fully engage your readers, than to spend $2000 for 40 or more articles that bore your readers and don’t get read.
That said, there are some other alternatives you can consider… especially is you are implementing a “start now, get perfect later” strategy.
Again with some caveats.
Content creation on a budget
“I’m a start up Barry, I can afford $250 + per article”
I hear you. You are not alone. There are other alternatives, but as I said, they come with a caveat or two.
If your budget is small you can try FIVERR – (1000 word articles for $10). They do however offer a more expensive verified Pro service.
Arguably a better budget alternative is TEXTBROKER – they offer 4 Star Writers from 2.7 cents per word. On the few occasions I have used services like this, I have found they work best for Listicles aka “list posts” rather than in-depth articles that require a lot of research. However do be prepared to do some tweaking and editing yourself, before publishing.
Although, of course if you are implementing the Start Now, Get Perfect Later rule in order to scale as fast as possible, I accept there may be merit in getting the content out there and seeing what traction you get.
A 60,000 word website – a reasonable initial goal for an authority website requires 40 articles assuming an average article length of 1500 words.
TestBroker have a nifty tool that allows you to calculate the cost of hiring a writer. In the example below you can hire a 4 Star writer to complete a 2500 word article for $67.90
If you want a 5 Star writer, that would increase to $180.40.
Budget permitting, you can also consider the Textbroker Managed Service which allows you to outsource your entire content project for as little as $2,500.
Content I Do Not Publish On My Authority Website
As a quick example of the type of content I will not publish, today I received a guest post submission for another website I manage. (in the catering niche)
The title of the article was: “Your Cheat Sheet for Putting up a Café”
Now, you might think that sounds interesting and would be full of interesting content?
It wasn’t!
It was bland and generic content. [e.g. do research, build a business plan, choose a location blah, blah]
It was quite easy to reject simple because it didn’t pass my first test for content I publish which is:
“Will this content be of value to my reader” or “will my reader thank me for this content?”
No reader thanks you for BORING BLAND content.
Despite what some Authority Website Gurus tell you, it is better to publish less high quality content than numerous bland and uninteresting articles that no one reads.
One more Tip…
To start with at least, most authority site owners will be working from home. This can present challenges and it is therefore essential you create a home office that inspires your creativity, especially when in comes to writing content.
This blog post will help: Work From Home – How to Have a Healthy and Productive Home Office
An authority site doesn’t have to look fancy.
However, if your website has an unprofessional look, people will not stay around. Your site should be an easy to use website that provides a great user experience.
Top Tip:
Invest in a premium theme that presents your brand in the best possible light.
Free themes are great for starting out but most cannot be properly customized.
Remember that saying: First impressions count!
Recommended Article: 15 Best Practices for Responsible Responsive Web Design
No6 Branding Your Website
Some of these things are more important than others.
For example having a memorable logo is more important than sorting out your favicon.
Back in 2000 I paid $500 to have this logo created. I am not suggesting it has passed the test of time but I do consider it one of the best logos I have had created. It was brand-able, worked well on t-shirts, polo-shirts etc and the logo helped set my site aside as an authority website.
You should also secure all the main social media channels for your brand. (LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter at a minimum) Namecheckr.com is great for checking if if your brand name is available for a particular social media channel.
You should link to all your social media accounts from your your website and vice versa.
Anytime you publish a new piece of content, syndicate your content on all of these social platforms. If you have time and resources, spend some time each week responding to people’s questions and interacting on these social accounts.
Special Note: Don’t buy social signals.
[Social signals refer to a webpage’s collective shares, likes and overall social media visibility as perceived by search engines.]
Google is skilled in understanding if a site has authority or just faking it. Fake it till make it doesn’t apply here.
Use memorable color schemes on your site that represent your overall brand image. This will help when your website becomes the authority website in your niche, people will recognize it from its look.
If you have a local business site it is always a good idea to register with local directory sites like Yellow Pages and Yelp.
No7 Host case studies & market leading researches
This is the fast track to building an authority site. It requires time and investment, but it is one of the best ways to stand out from your competition and be recognized as an Authority.
When you provide well researched information people will talk about your research. They will link to your site, and share your content on social media.
I am not going into huge detail here, but Item 4 above – “publish only quality content”, applies!
No8 Publish Expert Round Up posts
An expert roundup post is a blog post that features contributions from multiple experts.
Typically, you the host blogger will raise a question or topic for discussion with various experts who in turn share their insights.
The great thing about this is that the guests will usually link to your round up article and share on social media.
People like to get flattered, and earn backlinks most of the time.
Although a roundup post can take quite a lot of effort, it can create massive exposure for your site that validates your website and builds brand awareness.
No9 Contribute as a Guest Blogger
This is a popular way to get backlinks for your website
Guest blogging on high authority websites is very effective for building your authority and growing your readership.
To implement guest posting as a way of establishing authority, you need to find authority sites in your niche. You can make Google search by using Google’s advanced search operators, and/or use SEO tools like SEMRUSH.
Alternatively, you can simply search the names of Influencers in your niche and contact them. Keep in mind, that when you are just starting out, there will not be many people who are willing to provide you a guest posting opportunity. In that case you should write the article in advance (google docs is good for this) and circulate to several Influencers and see who is first to say yes. Of course your writing better stand out!
How To Request A Guest Post Proposal On An Authority Website
If you hope to have any chance of having your request for a guest post accepted, please take the time to write a detailed email explaining why I should consider you. That includes examples of previous writing and a “pitch” for why your idea for a blog post will be of value to me.
Below is an example of someone who has the kind of approach I prefer.
I particularly liked the “How You Can Benefit” approach.
What You Should NOT DO When Requesting A Guest Post On An Authority Website
I get a lot of requests for guest posts, sometimes more than 100 per week.
Some ask if they can pay to have a guest post published (see below)
We don’t accept payment for guest posts and it is my experience that few Authority Websites will allow you to buy a link on their website or submit a guest post for payment.
There are two reasons for this:
1) Google does not like it and lets face it, we don’t want to get the wrong side of Google.
2) As an authority website owner, your first question should always be, does this content add value to my website and readers? If it does not, then you shouldn’t publish it (no matter how attractive the payment is). Likewise, if the content is good and adds value, you will be happy to publish for free.
Don’t believe everything a Guest Writer says…
Many guest post writers will tell us how much experience they have and how great their writing is. (not)
Many use a cookie cutter / template approach. Many don’t even give examples of their previous writing. See example below:
No 10 Post content to forums
But don’t spam!
Answer questions on websites like Quora. Feel free to link to your own website in answers but appreciate that in most instances and link you get will be NOFOLLOW. Remember you are not there to spam, you are there to add value and help people.
That is how you become an authority.
Here are some of the reasons why you should post on forums and Q&A sites like Quora.
a) People on those platforms are actively seeking solutions to their problems. (Additionally often their question will give you an idea for a future article)
b) They are looking for expert advice.
If you can spend even a small time every week consistently, responding to other people’s questions, you will establish authority.
If you provide genuinely helpful responses you can refer people to your site and have referral traffic from those platforms.
However, the real benefit doesn’t come from the referral traffic you will get, but rather the user signals those sites pass to Google.
Go to Reddit, and find subreddits related to your niche. Interact with other people, and respond to their questions. Without spamming, leave a link to a relevant page in the discussion. Most forums are very sensitive to spam, and if you don’t provide any value but appear to only do self promotion, you will find yourself kicked off the site.
No 11 Create a valuable report and give it away for free
I am not talking about a lead magnet.
We are talking something like this guide from my friend Clinton Lee (Expert on UK Business Brokers)
This is something that is genuinely free. There is no requirement to provide an email address and anyone can share this document without any edits or changes.
As you can imagine, it gets shared and attracts a lot of visitors and potential clients to Clinton and his business.
This particular guide is slightly tongue in cheek, which in this instance adds to the “share-ability”.
What can you give away, that visitors would appreciate and share?
No 12 Implement Social Media Marketing
Social media provides abundant opportunities to connect with other people, and influencers within your niche. This means you can easily exchange knowledge with a broad audience, and engage with that audience further. It is also one of the best shortcuts promoting expert knowledge.
Search engines use social signals and other user behavioral metrics to determine the relevance of a page to a search query, with the main idea here being the more content is shared, liked, commented on, the higher its quality, value, relevance, and, therefore, ranking in SERPs.
You can check domain & social username availability across multiple networks use namecheckr
No 13 Host an Online Conference or Sponsor an Event
My first authority website was in an home improvement niche – focused on sun-rooms, conservatories and garden-rooms.
As our authority grew we got many media mentions and also ended up being a Key Sponsor of a competition to select the Best Conservatory / Sun-room installation.
This proved a great way to connect with leading industry players. It was also a great way to find more customers for my online lead generation service.
Interestingly, one of the people I connected with, ended up leading the team that bought my entire suite of Home Improvement Authority Sites in 2006.
No 14 Develop and Host a Podcast
There is no rule that says quality content should only consist of text and images.
You can use podcasting to open the gates of whole new opportunities for your site. A podcast will allow you to reach a whole new sub-set of your market that prefers to connect with your brand via audio.
Inviting experts from your niche to be your guests. This can quickly set you up as an authority in your niche.
You can also be a guest on other people’s podcasts. This podcast exposure will help you build your authority, since the podcasts will often link to your website and social media profiles.
No 15 Highlight Your Testimonials
It should go without saying that your website should include social proof – this takes many forms but the two most people will be familiar with are:
a) Displaying customer testimonials
b) Details of where your content has been mentioned / quoted.
You have probably seen many websites share the information of where their content is published or where their names are mentioned. It can also be in the form of customer testimonials showing what other people said about that specific product or service.
What are these websites trying to achieve by sharing this information publicly?
They want to manage audience’s perception by telling they are a respected brand of the community, therefore you should also trust them. This is also called social proof and it will help establish your site authority.
Encourage your readers and buyers to give you a testimonial by making it easy for them. Have a specific form on your website where readers can give feedback / supply testimonials.
Notes:
- On the form give people opportunity to attach a photo of themselves (a personal photo with a testimonial is even more powerful)
- Ask questions that encourages (directs) the reader to give the kind of reply you want. For example: What was your biggest fear before purchasing our product? Did it come true, and if not, what happened instead?
- Two other questions that often get great answers are: What, specifically, was your favorite part of our product, and why? AND If you were to recommend this product to your best friend, what would you say?
No 16 Learn from other authority sites
Note, I said learn from other authority websites – not copy them!
Inspiration is all around.
Many the time, another authority website (both in my own niches and un-related niches) has giving me inspiration for something to implement on my own website. Often it is a tweak on their approach, rarely is it the exact same thing.
When comparing other authority websites, I note their web design, writing style, content length and depth, and even where they host their website in order to learn how they organize everything.
Go to Wayback Machine, and check how their site looked a year or maybe 5 years ago. Check individual articles, amount of links and social signals their content has pulled. Success leaves clues. You will find great points to utilize for your site if you study other successful sites.
BONUS…
Interview With An Authority Website Owner
Not all Authority Websites get huge quantities of traffic.
There are plenty of successful Authority Websites that don’t get millions of visitors per month or even 100k’s of visitors per month, yet they make their owners a large income.
For these sites, it is not the amount of traffic they get that matters, but the quality of traffic that matters.
One such site is UK Business Brokers which was founded by my good friend Clinton Lee.
If you where to do a UK search for “Business Brokers” and related terms you would find that Clinton and his website frequently occupy the top organic positions with articles such as: Business Broker: 10 Facts You MUST Know Before Engaging One!
As you can imagine, this gives Clinton and his business a significant competitive advantage in a very competitive marketplace.
Fortunately for us, Clinton has agreed to answer some questions on his strategy for creating Authority Websites. (Clinton has created Authority Websites several times before, selling some of them for significant amounts)
I think some of his answers may surprise you.
I am not saying, do as Clinton does, rather I am saying there is more than one way to create an Authority Website
Question 1: When deciding to create an authority website (or indeed any website) what do you consider the most important factors to consider?
Answer:
=> What questions is our content answering?
=> What problems are we solving?
=> What information would help the public?
=> What material is likely to seen as useful enough to get bookmarked / shared?
Answer these questions and variations of these questions and the SEO will almost take care of itself.
To know the mindset of the customer, and therefore the questions and concerns they have, takes experience in the field and speaking with a lot of customers. That’s phase one. Then it’s about also providing answers to the questions on topics that the customers don’t know they don’t know i.e. the information for the public – sharing insights, stats, case studies, white papers. It’s a continuous process and I posted two new articles on UK Business Brokers just in the last week.
Question 2: How much time do you spend on SEO?
Answer: Not that much actually. People I know in the industry sometimes ask me to write an article for them and I do so. This is usually on a topic I’m very familiar with so it doesn’t take long to knock out 1,500 or 2,000 words. I rarely hunt for guest post opportunities but will contact the webmaster if I find a particularly good site in my niche. Once they check me out they are usually happy to accept an article. I do perhaps half a dozen such articles in the year. Sometimes they link back to me and sometimes they DON’T! But even the latter is fine. I don’t chase follow links or links above the fold or any of the other SEO “principles”.
I’m happy if they either link to me or mention my full name, or both. I have on occasion sought a directory link if it’s particularly relevant, or included a link to my site in profiles I have elsewhere. I’m fortunate in that I’ve been quoted in lots of places from Forbes in the US to The Times in the UK. Get enough good content out there and getting “quoted” sort of just happens.
Question 3: How much time and effort do you put into Link Building.
Answer: To establish the site initially, about 100 – 200 hours in the first year. After that it’s a lot less. But then I do a lot of posting in many forums, on Reddit, in LinkedIn and often drop a link to a page of mine where I’ve answered a specific question …so that’s link building I suppose and if you count that, probably a few hours every week!
Question 4: I notice you have a number of related websites. (I suppose sub-niche websites) – is there a particular strategy in doing that?
Answer: LOL, I wish I could say that it’s some master plan! Or some clever link juice channeling strategy! But it’s simply the way things developed. UK Business Brokers is an information site, each post / article is carefully thought out. But I wanted a place where I could post quick snippets about interesting articles I’ve found elsewhere so I started resources.theexitfirm.co.uk.
Then I wanted to create a directory of all the business brokers in the UK – there seemed to be a desperate need for that information, but none of my existing sites were the right “feel” for it, so I started https://itabb.org/uk/directory .
Separate to all those, I’ve got a huge scraping operation currently going; I’m collecting data from all the businesses-for-sale marketplaces. I’m crawling daily and collecting massive amounts of information on what’s happening in the market. There’s much intelligence to be extracted from this, but where am I going to post it? I feel a new site coming on! You heard it here first.
Question 5: If you were starting over, what might you do differently?
Answer: Hire someone to do all the tech stuff, the background stuff on the website – design, creating the images and shrinking them, development work like creating and managing forms, keeping the site secure, blocking spam, tracking and banning bots, taking backups – all the boring stuff.
Thank you Clinton. We recognize that many website owners are secretive about their strategy and reluctant to share information like this. Your generous spirit is appreciated!
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Authority Website Launch, What You Need To Know
