As a gaming affiliate, you know that content is king when it comes to building and maintaining a successful website. But since there are a bazillion websites up and running today, how do you make your content stand out from the crowd—and most importantly—keep your site out-searched over your competitors? Here are a few steps to take to boost your online content from rock bottom to rock star.
Original Content is Best
Many affiliate marketers think that if they pump their site full of content, their traffic and subsequent rankings will be good. This definitely applied a decade ago—when Google, Yahoo and other search engines were still learning how to walk—however, SEO tactics today are a whole different animal, and filtering through bad content has become much more sophisticated. If you have “bad” content; bad being content saturated with keywords, too salesy, irrelevant, etc., your site will likely be flagged as spam and can result in low-performance. Keep your content original, tight and focused.
Read more about original content in our Google Panda Update article.
Controversial Content is Better
According to Google Analytics, the most popular searches are websites, blogs and articles that spin a new voice on an otherwise largely covered subject. It doesn’t matter that the content isn’t completely unique, what matters is that it’s written in a different tone—that tone being edgy and often controversial. Online gambling being legalized in Kenya but not South Africa sound like racial government oppression to you? Talk about it! Users may agree or disagree, but your article will definitely get traffic.
Content Titles Should Pop
Having catchy titles on your site will determine what will be read, and what won’t. Titles are the pollen that attract the bees; if you can’t grab your audience, they are likely to move on to something else—including another site. Although titles do need keywords to be picked up by search engines, there is a fine line between engaging the reader and too much SEO. Titles should also be fairly short. For example, Tips for Buying Online Gaming Domains is good. Bwin.party Digital Entertainment co-CEO Jim Ryan Visits U.S. to Discuss Future of U.S. Online Poker…not so much.
Content Formatting Should Flow
Formatting is important when it comes to getting users to not only spread your content, but to read it in the first place. Online content needs to be easy on the eyes. A user may only want to read certain sections of an article, so make this easy to do. Images, charts and graphs are great when trying to convey basic information, and breaking up long articles with engaging (even edgy) visuals is a good way to keep a reader interested and moving down the page.
Speaking of images, charts and graphs, have you seen our Infographic, Is Online Gambling Your Best Bet?
Content Development Needs Strategy
Developing good content needs a content analysis strategy. Content analysis means to closely review your content and analyze it’s effectiveness on your targeted audience; i.e. what different kinds of topics and formats (online videos, blogs, surveys) are you using? What areas of your site have a high conversion rate vs a high bounce rate? As a successful gaming affiliate, your site needs to provide content that meets the needs of your users—content that has to be analyzed frequently and kept up-to-date with competition trends.
Learn more content tips in our new and improved Content Creation section.