Create Better Content than the Competition

We all want to create the best content possible, but with more than a BILLION active websites and blogs on the internet today… it’s getting kind of tough.

Consider this. With so many active websites pushing out new content daily, it’s almost a waste of time for you to not put out the best content possible. This is especially true if you are trying to rank on the first page of Google for any generic search terms or phrases.

Here’s what we know.

• Articles of 500 to 1,000 words usually won’t outrank big sites
• Longtail is great, but it’s still a mission to rank content
• Mobile and tablet usage is quickly overtaking desktop
• Social media and video are still growing markets

With all of that being said… the most important focus for your brand or business should be to ALWAYS create the best content possible. It’s no longer worth it to push out articles every other day — especially if they are under 1,000 words. Instead, put out AMAZING content every week/month, then focus the majority of your promotion efforts on those articles.

Not only will this provide your audience with better content, it will also make the marketing and monetization aspect that much easier and effective as well.

Here are some tools and solutions to help you on this journey.

Put in the Time to Research Your Keywords and Topic

Before even writing your first word of content, it’s a MUST that you know the content focus of your article. Not only does this include why you are writing, and what it’s going to be about — it should also include your target keywords and what you want to rank for.

This is where a tool like Ubersuggest really comes in handy. Unlike other keyword and SEO tools, Ubersuggest is free to use, pulls data from Google, and also has competitor intelligence where it shows not only how many times a keyword is searched, but also its monthly volume and estimates cost per click.

To get started with the process, all you need to do is plug in a keyword or phrase you might want to write about. You can also select what type of content and its language.

After clicking “Look up” you will then see a wide range of results you can weed through. The list will start off in alphabetical order, but you can sort it based on any of the columns on the right-hand side, or using the keyword suggestions and filter results fields on the left side.

After looking around for a bit, I did come across a nice grouping of keywords and phrases that would make for a good article focus. (see below). As you can see, “google keyword rank/position” related keywords are heavily sought after, yet also varied enough so there is a potential to target an audience here and rank at the same time.

Create an amazing 2-3k word post on the topic and use a few of these keywords as sub-titles for new sections, and you could soon be ranking in Google. Of course, you will also need to put in the necessary marketing and link building efforts, but again — this is focusing on how to come up with ideas for better and more in-depth content.

No matter what keywords or search phrases you are going after, make sure you have more than 2,000 words in your article, as this has continually been proven as one of the most effective ways to rank higher in Google.

Research What’s Already Ranking… Then Make it Better!

Once you have an idea of what type of keywords and search phrases you are going to try and rank for, it’s then time to start creating your content. However, before doing this, you will also need to take a peek at what’s already out there and ranking.

Just for the sake of keeping things consistent, let’s say you want to rank for something like “google keyword planner tool tutorial”. Once we search for this in Google, we will find that several of the rankings are YouTube (because we used the word “tutorial”). After those listings, we would then find numerous sites like Quicksprout, Backlinko, ShoutMeLoud, and others — each with more than 2,000+ words of content and great content/image structure.

Using this information, we can then start creating a foundation and structure for our own article. Take the time to visit each of the sites ranking on the main page of Google for the keywords you want to rank for, then see which elements each have or done (ie: text, custom images, charts, video etc).

This ultimate goal here is to then create the best resource possible — adding your own unique components for each.

Create a Visual and Video-Based Online Course

As mentioned earlier in this article, mobile devices and tablets are quickly being the go-to solution for everything these days. Even fewer people are relying on Google to find their answers, and are heading straight to video and social media. At the same time, you always want to keep leveraging your brand and figure out how to potentially make millions off your expertise and previously published content.

With all of this in mind, it’s not just about catering to your site audience with great content and video where possible — it’s also about finding a way to provide them with a premium service as well. Blog posts are great, but the majority of people coming to your site will never fully read through the content. Instead, you need to repurpose it and give it to them in a format they can easily follow, while enjoy walking through in the process.

This is something I recently did in my new “Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing and Blogging” course on Udemy. I’ve already written thousands of articles on my own websites and blogs, but never have I dove into the world of online video like I did in this course. The end result is over 80 videos and 6+ hours of content. If you want to check it out, feel free to use this link or coupon code “SHOEMONEY” and save 90% during its beta launch.

The content and monetization play here are simple.

1. Since I created the content myself, I know it’s of value and can refer to it within various articles, guest posts, citations, and on my own sites.
2. Video is in demand. It’s not just about creating an online course, it’s also about giving your audience a taste, then getting to take action and get full access.

Both of these highlights go back into the goal of creating the best content possible for your audience. With thousands of users visiting my sites daily, I can also offer them a higher level of experience and learning at the same time.

Last Step… Put in the Necessary Time and Effort to Promote Your Content

Something I also touched upon at the beginning of the article is the importance of making sure your content gets backlinks, references, and social sharing in the right places. With a billion active sites always coming out with new content, even the BEST content will quickly find itself buried without the right backlinks and promotions.

Moz recently came out with their super long and detailed list of ranking factors in 2018. AndBacklinko< also came out with quite a useful resource guide as well. Unfortunately, neither of them really limit it to just a handful of “must use/follow” methods.

However, both did highlight the continued importance of CONTENT and BACKLINKS. Yes, Google is always changing the way it ranks sites, but these two components continue to play the biggest roles.

Once your content is created (and is the best possible), it’s then time to put in the manual outreach necessary to get it picked up by the masses. Such time-consuming methods usually consist of:

• 404 broken link building
• guest blogging
• outreach to press/media
• citations in reference articles
• infographic design and promotion
• podcasts, video and new media

Depending on your content, business model and budget… many of these methods can be outsourced, but when doing so, put in the necessary due diligence to make sure it’s done correctly.

The content you create will play a HUGE role in the overall success of your site and it’s rankings, but the actual promotion is going to determine how well it ranks and the audience it reaches over its lifetime.

Now it’s time to put these methods into motion…

We’ve covered a lot in this resource guide, but it ultimately came down to four key points:

1. Research your topic/keyword before writing
2. How to create the best content possible
3. Cater to mobile/video demand
4. Promotion is going to determine your success

You don’t need to follow this guide step by step, but no matter what type of content you are creating, these components are going to play a huge factor. Don’t waste time on just pushing content out there. Make sure it’s the best possible and serves real value, then it will be that much easier for you to promote.