Content Building:
Write More Site

Content = Words ... Content Building = Writing

Here's what happens when you put a bunch of non-writers in charge of the world's largest repository of words, namely, the internet.

They call the words "content." As in, "Our website needs more content." (Translation: people aren't finding anything to read.)

So content building is the process of creating more content. What you and I tend to call writing.

Here's the good news

We writers are at an advantage. We know how to "create content." We know how to do it better than they do, and often in greater quantity.

And writing is what searchers and surfers are looking for. Writing that conveys information. So, what are you doing with the "writer's advantage" you wield on the internet? Are you building a ton of "content" for the search engines to find?

Think about how you use the internet

How often do you stumble across a book and buy it? Have you ever? Speaking only for myself, I have never inadvertently clicked to an author's site and bought a book.

Ask yourself: Is that what you're counting on to happen?

I counsel self published authors that they need a strategy to attract traffic to their site. That involves authors taking into account how they themselves use the internet.

Most of us use it to find information. But if you have the typical self published author website, the only information you're offering is on you and your book(s).

That's great...so long as you're only interested in marketing your books to people who already know to search for you and your books. However, if you're looking to sell to strangers (you know, those other 6 billion people in the world)...

Well, you'd better have some information...some content...some writing...on some subject larger than you and your book(s).

A subject, though, that includes either you or your book(s).

Let's say I wrote a book on screenwriting

It's all about my experiences writing for Hollywood. (It's true! I did!)

If I have the typical self published author website, my site has these pages and little more:

• Home page describing the book in glowing terms
• About Me page telling...about me and what led me to write the book
• Testimonials page with readers saying how much they liked the book
• Reviews page with reviewers saying much the same kind of thing
• Excerpts page so potential buyers can sample my writing
• The Buy page, where they can make their purchase

Want to know more about screenwriting? Buy the book.

Here's the problem

Most people on the internet are looking for free information. Specific information. They might want to know how to format a screenplay. They aren't going to order my book, wait for it to arrive, and hope that it includes formatting information. No...

They're going to go to a site that tells how to format a screenplay. But consider...

What if, on my site, I did some content building on the subject of how to format a screenplay?

The search engines would note that I was a source of information on that subject. They would send me information-seekers. And those are the precise information-seekers who might be interested in my memoir.

Hello, targeted visitors.

Smart content building attracts targeted visitors

Are they all going to buy my book? Nope. Best case scenario is that a small percentage will...depending on how shrewdly I promote my book on the site. But you know what?

Amazon sells a bunch of screenwriting software that makes screenplay formatting easy. And because I'm an Amazon Associate, I can earn commission made on sales made to writers who link to Amazon from my site!

We all want the people who would most enjoy our book to have a chance to learn about it. Many authors know that intuitively when they're marketing offline. The writer who penned a 19th century historical novel tries to get book-signings at Civil War re-enactments and not at Star Wars conventions.

Offline, we go to people. Online, we try to draw them to us. The search engines are the vehicle. Our content building efforts are the bait.

Content Building: How to Know What to Write About

The best way I know of is to sign up for the sitebuilding service I use to build my sites. They provide a suite of tools for targeted content building that you can use to aim your site at the readers you want. I can tell you that I will NEVER run out of subjects to write about because these folks offer so many ways to figure out what surfers are searching for.

Knowing what folks are searching for is, of course, the key to getting found.

You should know this though: using this service, SiteBuildIt, will result in you building a new, targeted site. (Though the things you learn will certainly help you in improving the old one!)

If you're only looking to do some content building on your existing site, let me give you a couple thoughts...and a couple tools.

Let's start with Amazon

Amazon is a wonder of marketing. Think of all the know-how that goes into the personalized experience you receive when you go to their site.

They remember what you looked at last time. If you do a search, they have lots of products to suggest. They know what products relate to each other.

That's information you can use!

Let's say I wrote a novel about running, like Kevin Joseph did. I might go to Amazon and search running.

Up come a bunch of running books. And running watches. And running shoes. And heart rate monitors.

Maybe Kevin has some opinions on running books. Maybe he has some experience with running watches. Maybe he's worn the odd pair of running shoes.

Maybe he could do some writing - I mean, content building - on these subjects. And the runners that show up at his site looking for this good information?...

Don't you think they might be intrigued by the notion of a science fiction novel covering the use of genetic engineering to build a more perfect runner?

See how it works? And the added benefit is that Kevin can "monetize" (web translation: "make money") by creating Amazon Associates links to the various

• running shoes
• heart rate monitors
• running books...

that he mentions!

Let's finish with Google

I'm going to send you to Google now, but not the Google you're used to.

This is a tool advertisers use to bid on Google AdWords, those "Sponsored Links" that appear atop and to the right of your search results. Used properly, it tells them how many searches in the average month are made for a particular search term.

While this tool is intended for advertisers, it's just as valuable for content-building. Play with it a little to get familiar with it.

Now do this: write down a list of the search terms you had hoped your site would be found for. Mine might look like this:

• book
• books
• memoir
• screenwriting

Okay, those first three weren't very realistic. But screenwriting...I'd had hopes. It turns out those hopes weren't realistic either. Not when competing against the likes of wikipedia, screenwriting.info, screenwriting.com and screenwriter.com.

Nope, I need some LongerTail keywords, that is, search terms that include the word screenwriting but aren't limited to it.

I'm going to type screenwriting into the AdWords tool. You can do the same with your turned-out-not-to-be-realistic-enough keyword. Now I'm searching...

Suddenly I'm awash in content building ideas!

• screenwriting format
• screenwriting contests
• screenwriting software
• screenwriting structure
• screenwriting agents...

Format: I could easily write a page on that. Throw up a few images of pages from my own screenplays as examples.

Contests: That kind of information is just a search away. I could contact the administrators of all the contests and ask them to tell me what makes their contest different. I could do another page where I list past winners.

Software: I'll poll my screenwriter friends and see what software is currently in favor. Then I can make a recommendation.

Structure: Just like a novel, good screenplays have a particular structure. There's a LOT I could say about that...while citing examples of movies where it was done right AND where it was done wrong.

Agents: Why don't I write a page on querying agents and managers? I could include the letter that got me my agent!

You get the idea

Content building is all about finding out what people want to know and then providing it for them. It's focused writing that results in targeted visitors.

Are you ready to try it? (Can you afford not to?)

Use either the Amazon or the Google method (or a combination of both) to determine your subject matter. Now let me give you some general rules:

1) Give each content building notion (let's call it a Keyword Combination) its own page. In other words, don't cover agents and formatting on the same page.

2) Use the keyword combination in your url. For instance:

3) Tend to your "meta". Write an original meta page title, keyword list and description. Include your keyword combination in all three.

(If you don't know what I'm talking about, do some research. Or just ask your web person.)

4) Use the keyword combination in a headline, then once in the first 100 characters of your page.

5) Sprinkle the keyword combination liberally (without getting silly about it) throughout your page. A good rule of thumb: use the keyword combo as often as you can without it effecting the quality of your writing.

That's it!

Once you've written this kind of page, you've begun the process of making your website magnetic, that is, the kind of website that actually attracts search engine attention.

If you like the results, do it some more. If you really like the results (and like this kind of writing - I mean, content building), then here's how to get serious about it.

Read my newsletter article about three self published authors who made terrific content building choices.

More on book marketing.

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