6 Ways to Block Spam SEO Traffic in Google Analytics

Who cares about the fake news when you’ve got fake traffic to worry about?!

A few years back, spam was the junk that landed in your email inbox. Before long, email providers created filters that blocked spam from getting into your inbox, and it seemed as though you’d never have to worry about it ever again. Happy days! But now that you’ve got a website, spam is back on your radar – and it’s coming after your Google Analytics account.

Analytics data is pretty damn important to any online marketer who cares about their SEO campaigns. But when it gets tampered with by fake, spammy data, it’s tough to work out how well your campaigns are performing.

In this article, we take a look at six different kinds of spam SEO traffic that pops up in Google Analytics, why it pops up – and how to eliminate it.

Why spam SEO traffic is a total nightmare

Picture this: your website isn’t doing too badly for traffic, but it could be better. Then one day you suddenly experience a spike. Hurray!

On closer inspection, however, it turns out that the spike was caused by a few rogue spammers (or maybe even just one) whose spamming has now contaminated your analytics data, making it impossible for you to work out how well your SEO campaign is performing otherwise.

For sites that score lots of traffic on the daily, a bit of spam SEO here and there isn’t an issue. For smaller sites, however, it can be a massive problem because marketing analysis becomes tricky when 70% of your traffic is essentially fake.

Then there’s the issue of server load. The more visits you have, the more overloaded your server becomes. As a consequence, this can damage your page speed loading time which can cause your bounce rate to skyrocket, which in turn can scupper your position in the SERPs.

What causes spam SEO traffic?

Bots largely wreak the most havoc. Of course, there are good bots, such as GoogleBot, that crawl our sites for legitimate reasons. But there are also bad bots that either want your traffic or want to hack you or steal your content.

Some bots might crawl your site for lead generation purposes, others might crawl it to index webpage data for their own needs, and others might direct affiliate traffic to eCommerce platforms.

All the reasons are nefarious, and while some websites give you the option of removing the bot from your site, such as Semalt.com,  it sometimes doesn’t work. The next best thing to do is to follow these six ways to block spam SEO traffic in Google Analytics.

1. Filter your Analytics traffic

Filtering your Analytics traffic is a good idea because it helps you understand what’s being removed from your data set.

All you need to do is create a separate view in your Google Analytics and call it “bot traffic filter” or something similar. It’s easy to do:

1) Go to “Admin,”

2) Click the + icon on the “ALL WEBSITE DATA” menu on the right column,

3) Click “Create a new view,”

4) Set an appropriate time zone.

This last step is crucial because you won’t be comparing lemons to lemons if you stick to Pacific Time (Google’s default time zone).

2. Block the known bots and spiders

Scarily, you could end up with a LOT of bots in your SEO traffic. The good news is that you don’t have to remove all the bots manually because Google Analytics has a handy button that will block the known bots. This will probably save you around 80% of time and effort, and the excellent thing is that Google updates it automatically when it comes across new bots.

Using the new view that you created above, head over to your “View settings” menu and tap “Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders.”

If you happen to notice a few of your most fundamental traffic sources on the list, simply remove them.

3. Add your own spam referrers

Google Analytics is pretty good at blocking known bots from your data, and you should definitely implement the above step. However, there will still be some referrers that slip through the net.

To catch these slippery ones, open your referrer report before sorting your descending data according to bounce rate. Those with the most bounce rate should be at the top.

Use the advanced filter so that you see only sessions that went beyond a certain threshold. The exact threshold will depend on how much traffic you get, but 50 is a good number.

Then simply go through the list to see which sites should be added to your referral list. There’ll be some odd ones in there, such as er55665.getmorelinks.com, in which case you should just add getmorelinks.com.

4. Setup a bad referrer filter

Go back to your new view and create a “Bad referrers” filter. Don’t do this at the account level but at the view screen, and here’s how to create the filter:

1) Go to “Admin,”

2) Choose “View” and then click “Filter,”

3) Select “Add Filter” and create a name,

4) Select “Custom” followed by “Exclude,”

5) In the “Filter Field” section, click “Campaign Source” and input the pesky domains.

5. Block traffic from specific countries

This technique is only recommended if you know for sure you’re getting a lot of spam traffic from specific countries and very little legitimate traffic. For example, if you know that 95% of your traffic from Indonesia is spam, you’re hardly likely to lose potential top quality customers if you block traffic from there.

To block traffic from specific countries:

1) Open your “Admin” tab,

2) Create another new view

3) Click “Filters” followed by “+New Filter Button,”

4) Then filter out traffic from countries you know are giving you issues.

6. Ban bad bots

This is a difficult one and – without wanting to terrify you – if you use the wrong character, you can ruin your whole site. For this reason, we recommend that you make a backup copy first and that you have proper access to the server.

You need to use .htaccess for this, and the command is:

Rewrite Engine On

Options +FollowSymlinks

Deny from 123.45.67.89

Allow from all

This code can’t be copied and pasted as it needs to be integrated into your .htaccess file. It’s an ideal way of removing bot traffic that’s slowing your site down, and it also prevents bots from getting to your site in the first place, which therefore mean it won’t ever tamper with your Google Analytics data.

Wrap up

These are six ways to block SEO spam traffic in Google Analytics. Once you’ve blocked some traffic, remember that it’s an ongoing process and you’ll need to keep a lookout for new rogue traffic sources. Eventually, you’ll get the hang of it, and your data will be a lot more useful.

Got anything you’d like to add? Feel free to leave us a comment below.

Guest author: Aljaz Fajmut is an internet entrepreneur and founder of Nightwatch – a search visibility tool of the next generation. Follow him on Twitter: @aljazfajmut

The post 6 Ways to Block Spam SEO Traffic in Google Analytics appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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10 (Mostly) Quick Wins to Steal for Your Original Research Project

Did you know Andy Crestodina spends 150 hours on his annual blogger study? (This truly blew my mind – and it’s just one of the many insights I gleaned from a recent podcast with Andy on the Inbound Success podcast on original research. Absolutely worth a listen!)

While I can’t quantify how much time I have invested on any given research project, it’s somewhere in the ballpark of heaps to a truckload. Putting in the time – and money – makes sense because research works, but you can do much more beyond publishing the initial findings.

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#Research works & you can do much more beyond publishing the initial findings says @michelelinn.
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To that end, I have studied how other marketers approach research and talked with those “in the trenches.” My goal is to learn from those who recently started publishing research as well as those who have been doing it awhile.

Today, I’m sharing a collection of solutions to missed opportunities that anybody doing their own original research can incorporate.

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Have an ungated version of your research

The other week, I happened upon some strong research that had few shares or backlinks. When I dug in, I quickly realized the main research page was a gated form that teased the findings but offered little substance.

Of course, the company’s goal may be subscribers, but it’s tough to get many subscribers if people aren’t getting to your gated page.

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It’s tough to get subscribers from your #research if people aren’t getting to the gated page. @michelelinn
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I’ll let you in on a little secret, too: Some sites won’t link to gated pages because it feels promotional. Even if your research is fabulous, you may lose if you don’t have an open-access, useful page.

Don’t miss an opportunity to share your research findings wide and far, even if you are focused on leads. If you tell your story well in a blog post or article, people will want to read more – and they will be more apt to complete your form.

TIP: If your primary goals are brand awareness, traffic, or backlinks, forgo the gate altogether. And take advantage of this next opportunity …

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Create a call to action for your research

Chances are, your research will uncover key challenges or things your audience isn’t doing but should be. Can you hear your readers practically screaming, “We need help!”?

Be proactive and figure out what content you can publish to help your readers with their biggest struggles – and use that as a call to action for your research.

For instance, the majority of Content Marketing Institute research is ungated. A key challenge was identified in that research and a gated guide was created on how to document a content marketing strategy. It’s been downloaded thousands of times.

Or, take this example from CoSchedule. Its State of Marketing report landing page uncovers key takeaways from the research – and the gated content bundles the report with documents and templates that align with these ideas: personas, a marketing plan, and a content plan.

Publish your research on SlideShare

This next idea comes from Hailley Griffis at Buffer, which recently published The State of Remote Work in 2018. When I asked what surprised her about the process – or what worked better than expected – she had one word: SlideShare.

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Publish your #research on @SlideShare to generate more traffic, says @hailleymari.
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She had not planned to put the research on the SlideShare platform, but it was an easy thing to try. She was surprised how much traffic it generated – more than 25,000 views as of this writing.

TIP: If you gate your research, you may be hesitant to release your research on SlideShare. However, most people don’t search for an ungated version if they come across a landing page with the gated version. (Do you?) Chances are different people will stumble across your research on SlideShare. If you aren’t certain, run a short experiment to see what happens.

Alternatively, if this SlideShare idea makes you or your management squeamish, create a skinny version for SlideShare that offers valuable information with a call to action to download the full version of your research.

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At a minimum, create a skinny version of your #research study to post on #SlideShare, advises @michelelinn.
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Highlight key stats in click-to-tweet format

When you write about your research, make it as easy as possible for people to share. CMI’s Blog and Community Operations Manager Lisa Dougherty adds Better Click to Tweet posts with key stats or insights in every article, but it works especially well in research articles.

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Use @WordPress plugin Better Click to Tweet to make it easy to share #research stats via @brandlovellc.
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Here is an example from CMI’s annual B2B content marketing research.

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Include industry quotes

Another way to encourage social sharing – and add some color commentary to your research – is to include quotes from those in the industry.

One example to steal comes from Andy’s annual blogger study that takes the aforementioned 150 hours. For each survey finding, he shares a quote from an industry expert. Here is an example featuring Aaron Orendorff. 

Or, check out how Brody Dorland of DivvyHQ incorporates quotes into its research, Content Planning Challenges, Trends & Opportunities. I like how a Twitter icon links to each person.

TIP: Sketch your key findings or sections to see how many quotes you need and match your quote to key takeaways when possible.

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Proactively reach out to influencers

When I talk to people about research, I don’t hear often enough how they proactively reach influencers to talk about their research.

Of course, one way to make people aware of your research (and encourage them to share it) is to ask for quotes like Andy and Brody do. But, you want to cast a wider net.

Amanda Subler, CMI’s PR consultant, shared her approach and provides detailed templates you can use. The system is easy to understand and customize for your project.

Yes, it does take some time to reach out to influencers, but it’s worth it.

In fact, Priceonomics, a site that publishes a lot of original research, shared its process in the (lengthy but highly recommended) Content Marketing Handbook. One slightly mind-bending gem:

We tell people to start off by emailing 50+ journalists, because it conditions you to work very hard to spread your content after you write it … Another reason we tell people to email journalists after they publish a report is that we want you to anticipate what you’ll say to them before you are creating the content. What’s the hook going to be? How will you pitch it to someone? Why will it be interesting?

TIP: If you don’t know the journalists and influencers in your space, a tool like BuzzSumo can help. Dig in to see who has covered your topic or similar research. (Or, if this is an annual report, understand who covered your previous findings.)

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If you don’t know journalists & #influencers in your space, a tool like @buzzsumo can help. @michelelinn.
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Develop a library of graphics to be easily shared and used

You likely have spent time refining the charts, graphs, and other data visualizations in your report. Why not get as much from them as possible? My business partner Clare McDermott recently shared some ideas for dataviz to incorporate into your marketing, including original research.

Once you have dataviz, use it. I love how Udemy has a library of mini infographics from one of its research reports. These data-based graphics can easily be shared on social and in blog posts. (And, if you scroll through them, you can quickly understand the story.)

TIP: Include a source line and link on your charts and graphics so people can easily learn more about your research. (I’m continually surprised by how often I see that a source line is missing.)

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Write about your research on other platforms

Someone recently asked about my biggest mistake with research. That’s easy: not pitching articles about the findings to other publications.

Of course, it makes sense to cover your research on your blog as it can be a traffic magnet, but you also have an opportunity to get in front of new audiences if you tailor and pitch posts to other publications.

For instance, Andrea Fryrear recently covered her research, State of Agile Marketing 2018, on several blogs including CMI and Marketing Insider Group.

TIP: Identify an angle for each publication that is relevant and meaningful to that audience. A simple regurgitation of stats won’t cut it.

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Pitch your #research to other publications. Find a relevant angle for each, advises @MicheleLinn.
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Include your research in your email signature or out of office

This next idea comes to us from Heike Young at Salesforce – and it’s the quickest one to put into action. When I was (coincidentally) emailing Heike about research Salesforce published, I received this out-of-office message:

TIP: Email signatures are also a great place to add a link to a key piece of research as well.

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Include a link to your #research in your out of office message via @YoungHeike. Read more >>
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Make it easy for people to reach out to you

Your research is story-worthy, and you want people to write about it, interview you, etc. Right? I imagine you nodding your head, but how easy do you make it for people to contact you?

I love talking to people about their research projects (please add a comment below or reach out anytime if you are interested in chatting). And, it surprises me how difficult it can be to find the person responsible for the research. Journalists, bloggers, podcast hosts, and more may want to talk to you as well, but if you don’t make it easy, they may quickly move on.

I really like how Unbounce includes a list of their contributors for its Conversion Benchmark Report. Not only does this make it easy for people to reach out, but it acknowledges the smarts of the team who developed the report.

Over to you. What else can marketers do to spread their research far and wide? Add your ideas in the comments. (And, if you have published research, let me know. I’d love to check it out.)

Need data to inform your content marketing strategy, budget increase, or new tactical implementation. Check out CMI’s annual B2B and B2C research.

Want to learn more about making the most of your research? Catch Michele’s session at Content Marketing World 2018. Register today using code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post 10 (Mostly) Quick Wins to Steal for Your Original Research Project appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

A Guide to SaaS Content Marketing – Traffic, Conversion, and Sales

If people can find your business online, you won’t run away from content marketing. It’s inevitable. Today the entire online promotion has turned into a non-stop content generation machine that attracts and converts a relevant audience into leads. It’s no secret that every niche has its challenges, do’s and don’ts when it comes to content marketing.

The SaaS niche isn’t an exception. You have to choose the right content strategy to achieve success. If you don’t – all your writing hours will go in vain. In this article, we are going to share our content marketing tricks that work wonders for our SaaS blog and enable us to convert visitors into leads at a 7% rate.

How do you choose the right path for your SaaS product?

We’ve learned it firsthand that initial content marketing decisions can determine the overall product strategy your business will follow. Although they say Google doesn’t pay attention to keywords as much as it used to, keyword research is still the first and the most important thing you should start your content marketing journey with.

Here’s a short story of how we do it at Chanty.

The Chanty team communication app is the SaaS product we are building. When we thought of the keywords for our articles, the first ideas were ‘team communication/collaboration/productivity tool’. We evaluated how popular the word is along with how difficult it would it be to rank for it in Google. It turned out that it’s pretty hard to get to the top of Google with the phrases we had in mind.

We continued our search and finally hit gold.

Google Keyword Planner suggestions

Accidentally we ran into a keyword ‘Slack alternatives’ (Slack is our well-known competitor). Surprisingly, it had quite a low difficulty level along with several hundreds of Google searches per month. What was even better is the super clear intent behind the phrase. We had a chance to directly attract people who are looking for us, the Slack alternative.

Keyword research with intent in mind

Not all keywords are made equal. If you want to end up with content that converts, there are four stages you have to go through while performing keyword research:

1. Make sure the user intent is there

This is where your competitors may come in handy. If you are building a SaaS product, chances are you have a well-known and established rival. Take a closer look at “alternatives” and “vs” keywords that include your rival’s name. People looking for these alternatives are usually not happy with the current solution they are using. It may be too expensive, complicated, some features may be limited, etc. Apart from certain dissatisfaction, however, these prospects may come along with high expectations. This is why if your software solution doesn’t keep the bar at the required level, the game isn’t worth the candle.

2. Check for search volume

How many times do people actually type this keyword into Google? You wouldn’t want to build your content strategy around keywords nobody is searching for. There has to be a demand and you can check it either with Google Keyword Planner or tools like SemRush or Ahrefs.

3. Check for the keyword difficulty (KD)

Finding out the search volume is just half the battle. It may take you forever to rank for super popular keywords where competition is insane. Therefore, go to Ahrefs or SemRush and check the KD for the keywords you’ve chosen. It shows how hard you’d have to work to get your website page shown on the Google Top 10. The “work” mainly includes getting backlinks.

KD gives you an idea of the competition on the first few pages of Google search results. If the first page is packed with websites backed up by millions of backlinks, the KD will be quite high. This would mean you’d better look for another keyword.

SemRush keyword analysis    

4. Choose a battle you can win

It’s important to find a balance between high search volume and low difficulty score. With the right approach and a bit of luck, you’ll end up with a list of high-intent, low-difficulty keywords people are actually searching for on Google. Now, when the keywords are chosen, it’s time to start creating content.

Let Google boost your rankings

Google is following one goal – to show the most relevant results first. Your task is to become as relevant as possible by writing in-depth content that people actually read. But before people visit your page, they’ll have a choice to make between ten other search results they see on the first page of Google. With the strategy I’m revealing, it’s easy to stand out with an appealing title.

Why?

Other websites competing for the “Product X alternatives” keyword are mainly websites like alternativeto.net and getapp.com with no human approach to an issue. Humanize the title by adding ‘our team feedback’, ‘our experience’, ‘we’ve tried’ and you’ll see the click-through-rate (CTR) boost and a serious improvement in rankings. Don’t believe me? Take a look at our CTR – positions correlation for one of our top performing articles: Flock vs Slack:

Our CTR was incredibly high for position #8. Without additional backlinks it led us directly to Google #1.

You need high-quality experience-based articles

Not only a human-friendly title is likely to result in higher CTR. We’ve also noticed people spend more time reading articles based on our own experience. Moreover, they convert better. Therefore, spend time with your team trying out your SaaS rivals before writing an article. It’ll pay back well.

Ready to work on an experience-based article?

You might want to consider some of the proven ideas we’ve tried:

1. Write the pros and cons of your rival’s product alternatives.
2. Get your team to vote for the alternative they like most.
3. Share your team members’ feedback.
4. Make screenshots of the things you like and don’t like while using software and use them in the article.
5. Have a battle with scores when writing a “Product X vs Product Y” post and see who wins.
6. Sort things out – explain which of the products could be considered real competitors and which belong to a different niche.
7. Last, but most important – don’t forget to mention your own product.

The rest goes without saying – the article should be grammatically correct and easy to scan, and written in simple words with no lengthy sentences. Every sentence should deliver value. It’d great if it’s also fun to read.

Hungry for some real examples? You can check our Slack alternatives blog post we’ve written for our very high intent keyword.

But wait, what about conversions?

You’ve detected people looking for your rival’s alternatives. You’ve brought as many of them as possible to visit your insightful article.

Is it time to reap the fruits now?

It’s time for conversion rate optimization. After you’ve done an amazing job at getting people to visit your page, you have no right to miss a single email. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Put your product #1 in your list of alternatives if you haven’t already. You’ll find that very few visitors scroll to the end of the post.
2. Have a call-to-action (CTA) and signup form immediately after a paragraph about your product.
3. Consider a static header popup with a Sign-Up button.
4. Explain that the product trial is free with your Sign Up button (use “Start a free trial”, “Try X for free” etc instead of Sign Up).
5. Check if the exit popup works for your customers. According to one study, you can add 35% of conversions by applying this tactic.

In the end…

According to the stages of inbound marketing, you have to attract, convert and then close. You move your prospects through a funnel where they become visitors, leads and then customers. The great thing about this strategy is you can skip the lead stage. There is no need to spend time creating ebooks, guides, and other lead magnets. People who sign up are actually those ready to give your product a try.

Our Google analytics data for the last week

The strategy I’ve shared is based on the high intent keywords bringing people who are not satisfied with your rivals directly to your website. It works well for Chanty and we hope it’s going to be just as useful for you.

We are looking forward to hearing how it works. Don’t hesitate to share your feedback or ask any questions you have in the comments below.

Guest author: Olga Mykhoparkina is chief marketing officer at Chanty, a simple AI-powered business messenger, and a single notification center. She is responsible for Chanty’s online presence strategy, getting things done to change the way teams communicate and collaborate.

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How to Create Pillar Content Google Will Love

You’re at the bottom of the mountain you’ve been told to climb to the top. You look up at the summit and it seems so far away. You’re not sure how you’re going to get there. A clearly defined path isn’t visible to guide you in the right direction. The whole situation is a bit scary and overwhelming.

But others before you have climbed this mountain. They’ve made it to the summit. And if they can to do it, then you can too.

The top of the mountain – literal or metaphorical – is reached when you focus on each step, not how steep it is. You reverse engineer the climb.

You can do this with your content and climb the mega mountain of Google search. Working backward step by step, you can create a valuable piece of long-form content – and create a map on how to blaze that trail the next time.

Your mountaintop is a resource-driven pillar page, which serves as a library to showcase your top-performing content on a specific topic.

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Climb the mountain of Google search backwards step by step by creating a resource page, says @JustinRChampion.
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And to help you visualize the climb, let’s think about the travails of a dentist’s patient. Put yourself in the dentist’s chair, getting your teeth cleaned. Your dentist informs you that you’re susceptible to gum disease and recommends you take your oral hygiene seriously.

You don’t really know much about gum disease. As you leave the office, you whip out your smartphone and type “gum disease” into Google. The first page of the search engine results looks like:

The second non-ad result is from Colgate. It references gum disease causes, prevention, and treatment. If you’re looking for a comprehensive resource on gum disease, this link might be a good place to start.

You click the link.

Upon arriving at Colgate’s gum disease page, you’re pleasantly surprised by the depth of content. Various sections focus on contextual situations related to gum disease with referral links to continue learning. You can find the content you’re looking for without having to dig for it.

Think of Colgate’s gum disease resource page as the top of the mountain – a pillar of content like the one you aim to create for your brand. Let’s reverse engineer it with this six-step process – and create a path for you to create a resource pillar page of your own.

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1. Determine head term

Identify a head term – an overarching keyword topic with high monthly search volume. This head term serves as the summit of your mountain. It should be broad, usually two words (depending on your industry). For example, “gum disease” would be a great example of a head term for Colgate. It’s broad enough to be explained with context (which I’ll get into in the next section).

To make sure you choose a correct head term to align your ongoing content creation efforts, it should support at least one of your products and/or services and should be a term your buyer persona would use when searching. It’s important that your content supports visitors becoming customers.

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It’s important that your #content supports visitors becoming customers, says @JustinRChampion. #SEO
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Colgate features products related to gum disease at the bottom of its resource page.

To find potential head terms, you can perform research on Google. Use the Keywords Everywhere plug-in to determine monthly search volume.

TIP: Choose a head term with a monthly search volume of at least 2,500 that aligns well with your content marketing strategy. Colgate’s head term – gum disease – has a monthly search volume of 90,500.

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Identify a head term for your pillar content w/ a monthly search volume of at least 2,500. @JustinRChampion
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Identifying the summit first (i.e., the head term) makes it easier to reverse engineer how you’re going to get there.

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2. Identify core topics

Next, you want to select a series of core topics – terms that align with and provide context to your head term. These topics have high monthly search volume but not as high as the broader head term.

Most core topics are usually three to five words (depending on your industry). “Gum disease prevention” would be a great core topic that contextually supports the head term “gum disease.”

Your goal is to rank well on search engines for each core topic. Core topics are the strategic sweet spot for achieving rankings on search engines. Colgate claims the No. 2 position on Google for “gum disease prevention.”

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Core topics are the strategic sweet spot for rankings in search engines, says @JustinRChampion. ‏#SEO
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Research potential core topics on Google. Review Google’s autocomplete and related search suggestions. The Keywords Everywhere plug-in also enables you to view monthly search volume for each suggestion.

TIP: A core topic doesn’t need to include the exact head term. Remember, search engines are much smarter in 2018 and understand synonyms of your head term. Notice how the head term “gum disease” generates a related search suggestion of “periodontal disease stages.”

When performing research on search engines, don’t just focus on monthly search volume. Take the time to analyze the first page of the search engine result listings.

Click the top listings and review each link’s content. Ask yourself: Is this content up to date? What’s the searcher’s intent? How could this content be improved?

If you’re unable to provide new value on a core topic you’re researching, then skip it. The last thing you want to do is create something already being said well.

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If you can’t provide new value to a topic, skip it. Don’t create something already said well. @JustinRChampion
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After reviewing a link, click the back button to return to the search engine results page and look at what “people also search for.”

TIP: Choose core topic terms that have a monthly search volume between 400 and 2,500. Colgate’s core topic “gum disease prevention” has a monthly search volume of 590.

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3. Source subtopic content to form your topic clusters

Determine subtopic content based on your core topic clusters. Subtopic content is the base of the mountain – the content you create on a weekly basis, like blogs, videos, etc.

 

Your core topics should be supported with subtopic content assets. Think of each piece of subtopic content as a step toward your core topic visibility.

You may have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of potential subtopic content assets. The goal should be to fill the core topic section on your resource page with top-performing subtopic content assets – connecting people with the most valuable resources based on what others found helpful.

TIP: Think of potential subtopic content ideas in the form of a question because people usually type search queries in the form of a question. Monthly search volume for a subtopic should be between 10 and 400. Colgate’s subtopic, “how to fight gingivitis,” has a monthly search volume of 320. It expanded the subtopic into a blog post by adding more context, “How to fight gingivitis in three easy steps.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Does Your Content Answer Searchers’ Questions?

4. Increase website authority via inbound links

You’re not the only website competing for attention. You may offer the best content, but if a competitor has a stronger website authority, it likely will rank higher in search than your website. A high website authority indicates the content is more trustworthy and credible by search engines.

One of Colgate’s biggest competitors, Crest, created a comprehensive “gum disease” page. It offers sectioned content with a lot of helpful text, images, and video.

Where do you think this page ranks on Google?

Crest’s “gum disease” page is visible on the ninth page of Google search results.

Why is the Crest page ranked so much lower than Colgate’s? They both have helpful information. They both link to relevant resources. They’re both household names. But Colgate’s inbound links are double that of Crest’s.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 4 Strategies to Earn Natural, High-Quality Links for Your Content

5. Focus on creating your first topic cluster

The first four steps are a lot to take in. The best thing is to focus your time and energy on creating your first cluster of related content that links to a pillar page for a core topic. I don’t want to shortchange this statement: It takes time to create remarkable content.

When creating your first topic cluster, I recommend creating a 10x content pillar page. A 10x content pillar page is a deep dive on a core topic. The format is similar to an ungated e-book or guide with a packaged downloadable resource of the page’s content for people who want to print or save the information.

An efficient way to create the 10x content pillar page is to first create the downloadable resource. If you have one, deconstruct it into a 10x content pillar page.

On my alternative living website, Wild We Wander, I deconstructed our DIY truck camper guide into an ungated 10x content pillar page.

The result? Since creating the 10x content pillar page in February 2017, organic, non-paid traffic from search engines went up 943%.

If you don’t have a guide or e-book, consider reverse engineering one through a series of related blog posts. That’s how I created the DIY truck camper guide over the course of two months – using my website’s blog.

TIP: Ahrefs found the average first page ranking also ranks well for about 1,000 other relevant keywords. Keeping this in mind, make sure to narrow the focus of your topic clusters around one core topic. Remember, if you’re able to get a first page ranking for your core topic, then chances are there will be other rankings Google will reward you with.

6. Keep climbing

Creating content that ranks on the first page of Google results is not an easy feat. But with the right planning and mindset, it’s possible. When things become difficult and roadblocks appear, remember why you’re doing this in the first place – to get to the top. And once you get there, you’ll feel what it’s like to see your hard work pay off.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Google’s Featured Snippets FAQ: How to Get More Traffic From Search Engines

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Build your pillar content with expert insight. Learn from over 100 presenters at Content Marketing World Sept. 4-7. Register today using code BLOG100 to save $100. 

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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50 Attributes of a Great Copywriter

Suppose you’re in the market to hire a great copywriter. Suppose you’re in the market to become a great copywriter.  What are the attributes of success? After spending many decades writing, editing and hiring/managing writers, here are 50 attributes of a great copywriter that stand out to me.

What can you add to the list?

1. Curiosity. Writers are like six–year-olds; they always want to know why. Curiosity is the gateway to clarity. As Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.“

2. Clarity. The difference between a writer and someone who writes is that the former enlightens the reader while the latter confuses the reader.

3. Passion. Further down, I’m putting words like “boring” and “trivial” in quotations because to great copywriters, nothing is boring or trivial if that’s what they’re writing about.

4. Vocabulary. More than just knowing a lot of words, writers must know the nuances of meaning that distinguish, say, notorious from famous.

5. Precision … The devil is in the details of grammar, punctuation and style. From sloppy copywriting, readers infer a sloppy author (i.e., your company).

6. … Without perfectionism. If a writer never says, “Done!” nothing ever gets published.

7.  Diligence. Professionals are expected to work efficiently and meet deadlines. This applies to copywriters and other creative talent.

8.  Ability to multitask. How nice it would be if copywriters could handle one assignment at a time. Unfortunately, in the real world they have to juggle jobs just like everyone else.

9. Focus. To multitask effectively, copywriters need the ability to stay in the moment, focusing entirely on the job at hand. Distractibility diminishes quality.

10. Self-motivation. The manager who motivates a writer to write by screaming, “WRITE!” has yet to be born.

11. Self-editing. Arrogance undermines quality. Great copywriters know when their own ideas stink and treat them accordingly.

12. Versatility of form. Business writing is so much more than articles and web pages; I once described 18 types of odd copywriting jobs. The more of these assignments a writer can handle, the more valuable he or she is to any business or agency or client.

13. Versatility of voice. Some writers master the conversational style; others master the technical or formal (boardroom) style. Those who can move gracefully from one style to another are rare treasures indeed.

14. Versatility of purpose. Some writers are uncomfortable with the concept of a hard sales pitch; other writers are uncomfortable with “boring” assignments. Great writers are uncomfortable with not writing.

15. Consistency of quality. Great copywriters consistently turn in work of high quality, rather than just being great when they feel like it or by chance.

16. Is quick on the uptake. Because of deadlines, copywriters often have to learn on the job and on their own – and quickly.

17. Knows when to stop learning. Being quick on the uptake also means knowing when you know enough to get the job done. Writers who feel the need to know everything before hitting the keyboard never get started.

18. Knows when to ask for help. A writer has two choices: struggle endlessly with a vexing problem or get help from a subject matter expert. The latter option improves speed and accuracy.

19. Knows whom to ask for help. A writer is only as good as the brain trust that surrounds him or her. Choose collaborators wisely. There may be no such thing as a foolish question, but without a doubt, there is such a thing as a foolish answer.

20. Handles criticism professionally. Clients, internal personnel and editors always criticize draft copy. If these people feel they must walk on eggshells when dealing with the writer about edits, morale and productivity suffer mightily.

21. Defends the work. Great writers not only accept and even welcome constructive criticism, they also turn the tables and make a persuasive case for their work. Clients, managers and editors are not always right; an overly compliant writer contributes to mediocre content.

22. Has perspective. On the other hand, great writers don’t make mountains out of molehills. Writers who continually get hung up on small matters of style or approach infuriate coworkers and bosses. 

23. Knows the rules. When it comes to punctuation, grammar and style, writers can’t make it up as they go along. Because both correctness and consistency are important, good writers are familiar with the rules (e.g., AP style) that govern their type of writing.

24. Knows when to violate the rules. Selectively breaking rules is a sophisticated technique for capturing attention. Apple’s “Think Different” campaign succeeded in part by departing from the boring and pedestrian phrase, think differently. 

25. Uses plain English. Knowing a lot of words is good, but using obscure words is bad. As Stephen King said, “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.” This is as true for fiction as it is for business copy.

26. Is a master of brevity. Any writer can spew out 1,000 words on a given topic. A great writer condenses the topic down to 300 powerful ones.

27. Knows how to go long. Brevity in business writing, while generally advantageous, is not always so. Certain types of content, such as landing pages for complex products, demand long copy. Again, any writer can spew out 1,000 words of drivel, but it’s the great writer who can compose 1,000 words of irresistible persuasion.

28. Understands the business world. Writers write well about what they know. Thus, a first-rate copywriter understands the business process, customer behavior and basic business concepts such as features and benefits.

29. Anticipates reader questions and concerns. Because great writers understand the business world, they are able to identify probable reactions from the target audience – and address them in the copy. In addition, this knowledge enables them to discard messaging points that are not pertinent. An ounce of anticipation is worth a pound of verbosity.

30. Recognizes gaps and weaknesses in the information or ideas being presented. Business savvy enables great writers to spot flaws in the case they are being tasked to make; their input can be enormously valuable to a firm’s sales and marketing leadership.

31. Plays nice with designers. Business copy is more than just cranked out text. It is an important component of a brochure, web page, slide presentation or some other form heavily influenced by design. Writers and designers must be flexible and patient when working together to hammer out the finished product.

32. Knows SEO. Copywriters need not be SEO experts, but they do need to know the basics of keywords, anchor text structure and a few other details. SEO comes into play in such things as text, headlines, subheads, Meta titles and Meta descriptions.

33. Muscles through writer’s block. Writing when inspiration is lacking is agonizing – in fact, it’s every writer’s nightmare. Great business writers have the ability to crank it out even when ideas are harder to come by than five-sided snowflakes.

34. Tells stories. Today’s content strategies have circled back to perhaps the oldest technique of all, storytelling. The ability to spin yarns is essential for case studies, landing pages, slide presentations, videos and a multitude of other forms.

35. Is observant. Writing without seeing the details is like playing solitaire with a 49-card deck. You can’t win.

36. Listens. Most great writers I know are better at listening than talking – maybe because writers are often introverts by nature. Listening is crucial to many aspects of business, including content creation, because it is the surest way to understand the needs of a company’s leadership and its customers.

37. Takes notes. Relying on memory alone, a writer forgets or misremembers most of what he or shehears and observes.

38. Thinks logically. Most business writing is aimed at influencing action – influencing prospects to buy, customers to stay, investors to invest, etc. Since business decisions are made in part based on compelling arguments, copywriters must be able to lay them out.

39. Writes with emotion. Because business decisions are also based on feelings, writers must be able to provoke an emotional response in many of their assignments. Warm prospects freeze when exposed to cold writing.

40. Reads enthusiastically. Great writers are great readers. Reading is to writers what exercise is to athletes.

41. Reads widely. Versatile and authoritative writers read all sorts of things – newspapers, novels, history, comics, or even washing instruction labels if nothing else is available.

42. Reads deeply. Great writers enjoy mastering a subject. The combination of depth and breadth of reading facilitates the versatility in form and style mentioned above.

43. Isn’t a desk jockey. Great copywriters aren’t just about reading and writing. Instead, they go out into the real world and talk to employees, customers and even competitors. Without this, they lose their feel – or never acquire it.

44. Borrows well. Creative copywriting is often an exercise in recognizing effective content and adapting it to the job at hand. Great writers are discriminating judges of talent.

45. Borrows professionally. Crediting a source in the form of a mention, a link and/or a formal citation is a necessary element of credible and creditable writing.

46. Has a mentor. Exceptional writers almost always speak highly of a teacher, an editor or a writer who inspired and taught them.

47. Is not blunt. Many writers tell it too much like it is. Great writers control this tendency.

48. Is not temperamental. Many writers have mood swings; perhaps this goes with the creative territory. Great copywriters manage this tendency to prevent it from interfering with their work.  

49. Is imaginative. Although in some business situations, imagination may be seen as a negative, employers should not come down too hard on copywriters who appear to be daydreaming or throw out lots of ideas.

50. Possesses a sense of humor. Sylvia Plath and Edgar Allan Poe were brilliant writers, but neither would be particularly effective or happy writing an infomercial script for miracle meat slicers. A lighthearted spirit helps writers plow through “boring” and “trivial” assignments, connect with readers and work well collaboratively.

Over to You

This is quite a long list, but I feel as though I’ve left things out. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I’ve really captured the essence of a great copywriter in any sense at all. So here are a few questions.

• What can you add to this list?
• Are there items here you would remove?
• What makes you a great writer?
• What do you look for when hiring a writer?

Listen to this as a Podcast

Guest author: Brad Shorr is Director of B2B Marketing for Straight North, an Internet marketing agency headquartered in Chicago. He is an experienced content strategist, respected blogger, and SEO copywriter. Connect with him on Twitter @bradshorr.

Want to learn how to make your blog a success and create great content?

My book – “Blogging the Smart Way – How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media” – will show you how.

It is now available to download. I show you how to create and build a blog that rocks and grow tribes, fans and followers on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It also includes dozens of tips to create contagious content that begs to be shared and tempts people to link to your website and blog.

I also reveal the tactics I used to grow my Twitter followers to over 185,000.

Download and read it now.

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3 Proven Tactics to Come Up With a Profitable Online Course Idea

Imagine…. you wake up tomorrow, open your email, and you see it.

6 hours left!

It’s the third email you’ve received from a blogger you respect and admire – all announcing their newest online course.

You’re tempted to buy.

In fact, you just might.

But, more than that, you can’t help feeling a pang of envy.

Where do they get these great ideas for their courses!!??

And… could you come up with ideas that are just as good?

In this article, I’m going to give you three proven research strategies you can use to come up with an awesome, profitable idea for your course.

1. Look at what’s already generating revenue

Justin Jackson, the founder of MegaMaker and a successful online entrepreneur, offers this advice:

“My biggest tip is to ask: ‘Where am I already being paid for my time and expertise?’”

Are you a consultant or freelancer who gets hired to provide a specific service?

Is there a task for which you’re the “go-to person” at work?

Do friends or neighbors know they can come to you for help about a certain topic?

Those are perfect topics for your online course. You’ve already proven that people have a need and value your expertise and help!

2. The 15 x 10 x 5 formula

If you don’t have an area where people already turn to you for help, that’s okay.

Talking to just 10 people can give you a tremendous number of ideas.

If you have an email list or a small group of followers on social media, that’s an easy place to start.

If you don’t have an audience, you can turn to the people around you: friends, family, and coworkers.

You might even be able to connect with people in one of the online communities in which you hang out (more on that in a moment).

The idea is this:

Set 15-minute conversations with 10 people. Then, ask them 5 questions each.

We call this the 15 x 10 x 5 formula, and it works wonders for generating ideas.

Why?

Because it gets you out of your own head.

You’re not guessing anymore. You’re just listening.

It’s one of the easiest ways to come up with course ideas. You can even use it for offline business ideas or blog topics.

Questions you could use during your conversations:

As you talk to people, if someone says something interesting, dig deeper!

Why did they feel a certain way about something? What happened that made them feel that way?

When you go deep, you’ll get a much better understanding of the true challenges people face – rather than guessing or just accepting their surface-level answers.

Let’s say you’re trying to find out why someone doesn’t like doing a certain task.

Maybe they hate cooking, for example.

They might say something like: “Cooking is intimidating” or “It takes too much time.”

In response, you could say something like this:

“That’s interesting. Could you tell me more about that? What is it about cooking that you find intimidating?”

Those kinds of follow-up questions?

That’s where real insights come from.

Maybe you’ll learn:

• When the person tries new recipes, they always call for a bunch of ingredients and tools they don’t have.
• The person can’t stand washing dishes after cooking.
• They’re afraid they’ll cut themselves with a kitchen knife.

These responses go much deeper.

If all you know about someone’s fear is that they think it’s “hard” or “intimidating,” you’ll never know how to help them.

When you go deep, however, course ideas might pop into your head in bunches.

Maybe you could create a training that included a series of recipes that only used simple, common ingredients.

Or one that features recipes that only required a single pot – and without needing a kitchen knife!

See how that works?

3. Research forums like Reddit

What if you want to find a course idea without bugging anyone?

No problem.

Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of an online research process you can use to identify gaps in the market:

#1. Think of a broad topic

Start by thinking about a general topic.

You don’t have to be super specific. Think productivity, golf, business, entrepreneurship, faith, or something at that level of granularity.

We’ll keep using the example of “cooking.”

#2. Visit Reddit

Any problem worth solving with a course has almost certainly been written about before.

And, you can probably find places online where people are talking about it.

To find them, the first place to search is Reddit, a huge community with thousands of sub-communities known as “subreddits” on almost any topic you could think of.

To find specific subreddits related to your topic, Google “Reddit + your subject.”

For most topics, you’ll find several subreddits about the topic.

#3. Find the valuable information

Some subreddits will be extremely active (such as r/cooking). Others will only have a few posts here and there.

The hard part is finding the valuable information within the communities.

General conversations about cooking aren’t valuable.

But people discussing specific problems they have with cooking?

Those conversations are extremely valuable.

To find the gold, you can search each subreddit using terms that suggest someone is struggling with a problem.

Try the following search terms (include the quotes!):

• “How do you”
• “How can I”
• “I can’t stand”
• “I’m struggling with”
• “Can someone help”

You’ll often find a whole list of problems:

Each of those topics can be a course idea!

Why this research matters

Each of these research methods will take a bit of time and effort.

Which is why most course creators won’t do it; and why most courses fail.

But by putting in this work at the start, you can stop guessing about what kind of course to create.

And start creating a solution you know people need instead.

That knowledge – based on this research strategy – will make the difference between a course that launches to crickets… and one that flies off the shelves.

Guest author: Len Markidan is the CMO of Podia, a platform for creators to sell online courses, membership sites, and digital downloads. He’s created and sold six-figure online courses using strategies like the ones in this article. Get his free 8,000+ word guide to creating profitable online courses, even if you’ve never done it before.

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