This issue of Seotistics won’t simply talk about Analytics. We are going to see why some content websites fail and recommend some practical solutions.
While it may seem unrelated to Analytics, there is a connection between the two!
The 5 Key Problems
Many content projects fail or are never intended to win, based on my personal experience.
You see this very clearly once you do some audits and check many websites in your free time.
The main causes I’ve found are:
- Lack of quality/value proposition: content is easy to replicate and doesn’t bring any distinctive features. The bare minimum is done to rank and it’s mostly a copycat article.
- Weak management: no one has a clue about what’s going on. There are no procedures, deadlines, or clear goals.
- Low budget: you can’t lead a war without weapons. The same goes for SEO, you can’t rank in some niches without spending.
- Slow execution: how much does it take to publish one article? This is what many do wrong… you need to be fast enough if you want to see results.
- Traffic > Money: Before you start any project, think about monetization. If you can’t picture yourself making money, then stop. Too many websites first get traffic and then think about profit!
The main culprits are the lack of quality and low budget.
Ask These Questions First
Ask the right questions first. I usually recommend stopping for a moment and asking the following:
What’ll be the unique value of the website? Why should people read me?
What do I mean by quality content? Can I set some criteria?
What’s my goal? How many people do I need to achieve it?
How much money do I need? Are my competitors spending more?
Can I churn at least X articles per month?
How is this supposed to make money?
Do I need other marketing channels? (Spoiler: you do)
As you notice, projects can fail because you didn’t ask the right questions…
It may look like an exaggeration but think about it for a second… how many disasters would have been prevented with the right questions?
What About Monitoring?
his is another Achilles’ Heel for many owners and SEOs. I can tell you right away what you should NOT monitor:
Visibility (useless metric)
DA/DR (easy to game and Google doesn’t care)
Impressions (only as a leading indicator, not as your goal)
Bounce Rate (pointless)