This is part of my 30 Days To More Traffic Video Series
Introduction
To say that quality content receives more traffic is an understatement. The truth is that quality content generates way more traffic. Some of my best blog posts have received a thousand times the amount of traffic as my average ones.
Here is why quality content gets so much more traffic.
1. Quality Is Rare
Believe it or not quality is rare. For every fantastic blog post you may read there are a hundred average ones published. It may not seem like it because you never hear about those average ones. In fact no one hears about them and they receive little or no traffic.
Even though there are millions of blogs out there I only visit 10 on a regular basis. I visit only the ones that consistently provide quality in the areas I am interested.
People have a tendency to find blogs that have high quality content and ignore everything else.
2. People will bookmark and retweet your stuff
Quality content is bookmarked by others and tweeted about on Twitter. It is submitted to Digg & StumbleUpon. All of these things generate massive amounts of traffic.
But the real magic is that quality content turns readers into people into spreaders. If I come across a great blog post I will often Stumble it and tweet a link to it. This results in more readers which in turn means more people are spreading the word.
It is this snowball effect, sometimes called ‘going viral’, that creates large amounts of traffic.
A few weeks ago I wrote a high-quality post called “How To Build Back Links Super Fast” and I submitted it to StumbleUpon. I was absolutely amazed at the amount of traffic the post received from StumbleUpon. It received 3 times as much traffic as any other post I had written.
If your content is average or mediocre none of this will happen.
3. People will subscribe to your RSS
Consistent quality can help you build up your RSS readership. And the more traffic you get the faster your RSS readership will grow.
Looking at the readership of Problogger we can see that there are well over 120,000 readers!
This readership rivals many newspapers in the United States. But unlike many newspapers Problogger has only been around a few years. This was accomplished with quality content.
And every time a new post appears over 120,000 people are notified. This results in tons of traffic!
4. Quality Means More Page Views & More Money
The average person will visit many more pages on a blog with quality content. And they will be more likely to revisit it later.
If you make money off of Google AdSense or other advertising then more page views means more money in your pocket.
In my experience quality content can generate 10 to 20 times as many page views.
5. Product Recommendations Have Credibility
Many people try to make money on the Internet by promoting different products. Some have gone as far as to actually buy the product and write a review of it.
But all of these people have trouble with credibility. How is someone going to trust what you have to say?
If you have a blog with quality content then you’ve already built a relationship of trust with your readers. If readers are impressed by what you give away for free then they are more likely to trust you and purchase recommended products.
This means more money in your pocket.
6. Building An Email List Is Easy
I believe the best way to build long-term traffic is to create an email newsletter that you send out periodically to your subscribers. Inside of each newsletter are links to different blog posts on your website.
But how do you get people to give you their email address and join your newsletter?
If you have a lot of quality content then this is easy.
Simply take some of your best work and create a short PDF that solves a common problem your readers have. 3-10 pages is all you need. The PDF should have a good title that promises the reader to solve a problem they have.
And anyone can get a free copy of the PDF when they join your email newsletter.
If you have quality content then your readers will trust you with their email address and join your newsletter.
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Nick,
You are so right in your assessment that very few blogs or websites include GOOD content. Good content doesn't have to be hard to produce, PLR that is rewritten and updated with the new webmasters slant and personality can be a good jumpstart for content especially while getting your feet wet writing.
Scott Thrall
I agree that good content is critical. In my experience PLR seldom has the quality I am looking for.
I agree with you for what I look for in the different blogs I visit is the quality of the content. If it interests me I make it a point to visit that site again to check for more.
Exactly. But most sites are boring and people never come back to them.
"Even though there are millions of blogs out there I only visit 10 on a regular basis. I visit only the ones that consistently provide quality in the areas I am interested."
Guess why we are all here – Here goes a big THANKS for the great information you provide for free!
Nick i totaly agree with you 100% on this. For newbies this should be a good lesson
.-= The Arka Teks Lyrics's last blog ..The Arka Teks Lyrics =-.
I agree, quality is very rare, some people just make autoblogs and expect for people to enjoy what they are posting. I understand the business model behind autoblogs, but really can't people write a few articles of their own. Google seems to be cracking down on the autoblog industry lately so I think more and more people will be looking to add unique content to their sites.
Instant Business Cre recently posted..Corporate Business Credit Cards And Small Business Credit Cards Compared
The auto blogging industry is not sustainable. Pretty soon everybody will have an auto blog and there will be fierce competition. But the trouble is they won't get RSS readers.
Content is key and without it you have nothing. If only more people would realize this.
Hi Nick,
I spend a fair amount of time looking over my posts for quality and try to offer the best information I can. When I was new to this on a previous blog I never really got the point. It's so important to offer quality and value.
Good point regarding item 6 too. My email lists have a series of newsletters, blog pillar posts and offers from affiliates. I try to strike a balance between help and offers and it seems to work.
Thanks Nick!
Daniel Sumner recently posted..Have you got a Virus – 5 Viral Marketing Techniques
Yup, it's all about balance.
Quality content is very important, but it isn't enough by itself. I believe that I put out some quality posts but I get very little traffic — maybe part of that is that I don't post often enough.
I've tried Twitter. Over 1000 "followers" and still rarely a hit from Twitter. Never RT's or anything like that. I've tried Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious. StumbleUpon gives me the odd batch of hits, but no thumbs up and the bounce rate hovers slightly above 100% (hyperbole is fun 8=).
I've done okay on HubPages. Still not much traffic coming back though except for one article. I'm just getting started with Squidoo so I can't comment much on that but it doesn't look too promising so far.
I'm slowly getting into the article directories too. At least that form of backlinking is something that I enjoy — writing.
Blog commenting gets the odd hit (probably from the blogger).
But all the backlinking techniques take away from the time I'd rather spend writing and site design.
All in all, great content is nothing without traffic. And getting traffic is hard if you want to do it legitimately and honestly.
LoneWolf recently posted..You Deserve Spam
Very true. It's hard to find the right balance and something I still struggle with. Sometimes you just need to do something a little controversial or something that gets you noticed.
Hi Nick,
I believe this post is right on. If you're not a decent writer than you should outsource this. Good content writers are hard to find especially at the price that is affordable. Let me know the content writers that you use.
Spencer
Thanks Spencer. I haven't outsourced anything for a long time; I pretty much write all my own stuff. To be honest writing is hard and not a skill that comes easily to me but I have decided to make a conscious effort to develop my writing muscle.
Nick,
Speaking for myself and probably 99% of your
readers, quality is the reason we are here.
Thanks Nick.
Mel Bernstein
P.S. Makes you wonder about the other 1%.
Maybe the 1% is here for the free backlinks ?
Quality content is certainly difficult to find online. Even on EzineArticles.com a lot of the articles there leave a lot to be desired. It's all very well being able to create an article within a half hour, but a rushed article doesn't always produce quality.
You're right, though, quality content will have your readers coming back for more.
Bob
Great points. My best blog posts have received 100 times as much traffic as the average ones.
Hello Nick.. I would like to know how to make good money with adsense ? Just putting up a website and adding google code will display ads on your website but are those ads going to pay me high? How to find high paying ads ? I just found some tools but finally am confused…I would be glad if you make a video on how to find high paying ads for a particular niche..
eg: If the niche is about HEALTH, will just signing up with google adsense is worth to start making money? Should I not display high paying ads on my site? I should…
If you want to make money with AdSense any need to find the right combination of profitable keywords that get a lot of searches and have low competition. I cover how to do this in my keyword research videos: http://nickstraffictricks.com/4597_keyword-resear…
Yeah keyword researching is definitely most important part of making money with adsense or affiliate marketing.
Vicevi o Plavusama recently posted..Kontakt
I couldn't agree more. What I don't get is that there are many promising blog posts that offer 3, 4 or even 5 tips, methods, myths, etc. but with a little more effort, the article could have been truly comprehensive had they taken the time to truly exhaust the subject. These articles usually set out the low-hanging-fruit items commonly found everywhere.
The fact is, it doesn't take too much extra effort to turn an okay article into something excellent and like you say (and I agree with you), an excellent article will have a much bigger ROI than a mediocre article.
Also, I find that many blogs that were once excellent, and that now accept many guest posts are not as good because the guest posts aren't all that great. In my view, accepting guest posts is okay as long as the quality standards are met. If you lose a reader, they're likely gone forever.
I agree and that's part of why I don't encourage a lot of guest posting on my blog.
I think you are overestimating regular bloggers ability by quite a great margin. It requires skill and dedication to write something of great quality. If it didn't "take too much extra effort" then anyone would be an awesome writer and have A grade in English class, but you don't see that happening do you?
Though I do agree that the vast majority of blogs out there are mediocre at best. However, we should not forget that many blogs are created by normal people as a hobby and not for monetary purpose.
Coming back to topic I agree with Nick Reasons completely I just don't think that any average Joe that has a blog can pull it off.
Thank you for your feedback.
While I agree that most bloggers are not fantastic writers I think you underestimate how much someone can improve their writing if they work at it.
I am not a fantastic writer and did not always do well in English class in school but my writing has vastly improved as I have been writing for this blog.
Nick, to your last comment, I would have to strongly agree.
If someone wants to become a proficient and effective blogger they are going to have to learn their craft and through doing, they will get better over time.
To me, the reason many hobbyists are not necessarily effective bloggers is that they aren't trying to be.
But when you are actually trying to make content that can help you build a business to pay your bills, the motivation and approach can be very different.
Its also a commitment to doing it properly and putting in the time.
For much of the stuff out there that shows you how to spin junk and try to make it smell good its a pay me now or pay me later type of approach that many people will only learn the hard way.
Thanks Taylor!
I think you are spot-on with your assessments. Quality content is very rare. People are generally lazy. Just look at how popular "spinner" software is. I think serious internet marketers should take a long look at the "Panda" update. It directly addresses on-site factors, not backinks (not directly anyway). I believe you will see the importance of quality on-site content be increased in their ranking algo's now and going forward.
Travis recently posted..Imagine Intelligent Advertising at Your Fingertips
Thank you Travis.
With high quality content, you can not only generate traffic but also inform your site visitors about what it is that you can do for them, also content will also reflect positively on your company as a whole. This is because a website that has high quality content is viewed as capable, professional and useful by potential customers, making it easier for them to trust and respect you. Without good quality of content, your website is almost certain to fail on the internet. That’s why I will be careful from choosing the best article writer.
Tucson architects recently posted..The Perfect Example
What you are saying is true provided you are posting in a site with high traffic; otherwise, despite having great content, one has to resort to extensive SEO techniques to be discovered on the web. Then traffic would follow of course, if the content is appealing.
I totally agree with the points you raised and I’m very much inspired to write quality contents to make my website drive more traffic and of course, meet my business goals sooner.
Post like this is really helpful! I am just starting my internet business and your article helps me in defining the marketing strategy that I will implement.
{ 1 trackback }