how to build content ?

eukristian · #1 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 01:19 PM

I'm an experienced web designer . I know CSS and XHTML very well and a bit of JavaScript . I made some designs . I know how to make a website . I know how to promote it . But i can't find a theme for a website to produce content for . How do you write your content ?

max · #2 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 02:04 PM

Hey eukristian,

Wecome to the forums! First of all, what topics interest you? That's the first thing you should consider. You literally can make money from almost any theme but where people go wrong is that they choose topics they aren't passionate about so as Lisa says their sites end up being copycats and offer nothing unique at all.

You are actually fortunate because you have the technical skills to build a great looking site but it can't just stop there. Dig deep and write about your passion. Your content should come from you and your interests.

When I first started online I went looking for what I thought were the "hottest" topics (gambling, money making, etc.) but I realized they were so heavily saturated and I wasn't really passionate enough about these topics to keep building pages and pages and pages of content.

Find your niche... roller skating, skin care, home improvement and build a "how to" site. Sites that solve people's problems or tutorial sites go over best because people have a tendancy to bookmark and come back to them over and over again.

Surely you have the solution to someone's problem? Write a site about it with a specific audience in mind. Help sites build credibility and forgive me if I mis-speak Lisa but I think that's why she's been so successful. You target people who want to lose weight with your fitness site and you target webmasters with this one and 2create.

Your content has to come from your passion within. If not, this will feel like a job and you'll be bored to death updating your site.

Seclinix · #3 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 03:11 PM

Your theme should be unique... something that would represent you e.g. pink themes will represent a gurly kind of site etc. Try using macromedia Dreamweaver 8 to make themes from scratch then i think it gets made into an html page so you can reuse it

webdev · #4 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 05:53 PM

Max is right on dot. You gotta do something you enjoy. So, you're good at CSS and XHTML. Why not make a tutorial/guide site on CSS and HTML, helping web designers with issues and offering tips and tricks. You can make stand alone templates with CSS nad XHTML? Why not build small templates and offer them for free on your site to download. Those are good incentives for people to come to your site and stick around. When you do something you remotely passionate about, the content will come to you by itself.

amybiddle · #5 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 06:14 PM

I'm here to chime in with "here here"!!

Aside from and including XHTML, CSS, and technostuff (which is fun), what else do you love?

Chances are pretty good that others feel the same way about the things that you love - even if you think it's obscure.

Search engines are getting SO smart that if you have the right (proportional) selection of related keywords sprinkled from page to page in a regularly updated, keyword rich, theme-based content site, people and search engines can find you.

(Of course, site maps and submissions become important - but I don't know how important overall).

I have noticed, as others have too, I'm sure, that the online marketing gurus are singing a new song these days. And the "old guys" are coming along too. People who used to teach copywriting are now teaching "themed content site". People who used to teach "mini-site and squeeze page" are now teaching "themed content site." People who were teaching pre-launch build up are now teaching "themed content site."

It's eerie.

I've been with SBI for about 4 years. Ken Evoy was talking "themed content site" like Jack and the Bean Stalk. People thought he was odd.

Now he looks like a [[moderately offensive but harmless explative deleted]]genius.

Places to do research to choose your theme: any tool that allows you to research keywords and highly searched topics. Especially if you can contrast the supply (numbers of sites) and the demand (numbers of searches). Goodkeywords.com. Wordtracker.com. Google Zeitgeist. Many others. SBI has a rich and complex set of niche market research tools.

Thanks to the mini sites and link spam sites, a number of those that fill the ranks of the supply are useless and most people won't spend time at them.

If you will choose a theme that you love (so that you can stand to write a bunch of pages about it - more than you might be excited about sometimes) using a scattered bunch of a selection of keywords throughout each page and the site in total, offering LOTS (more than you might be excited about sometimes) of free content that readers will find value in - one day, week, month - you will have a winner.

Short answer - pick an idea that you love. Find out who's looking for it and how they're looking for it, write a lot about it using those words that others are using to search for it - build a bunch of traffic, then make offers that that group will be excited to find out about and buy.

And welcome to this forum!!

lisa · #6 (**permalink**) 04-23-2007, 06:30 PM

Wow...what great responses. You may also want to download http://mycps.sitesell.com Why is it free? Well the author would love for you to buy SBI! but even if you don't, the info in this book about writing content is priceless.

Welcome to the forums by the way!

(moving to Website Development forum since this isn't really about making money)

rocksngold · #7 (**permalink**) 09-10-2007, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amybiddle

I'm here to chime in with "here here"!!

Very inspiring and just the right attitude and spirit for my content.
I'm a Jeweler/Gemologist with 24 years and I will build on the theme of helping people understand how to maintain their jewelry most importantly when and why they need to get preventive care and explore the options available.
I just wanted to say thanks for the post and this great forum.
Roc.
************************************************** *

Aside from and including XHTML, CSS, and technostuff (which is fun), what else do you love?

Chances are pretty good that others feel the same way about the things that you love - even if you think it's obscure.

Search engines are getting SO smart that if you have the right (proportional) selection of related keywords sprinkled from page to page in a regularly updated, keyword rich, theme-based content site, people and search engines can find you.

(Of course, site maps and submissions become important - but I don't know how important overall).

I have noticed, as others have too, I'm sure, that the online marketing gurus are singing a new song these days. And the "old guys" are coming along too. People who used to teach copywriting are now teaching "themed content site". People who used to teach "mini-site and squeeze page" are now teaching "themed content site." People who were teaching pre-launch build up are now teaching "themed content site."

It's eerie.

I've been with SBI for about 4 years. Ken Evoy was talking "themed content site" like Jack and the Bean Stalk. People thought he was odd.

Now he looks like a [[moderately offensive but harmless explative deleted]]genius.

Places to do research to choose your theme: any tool that allows you to research keywords and highly searched topics. Especially if you can contrast the supply (numbers of sites) and the demand (numbers of searches). Goodkeywords.com. Wordtracker.com. Google Zeitgeist. Many others. SBI has a rich and complex set of niche market research tools.

Thanks to the mini sites and link spam sites, a number of those that fill the ranks of the supply are useless and most people won't spend time at them.

If you will choose a theme that you love (so that you can stand to write a bunch of pages about it - more than you might be excited about sometimes) using a scattered bunch of a selection of keywords throughout each page and the site in total, offering LOTS (more than you might be excited about sometimes) of free content that readers will find value in - one day, week, month - you will have a winner.

Short answer - pick an idea that you love. Find out who's looking for it and how they're looking for it, write a lot about it using those words that others are using to search for it - build a bunch of traffic, then make offers that that group will be excited to find out about and buy.

And welcome to this forum!!

max · #8 (**permalink**) 09-10-2007, 08:40 PM

Great advice, rocksngold and such a good point about the trends of copywriters now teaching themed content sites. I was introduced to Ken Evoy years ago and I remember how he kept talking about a trend that would emerge and how his product SBI! was way ahead of its time. He was right and you know what, it's still ahead. Not because other hosts can't help you make money but other hosts don't give you the education you need to succeed.

There was a discussion in another thread about "what's hot" over your passion. I would choose the passion anyday. It makes building your site up a breeze.

Welcome to the forums!

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