Constant-Content isn’t just a place to buy stock content that will fill up the vacuum of space created by building or expanding your site.  It is a sophisticated marketplace providing the most comprehensive vehicle for developing and maintaining the meat for your online sandwich.  Even though the mechanisms for using the site are fairly straight forward there are some tricks to get more bang for your buck on the site.

First off, make sure that you know what you want.  Even if you simply want to browse the isles and catalogs of existing articles on our site, it is important to have a conceptual map of how you want your content to look, both as site map and as a topical map.  Thoroughly building out sets of questions you think your customers are asking is integral to the successful implementation of any content you’ll purchase on our site.  It will help you understand your company’s place in your economic space.

Once you have this plan mapped out, then you can move on to figuring out the best course of action to acquire the appropriate content.  There are three basic routes to this end.

- Buy content from the catalog of existing content
- Send out a Public Request to the whole writer community
- Submit a Private Request to a specific author

There are benefits and drawbacks to each option.

Buying existing content can open you to other topics in your area that you hadn’t considered yet.  It also means that you get the content and publish it immediately.  It can also help you determine which writers have the style and expertise that you want for your site.  You can determine which license rights you want and even submit offers to articles that are open to bidding.

Public Requests are a great way to get familiar with the site and how it works.  The request is released to the entire community and authors interested in the topics write and submit articles directly to your account.  You will be able to easily view each submitted article from your request page, and peruse the various options before deciding which one most closely fits your needs.  This is a great option for buyers that want a variety of voices on their site or want multiple articles on the same topic.  Remember you don’t pay for anything until you find exactly what you want!

Private Requests are the most customized and controllable form of content creation.  This allows the buyer to pick the best writer or writers for the job they need completed, and have them privately work on the content.  Using the Private Request feature gives customers the chance to develop a relationship with specific writers leading to greater efficiency in turn around time and greater end result accuracy.  Projects with longer timelines and more complex topics are perfect for this type of request framework.  Recurring blog posts, updated new articles and topical series can be managed effectively by picking a couple of our expert writers to work long term with your company.

For any clarification about any of the content options on Constant-Content please make sure to contact Support.  We are here to help make sure that your project best ensures long term success for your online business.

Constant Content has a database of hundreds of thousands of articles on popular and niche topics. Searching for articles on the website usually garners results, but what if you don’t see an article that meets your requirements for a  project? Constant Content’s writers are waiting to write customized articles for you – you just have to tell them what you need!

The basic process is simple: you send in a request; writers create articles for your request; submissions are assessed for quality and originality by editing staff; you comb through the submissions that automatically appear in your inbox to arrive at a final purchase decision.  By tailoring your request carefully, you can make the process even easier. Consider the advice that follows the next time you send in a request for content.

The first question writers who are interested in a particular request ask is, “What does this customer want?” Their goal is to write articles that meet your needs, but they can’t do that unless they know what your needs are. Remember that writers are information-oriented people. The more information you offer about your desires and expectations, the fewer questions they will have about what they should be writing and from what perspective. You will see more articles that are customized to your given criteria, increasing your options and reducing the number of irrelevant submissions that appear in your inbox.

To achieve this, what information should you include in a request for content?
- Consider your topic, but consider subtopics, too. Are there particular aspects of your topic that you are interested in?
- Tell the writer about your audience – to whom will they be directing the information?
- Share what you are trying to accomplish – do you want to sell a product, supplement existing content, include the article in a weekly newsletter, or something else?

Be sure to have an idea about the desired length of the article and communicate it in your request. This helps writers determine how much detail they should provide about the subject.

As an example, let’s say you are looking for articles about dogs. That’s a pretty big topic. Narrow the scope of the request to particular subtopics you are interested in (dog health, dog grooming, dog training, puppy care, dog products?). Consider the tone you would like authors  to take. Do you want lighthearted weird-but-true fact articles for your website about funny pet antics? Or do you need more formal articles that use authoritative sources for an animal health advice website? What is the purpose of the article? Will it be included in a newsletter or do you want to help boost your site’s attractiveness to search engines? How long do you want the article to be? Do you want short, snappy writing to accompany dog product descriptions or articles that will encourage your readers to click through multi-page articles?

By taking a few more minutes to customize your request, you can boost your chances of receiving articles that more accurately fit your specifications.

If you need assistance tailoring your request, we can help you ask important questions related to your project that will enable you to include more detailed information to writers.

ED ‘the great and terrible’ ITOR

DO Spread yourself thin & Successful!

We often expound here at Constant-Content on the pragmatic value of Content to your site’s search engine ranking.  But there is another way that content can be used to increase the value of your site.

One of the most important indicators of the success of a website is the presence that the site has in other corners of the web, not just the position that it sits in the search engines results pages.  When consumers are searching for information on a particular subject they often turn to blogs and advice sites to start their info-gathering process.  When we see names on these respected blogs, advice or news sites, we begin to develop a sense of the experts and trusted names in the particular field.  This presents a particularly unique opportunity to develop a non-commercial version of your business message.

The first step to successful message placement is to build a list of topics that you would like to be seen as an expert on.  As yourself what solutions you are providing to the consumer, then try to imagine the tentacles that radiate out from there.  By developing a good list of top level topics and lower level topics that you feel would appeal to your clients, you can build a set of articles that cultivate your ‘expert’ status.

Once you’ve done this, you now need to have the articles written.  It is important to remember that unlike articles on your site, these articles need more expertise language than sales message.  Avoid making these articles too direct in their underlying call to action.  Authors should stick to generating solid, well researched information and you will be ready to begin placing these articles in front of your potential clients.

The next thing to do is to find the best places you can post these articles.  Look for busy blogs in your space, advice columns, or even a wikipedia page if there isn’t a lot of other stuff already out there.  Send out lots of emails asking if you could publish one or two posts, and all you ask is that you get a byline at the bottom of the page.  Most sites are looking for more and more content every day, so you should find a good reception for these inquiries.

Good luck and remember, expertise is something that people depend on to make good decisions on the internet.  Use content to position yourself as an expert in your field.

Following the closure of the caffeine testing sandbox, we are now seeing the staged Google’s roll out of its new search algorithm.  As opposed to some of the past iterations, search results had to deal with the delay between the versions of pages indexed by the Search Engines, and then page viewed by the user.  Often, this lag time could be as much as 30 days, but Google is suggesting now that time could be cut in half (though tests have shown almost instantaneous updating for new content on existing sites), allowing for greater accuracy to your most current search result.

In the wake of the Sept 11 2001 terrorist attacks, Google realized that updates to websites needed to be searchable in real time.  This realization led to Google News being introduced. Over the last ten years, during a time when lightening fast information metabolisms were being spurred on by vast arrays of blogs, news sites and social media, an algorithm that could process and repeat visit sites faster and more efficiently, keeping up with the search parameters for continuously changing content production, has been the end goal for Google’s search engine.

Since June 2010, Google has been resolving to release Caffeine, a new algorithm to support its back end search capabilities.  Obviously the full nature of the systems parameters in unknown and we will have to wait and see how it all shakes out, but the consensus from SEO professional is clear, web business operators are going to have to be more agile with their rate of content production.  Sites that have consistently updated content pages will indubitably rank better and have more visibility as Google trends towards ranking pages for visitation based on a history of dynamism with their content.

Constant-Content has the ability to keep your site competitive in this changing landscape.  GIve support an email to discuss ongoing content projects or blogging services.

There is debate about whether this effects your Search Rankings, but there does seem to be some compelling evidence that google and other search engines use bounce rates to define the quality of your site.  This is because a high bounce rate indicates that customers aren’t finding useful information on your site, or are confused with how the site is set up, making it difficult to navigate.  Consumer experience is a huge component of how Google determines the way it weights its algorithms, we talked about making your site more navigable and relevant in a previous post, but an important part of reducing your bounce rate is to make sure you are using content effectively.

Its important to not only have quality, well written new content on your site, but it is essential that the content on your site is relevant to your visitors.  To do this try to develop a content plan based on what reasons consumers visit your site, and then build your content around these needs.  This will increase not only the interest each page sparks in the visitor but also will increase the value of the content you surround each page with, making it more likely for them to move from one page to the next.  Keeping this content dynamic and fresh will keep them coming back for more.  Always, always link the most relevant pages to each other, so that if you have an article on Dog Grooming, make sure that great article you wrote on The Best Food for Your Dog’s Coat is linked at the bottom.  This will drive people forward, letting them enjoyably meander about your site.

Another good trick is to use clear and concise calls to action.  Encourage your visitors to check out the next page, or another relevant page, by admonishing them to do so.  Use words like, “Click here for more info” or “See related topics” to help direct your clients to other pages.

Keep an eye on bounce rates so that any changes you make to your site can be measured, evaluated and then acted upon.  You can use Google analytics to more easily keep tabs on this metric.  Remember to keep your content fresh and your site well organized you will see the results in sales and visitors staying longer and doing more things that result in revenue for your business.

Well this logic seems to be as dead as keyword stuffing.  While one obviously doesn’t want to suggest that tons of unrelated outgoing pages from good primary pages is a sound business strategy, good related content can really help increase the aggregate value of a group of pages.

Matt Cutts, Google’s lead Spam Cop, talked to SEOMoz’s Rand Fishkin, about a wide range of SEO related topics.  His explanation of how the pagerank juice is dispersed amongst its outgoing pages blows up conventional ideas about how the process works.  He asserts that google uses a more cyclical analysis of page’s relate to each other.  Each time the google bot circles the linked pages, they go through multiple iterations of the relationship between each page spreading the pagerank out more based on the value of the page and not just the value of page it is linking from.  The more useful information you link together the better they transmit pagerank from page to page.

This is further evidence that building pages of related content, either through a series addressing a particular topic in its various permutations, or just sticking to a subject and really tackling all its various sides, will only help the total value of your site.  Creating a circle of good content will also help build goodwill amongst your users, encouraging both more time on your site as well as more chances to have your content linked to.

As the last year has rounded out, statistics are now out, and the evidence is clear: if you aren’t spending money on your website and online marketing campaign you are letting your competitors take advantage of double digit growth opportunities found in the online sphere.  In the first quarter of 2010 the average spending by small businesses on their online visibility was $2200, up over Q4 of 2009, and 111% up over Q4 2008.  This means that if you aren’t planning on spending 10k this year on buying content, optimizing your website, link building or brand placement, you are falling behind the trending of the economic sphere you need to be most competitive in right now.  With online marketing experiencing the highest growth of any other marketing spheres, small businesses should be seriously considering moving away from traditional advertising methods and into the future.

Not only are we seeing growth in online media, but we are also seeing its efficacy grow at unprecedented rates. Consumers on websites who are complying with calls to action has also grown almost 10% since 2008.  This indicates that not only are potential customers becoming more and more savvy about how to use the internet, they are also becoming more receptive to media messages presented through their computer screens.

Traditional advertising is limited by cost and penetration, yielding only a broad and expensive reach, while web marketing has endless mediation possibilities, is extremely agile and can be tweaked, squeezed or reshaped to fit the needs of your clients.  It is important to spend during a recession so make sure that you are spending your money where you can maximize your potential, and where your competitors are already developing their own inroads.

Next you’ll be looking for signs of creativity. You know, basic signs of Life – something in their portfolio that tells you, hey, this writer has original ideas and isn’t just spinning dead copy over and over again. A good way to scout creativity is to read the headlines and calls-to-action in their portfolio work. Headlines are where copywriters usually get to wax the most bold and creative with their words. Calls-to-action show how well they can write in a tight space. Read them carefully. Does their copy jump off the page? Can they be original without sounding clumsy, awkward, or forced? Can they make you want to read more? And can they do it with brevity? You want your copywriter to have wit AND the killer instinct. It’s a fine line. Make them walk it. When you’re going through their portfolio, check for a wide array of creative proof including landing pages, banners, splash and squeeze pages, long and short product copy – you know, The Works.

Results come next. You have to know their writing can prove itself through arithmetic. It’s not like with other writers. You have to see more than just creativity, spelling, grammar, style and flow. Copywriters have to be able to pump the numbers. So ask for them to share click-through and open rates on some of their creative. Look for consistent above-average performance in those numbers, but also the ability to generate an occasional blockbuster creative. If they have examples of lots of click-throughs around 3%-5%, that’s pretty damn sharp. And if they can produce the odd email subject line with a colossal 75% open rate, that’s even better and means they’ve got the potential to write with dynamite.

What is it!

All of us know what a link is, even those of us who have been cryogenically frozen and held in suspended animation since the rotary telephone was a seriously inventive addition to the continuum of human technological innovation…well maybe not you, but everyone else who does not fall into this category, knows that a link, from your favorite news site, is usually going to be an interesting story. Thus Google increases the value for each page based on a sum of the existing page values that links to it. This is called external back-linking, and is one of the more powerful components of Google’s ranking algorithm.

That being said, this model of linking can be laborious and time consuming and inevitably is built over time with good content, quality site design, increasing visibility and user community.  So before you throw your hands in the air, settling into the long trek to online success, there is another key technique that you need to do to help develop a site positioned for success: internal editorial linking.

Internal Linking is basically just as it sounds, linking your website’s different pages together, not haphazardly, but in a coherent manageable manner. This improves usability of your site, and though it is not as important for your overall score as external back links, it is incredibly important for long term success.

Why do it!

There are a number of discrete and different reasons to care about your internal linking strategy. Happy users are a big part of the reason. If I am reading an article on your blog about how to pick a pet from the SPCA and you had recently written an article on SPCA detachments with ‘No Animal Kill Policies’ then that would be a great link to slip in there. It is likely that if I am interested in one of those articles then I am interested in the other. This makes the site more useful and easily negotiable. Happy users stay on pages longer and follow your suggested directions, which can make the site a better conduit for whatever end-use actions you want your visitors to engage in.

How to do it!

To maximize your internal links its important to follow a list of techniques to make the task more defined.

- Utilize Sitemaps to create a simple architecture for you site, that users will find easy to navigate and will also make it easier for search engines to browse your pages.

- Never underestimate the value of a good FAQ section. It will give you a chance to reiterate other pieces of information found throughout the site as well as a good reason to link back to the pages that source the information. Create truncated answers and then link back for the rest of the answer. This will reinforce particular search terms increase their visibility to the search engines.

- Use a “Most Popular Posts/Articles” bar that lets you list some of the best content on your site in a convenient location. This will help drive traffic where you want as well as increase the internal strength of your site.

- Pick a good topic that you are interested in and instead of blasting out some somber of voluminous tome, break it up, write a series. Over time build a number of posts on the same topic and then link from each one to the next.

There are plenty of other ways to tweak and develop your internal linking structure, be creative. Remember that if you manage to create a site that is easy to negotiate and works to intuitively build information hubs, then other people will be more likely to link to your site, more likely stay for longer periods on your site, and thus the search engines will give you more and more credit for the work that you have put into your site.

Make sure to ask us about standing requests for blog content or use our writers to build topical articles for a series on your site.

Thankfully, I do not have to worry about the infamous writers block as much as I used to since I’ve become a regular customer of Constant Content.

Let me tell you about who I am. I’m a partner of an internet start-up called “Chit Chat” it’s popularly called a Facebook Messenger Download although if like me you’re not well versed in teen internet short hand you’ll be pleased to discover it’s basically an instant messenger application that enables users to connect to Facebook Chat from their desktop, much like a traditional instant messenger except it interacts with Facebook.

Now, like many internet website owners, I require articles – content in order to bring traffic into my Facebook related website, however I’m simply not in the position to employ a full time writer – quite simply, it’s not financially viable.

Constant Content enables me to purchase unique articles from a variety of writers – each of whom has different writing styles. I use the articles from Constant Content in three main ways – link building, promoting my product and to add interesting Facebook articles to my website.

If you, like me own an internet website that you require content for – you should consider outsourcing at least some of your article writing to Constant Content.

Outsourcing article writing to Constant Content has enabled me to dissolve myself from a significant proportion of article writing and to focus my efforts to other aspects of my business that needs my attention. What I particularly like about Constant Content is that I can pre-screen articles prior to purchasing, meaning that I can obtain well written quality articles at an affordable price.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that article outsourcing has always been easy. Initially I tried outsourcing article writing on Elance, Rentacoder and Getafreelancer but the quality of the articles that I obtained were generally poorly written, of little value and quite frankly a waste of my time and money.

With Constant Content, I can browse or search the site, find an article that I think is ideal (in terms of affordability and content) and then purchase it. On occasion Constant Content doesn’t offer anything that is ideal for me to purchase – in which case I can simply post a request. As a result of posting requests I’ve had many articles written for me to choose from just a few days later.

So, let me recap – why use Constant Content?

Quality – Constant Content provides well written articles that you can add to your website for your readers or target market.

Affordable – You don’t need to employ a writer, you simply purchase the articles that you desire.

Focus – Outsourcing article writing will enable you to focus on the aspects of the business that needs your attention.

Pre-Screen – You know what you’re buying with Constant Content because you can pre-screen the articles that have been written prior to payment.