Figure 3.1Applelnsider.com provides news-and ads-about Apple and the products Apple fans like.
The second problem is that while news sources are currently free on the Web, it doesn’t look like things are going to stay this way for long. News Corporation (owners of the Wall Street, Journal and a host of other newspapers) has already said that it plans to start charging users in 2010. Other publishers are waiting for News Corporation to make the first move before they bring in their own subscription models. That will make aggregating news on your topic more difficult. On the other hand, it will also make your site more useful to people who don’t want to pay multiple subscription fees to different news sites. Best of all, once users are accustomed to paying to read quality content on the Web, they’ll be more inclined to pay you for your content, too.
3. OPINION ARTICLES
News articles tell people what’s happening. They’re at their most valuable when the information you’re providing is exclusive or when it’s closely related to the subject of your site. But you can make news articles even more useful by combining them with analysis.
This can make all the difference between having just another web site in your field and owning a successful, important web site in your field. Whenever anyone reads the news, the question they always want answered is, “What does this have to do with me?” That’s true whether they’re watching Fox broadcasters explaining the deficit, a local newscaster reporting on the opening of a new car park, or a sports reporter interviewing a coach. While all of that might be interesting information, viewers want to know whether they’re going to be paying more taxes, spending less time looking for a parking space, or getting a piece of information that will help them win an argument in a sports bar. Tell your users why the news is important and what it means to them, and you’ll be transforming content that everyone has into unique information and demonstrating that your site is the place to come for expert advice.
For example, in October 2009, the Federal Trade Commission wheeled out a bunch of new guidelines governing the use of testimonials and endorsements in advertising. It was horribly complicated stuff, but it was vitally important to anyone who sells anything online. Anyone with a web site that sold products needed to know about the new rules, so it was no surprise that site after site reported the changes. But what I really wanted to know was what the changes meant. What was I allowed to do, and what did I now need to do differently? I contacted my lawyer for advice and, with his permission, shared that advice on my web site. You can read it at www.TwitPWR.com/newftc.
This isn’t just a news article saying that the FTC has brought out new rules. There were thousands of articles saying that. This is a professional opinion explaining what that news means, and it’s one of the most popular pieces of content on my personal blog.
Clearly, you don’t have to ask a professional to explain the news for you—although there’s nothing wrong with doing that and many will agree in return for the free marketing. You can also analyze it yourself, giving you another easy and valuable piece of content.
4. REVIEW ARTICLES
Review articles are among the most popular types of content, not because they’re easy to write—they aren’t—but because they’re very easy to monetize.
Create a site that offers reviews of new computers, for example, and you can be sure that many of your users will be people interested in spending thousands of dollars on a new machine. Next to your review of the new Mac, you’ll be able to place an ad, and if your readers are interested in making a purchase, they’ll be able to click through and spend their cash. Advertisers will be confident enough that it’s going to happen to pay you lots of money to tempt people to buy their products. You’ll find it very easy to get targeted ads, and you’ll find it very easy to convert users into buyers ... provided you can produce good reviews, and that’s the tricky part.
When you’re reviewing iPhone apps or candy bars, it’s not a big deal to spend a few bucks for a solid review. But you won’t be able to spend thousands of dollars every time a new flat screen television comes out or each time Apple launches a new laptop. And companies won’t send you review samples until your site is an important enough player.
Sometimes, your readers won’t expect you to have actually tried the product. If you’re enough of an expert, they’ll come to your site hoping to read detailed analyses based on the product’s specifications. You’ll be able to say what should make the new machine better than the last model and what it should be able to do. But unless you’ve tried it yourself, the review will always be missing something important.
It is certainly possible to make money from a review site based on opinions about new products you haven’t actually been able to try—and people do it—but it always feels wrong. When it comes to writing reviews, it’s best to review things that you’ve actually tested yourself. You’ll limit the number of reviews you can post, but you’ll get much better results, both in terms of your site’s reputation and in terms of click-throughs and sales.
5. LIST POSTS
Most of the content you create will be intended to inform and entertain. Sometimes it’s also worth creating content to bring in traffic. List posts do that by promising content that can be absorbed at a glance rather than read in detail. Whenever users see a post that promises to reveal “12 Ways
