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Can content do it alone?

by theteach
15 replies
I came across a website about India. The site had about 2000 pages of unique content. The site's pr was quite high and there were many inbound links (I'm assuming because he had a lot of content).

It would be safe to assume that this site has a serious amount of traffic.

My question is, as you can see in the thread title,

Can content do it alone?
#content
  • Profile picture of the author JamesPenn
    Originally Posted by theteach View Post

    I came across a website about India. The site had about 2000 pages of unique content. The site's pr was quite high and there were many inbound links (I'm assuming because he had a lot of content).

    It would be safe to assume that this site has a serious amount of traffic.

    My question is, as you can see in the thread title,

    Can content do it alone?
    Probably not completely alone.

    But if you provide interesting content then people will link to you, socially bookmark you and start talking about you.

    I remember John Reese saying once that getting positions in the search engines is like taking part in the lottery... the more tickets (pages) you have, the more chance you have of winning (taking the top spots).
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkH45
    You better believe it...

    Content is what drives the Internet.

    Our job as Internet marketers and/or bloggers is to provide the content people are searching for.

    We then monetize that content through affiliate marketing, cpa offers, paid advertising, adsense, etc. and make money.

    Articles you submit, a YouTube video you create, even a post on Twitter is online content. Without people doing this, the Internet would not exist.

    Everything online is user generated.

    Being able to create a large amount of content focused on a particular subject is what niche marketing is all about.

    Quality, unique content (and lots of it) is the one way you are GUARANTEED high search rankings. (<---- This is true and you hear it from Google all the time)
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Over time, yes. But it does take time... and you have to target a niche where people care about your content.
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    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author The Dotcom Hippie
    I'd say no. Because it's a total hit and miss approach. Like bgmacaw says, "build it and they will come" only works in the movies.

    Depending on what you're doing, it's getting pretty hard to get noticed in a lot of areas now, and even if you are then most of the links you get aren't of the kind you want. For that reason, you probably need to take care of a lot of the link building yourself if you want to rank for the meaningful stuff. It's a myth that Google loves quality content - RELEVANT content and good linkbuilding is what gets you ranking well. While quality means more than it did in the past and Google also cares more about the site any particular page belongs to than it used to, you can still outrank big, quality sites with a a tiny butt ugly blog that nobody actually likes as long as you know what you're doing at all steps in the process (including deciding what it's worth trying to rank for, of course).

    Besides, once people have come to your site it isn't always the greatest content that gets them to click your ads the most, to put it mildly...

    This reminds me that I have to write a thing on The Not So Glorious Truth About How You Actually Make Money With AdSense. Should be fun. Some people won't like it.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by The Dotcom Hippie View Post

      I'd say no. Because it's a total hit and miss approach.
      But can it hit?

      The question isn't whether the average site can succeed without anything more than quality content. It's whether content alone can be enough. And the answer is "yes" - but you have to have enough high-quality content in a niche people give a damn about.

      I don't think this guy did it with JUST content, for example:

      Ian's Shoelace Site - Introduction

      This reminds me that I have to write a thing on The Not So Glorious Truth About How You Actually Make Money With AdSense. Should be fun. Some people won't like it.
      If it's what I think it is, I'll completely agree with you.
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      "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author hotftuna
    The links that good content attracts are the kind of links that boost rankings in the SERP's long term.

    2000 pages of quality content related to one topic would do the trick.
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    HeDir.com ranks #1 for "human edited web directory"


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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Ian's Shoelace Site - Introduction
    Oh great. Thanks Caliban. Now I've officially seen everything and have to stop using the Internet. I'll get you for this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      Oh great. Thanks Caliban. Now I've officially seen everything and have to stop using the Internet. I'll get you for this.
      In that case, here you go:

      The Very Last Page On The Internet
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      Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!

      Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      Thanks Caliban. Now I've officially seen everything and have to stop using the Internet.
      Not quite. I just wrote the site owner an email reminding him that he doesn't seem to have any systems of tying double-upper shoes on his site.
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      "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
    Can content "do what"? exactly?

    It can probably get you some SE traffic if you put enough up, but that doesn't mean much anyway.

    The only content worth caring about has to be more than "unique", it has to presell, inspire, be passed around, inform, educate and get attention.

    In that respect, traffic and sales come hands free, because your content gets talked about, syndicated etc...AND you make sales from it.

    I'm not saying it's easy, but that's the only goal I have when I write for promotional purposes.
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  • Profile picture of the author The Dotcom Hippie
    Damn that guy is killing it in the shoelace tying niche!!!!!§§!"
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  • Profile picture of the author rjrv10
    As Google says... 'Content is King'.. Yes it is the king of every website. Aside from just broad, boring content, Making the content Gold will take you to the highest chair of the kings :p
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    $4 Articles - Professional writer -- Excellent writing with a very good turnaround time
    Get your article in no time!
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