My simple test for content

What we do as online publishers is serve readers. Each piece of content serves a purpose. My content does one or both of the following: - Inform / educate - Entertain ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- Conduit Method V.2 (brand new) It closes in 1 day. Niche site affiliate marketing at its finest. => [Click here to learn more]()​ ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- If your content does inform, educate and/or entertain successfully, it's worth publishing. Generally, it's not a terribly high bar. It's also true both content objectives fall on a spectrum. Some content provides some info (mediocre article). Some provides loads of info (excellent article). Some content makes us chuckle (somewhat entertaining). Some makes us laugh out loud (very entertaining). It's a balancing act Info content is a balancing act. You can cram so much information in an article it becomes too much. Readers can't readily find what they're looking for. That's why we do our best to split topics up into series of articles. It's part art; part science. We make our best guess as to how to go about it. I'm still guessing half the time hoping for the best. I use a simple test to help guide all my content decisions. That test is putting myself into the readers' shoes. I imagine it's me searching the keyword. What would I want to read on the page? That's what I strive to publish. It does get watered down outsourcing though. That's the price I pay for scaling. I mitigate this by hiring/using good writers who I can trust. It's the same concept whether you're publishing "how-to articles, "listicles" or blatant affiliate articles such as reviews and product roundups. There's nothing wrong with publishing reviews. Google has no problem with them either as long as they're done right. Doing them right is a lot of work. Can be expensive too if you buy the products you're reviewing. The plus side is one high-ranking review can earn a lot of money. Applying my simple test of putting myself in the readers' shoes makes writing reviews easy. I write what I would want to read. What I don't want is a superficial rewrite of the merchant's page. Features and specifications need not apply. Instead, when I read reviews I want to see that the writer used the product and provides insights about it not found elsewhere. You no doubt have read both helpful and useless reviews. I've bought a ton of stuff based on helpful reviews. Arguably, helpful, well-written reviews are some of the most helpful content online. They determine whether people shell out money for something or not. That's mightily impactful. Should you write negative reviews? If you have the product and have legit complaints, yes. I have. I will again. They are very helpful. Monetizing negative reviews is easy - you link to the product you do like. Providing context in your reviews is super important (and helpful) For example, for a jeans review, I'd set out my height, weight, age and overall clothing style preference. Some hip 20 year old is probably looking for something different than I am. My review isn't particularly relevant to him. Same with website hosting. If I were just starting with a brand new blog, reviews for $300 per month hosting aren't relevant. The review should make clear that this level of hosting is for high traffic sites. Failing that is not good; people will spend way more than is necessary. Context is key. Context is also a very simple way to create genuine, unique reviews. The way I figured this stuff out is by putting myself in the shoes of readers. I always want to know the context of something. Taking review writing to the next level Here's a challenge for you. Write a review in a way so that it's fun to write. A good starting point is reviewing something you use and like. There's some stuff I buy that I really like. That makes it easy to write about. I daresay fun to write. I avoid the "specifications" and "features" nightmare. Instead, I focus on why I like it. Specifically: - Why I needed/wanted it - What it does for me - How / where / when I use it ​ For example, I enjoyed writing my Mediavine review for the Fatstacks blog. I do very well by Mediavine. It's a great company. Not perfect, but close. I had plenty to say about it. While it might not be the most comprehensive review, it's clear I use MV and that I know what I'm talking about. It's a trustworthy review. ​ Throughout my reviews I pepper in tips / interesting observations about the product. For example, one of my better earning reviews involves a waterproofing product. I did a 5 second video of pouring water onto it under the tap. It successfully repelled the water. I converted the video clip into a GIF and inserted it into the review. It's very effective since the waterproof feature is why many buy it. I prefer GIFs over videos in articles. Most folks don't watch vids. GIFs are hard to miss. Sometimes I don't include "Review" in the title opting for something catchier and different but still making clear it's a review. Does NOT including affiliate links insulate you from a Google review penalty? I don't have the answer to that but my hunch is no. In other words, affiliate links in properly done reviews won't hurt the review or your site. I often link to merchants without affiliate links in info content because they won't earn anyway. But I do use affiliate links in buyer intent content. One often overlooked consideration is to link out to multiple merchants. Google expressly says that failing to do this is the mark of a thin "bridge" page. It's kinda ironic because this results in more affiliate links on a page. It's easy to do, especially with Skimlinks or similar. I can sum up all of the above with "put yourself in your readers' shoes" with whatever you publish. All the above is really the tip of the iceberg with affiliate marketing on niche sites. Learn a whole lot more with The Conduit Method V.2. Version 1, released years ago, was the course that got me onto content sites. It's one of those courses that resonated with me strongly. Still does. If you'd like to incorporate some affiliate content on your sites, Conduit Method is worth a look. => [Get the Conduit Method V.2 here]() (closes in 1 day) Jon Fatstacksblog.com DISCLAIMER: I'm an affiliate for the Conduit Method. One of the first courses I bought. It was the course that helped me earn my first affiliate commission (and many more commissions after that). Great course. I liked it back in the day. I like it today. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ [Unsubscribe]( | [Update your profile]( | 2016 Hill Drive, North Vancouver, British Columbia V7H 2N5