Why You Should Focus On Content Not Data - Advice For Beginners
Have you got your focus wrong?
There have been a lot of new members recently worrying about data. People want to know why they've only had 10 visitors to their site - when the site has only been in place two weeks or they're worrying that the 'perfect' article they've written hasn't appeared on the first page of Google. And so it goes on and on - data, data, data!
Focus on content
I'm not being unkind really I'm not. We all want traffic to our websites and we all want people to click on our affiliate links, buy our e-books or sign up for our services. But data shouldn't be your first focus. Time and time again you will hear people saying that it's content that you need to focus on. Time and time again I see people ignoring that advice.
Anyway the other day I remembered that Kyle had written an excellent blog last year about data and if you haven't seen it please read it now. "Why I Don't Care Much About Data" Naturally he knows a lot more about this stuff than I do!
He kindly gave me permission to take his article and turn it into a infographic - Thanks Kyle!
You can get the full-sized infographic here
Recent Comments
74
Yup, lovely infographic again BIS, and absolutely spot on.
I am super guilty of this. I check all my Amazon affiliate programmes twice a day even though I know that it changes just ONCE every 24 hours. I check my google analytics several times a day too, though I am getting better. I also check my KW rankings every couple of weeks. The general move up has been encouraging which has led to increased content creation.
It comes down to this .....
If you are not making and posting content then you are wasting your time. No amount of stat checking will help you if you don't have the content up there. I say that in an effort to get the point across to others but mostly to myself. I have to keep telling myself its all about the content and I can never read things like this too much. So long as it doesn't distract from making content of course :)
Oh Josh - your reply made me laugh. Actually I am the opposite to you about google analytics and stuff - I never look. But I'm not being superior - in different contexts I've equally spent my time obsessing about number that really didn't matter. Thanks for commenting.
Beverley
It's easy to get caught up in watching the numbers. How much time have we wasted doing this? Great reminder to spend that time wisely, especially for those of us who are also working. Thanks again.
I haven't really looked at analytics or searched my keywords since I started my site. I know it will get there. I think the last I searched was to check if it was indexed and found a G+ of my post
Alright, so I have a question about content. For the website my wife and I are doing, there are a 5 or so categories and a few different products in each category. The site won't feel necessarily "complete" (not finished, mind you. We'll always be writing more and more content afterwards) until those product reviews are in place. What would be better: wait until we've got all of that main content (about 25 or so articles) and push them all out at once, having that "complete" feel, and then consistently come out with supplementary content afterwards, or just posting the articles as we complete them, even though the site will feel half done until those main articles are up?
I hope that made sense. I appreciate the help.
And BIS, thank you for the article. I couldn't agree more.
Hi Peter - that makes perfect sense.
It really is a matter of personal taste. If your site is already live (ie you haven't hidden it from the search engines) I would carry on just adding the content.
If you intend to have a big launch then you could hide the content until you had more of the content you've planned. Obviously if you do that you continue to delay any chance you have of making some revenue.
I suspect your visitors won't think the site is only half done when you do.
Not a definitive answer I'm afraid because it's a judgement call you'll have to make. I've done both ways and both have worked.
Thank you, BIS for the continued advice. Now I am reminded again that it is not the traffic I need to focus, but the content in building my website.
I appreciate members like you who have the heart to tell newbies the truth and help us succeed and focus for building that success. Thank you so much!
See more comments
Really good info!
Thanks Jill