{"id":8051,"date":"2023-07-21T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nichetwins.com\/?p=8051"},"modified":"2023-08-18T14:27:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T14:27:39","slug":"how-to-make-sure-your-content-ranks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nichetwins.com\/how-to-make-sure-your-content-ranks\/","title":{"rendered":"#21 | How to Make Sure Your Content Ranks \ud83d\udcc8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Earlier this week I read Niche Site Lady’s newsletter<\/a> “8 Things I Check When Choosing a Keyword to Write About”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Useful newsletter per usual – her email is one of the few I read every single week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the very next day I get this DM on Twitter from a random follower:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Mike, I’ve published over 50 posts on my niche site over the past year+, but I’m not getting any traffic. Am I doing something wrong?”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timely…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These types of messages always kill me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know how much effort goes into working on a site for that long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a slog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I take a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now I have to inform this person that they are most definitely<\/em> doing something wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their content is actually pretty good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they are failing terribly at one crucial thing – identifying low competition keywords<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are consistently going after keywords they’ll NEVER rank for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Twitter follower who will remain anonymous, this weeks newsletter is for you…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how I know whether or not I have a chance to rank for a given keyword….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Step 1 – Find a keyword<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I’ll dedicate a future newsletter (or several) to the actual keyword research process, but one of the most important steps in the entire ranking process is honing in on a viable keyword<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the reality – you could be the greatest writer in the world, but if you don’t target any keyword, or you target the wrong<\/em> keyword, you’re unlikely to get organic traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ll spend hours researching, writing, formatting, inserting photos, etc. and the world will never read a single line of your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that effort for NOTHING.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned this lesson the hard way (after researching, writing and publishing my first 10 posts).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those posts were not targeted – they were broad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broad topics typically (not always) result in little to no traffic – especially for a new site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either no one is searching those terms directly, or they are very competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need a target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something at least a little bit more specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several keyword research tools out there, and lots of different ways to use them to unearth great keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this example, let’s go with “Block Island Beaches” <\/em><\/strong>as our keyword.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Ahrefs<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ahrefs estimates 450 traffic potential and thinks it’s easy<\/em> to rank for (we’ll be the judge of that!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traffic is clearly seasonal, as evidenced by the spikes during summer months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at this point, based on what I see surface level, this keyword is worth investigating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n