Original Content

How hard is it to write original content?

Personally, I find it pretty easy. I just think and type as I go, usually without any preparation and the words appear magically in my head.

I then read back what I have written, probably rearrange one or two sentences and upload the new content to my server.

Content is the one thing that will separate your web site from anybody elses. It's also the main component needed to get search engines to visit your site and determine how important it might be to their own users.

The more important a search engine views your site for a particular subject, the further up the rankings you will go.

Given that most webmasters want people to visit their sites and actually read what information they post to their sites, how come so many refuse to produce their own content?

Many webmasters these days simply want to create sites in order to generate income from pay per click affiliate programs like Google Adsense.

In these cases, where volume of pages is the order of the day, the webmasters think that it simply isn't worth their time to create their content, so they do one of two things:

1. They visit article sites to use other people's content or
2. They outsource article writing to places like India and let someone else do the work

These strategies are ok on the surface and let's face it, if you need 100 articles in a hurry, it's quicker than doing them all yourself.

The problem is of course, that the same content is being used elsewhere on other sites, yes, even when you subcontract the writing.

The outsourced writers can do the work cheaply because they are simply grabbing articles themselves and re-hashing the words, but inevitably, they will leave in a percentage of the original content, which could get your sites penalised by the search engines.

If you have hundreds of site, simply because you wanted to do something with your domain portfolio, you can get away with this approach, as one site amongst hundreds probably doesn't matter a great deal.

When you are building a site that matters though, you should never, ever use articles from article sites and you should also never outsource the writing.

In order to be successful, a web site needs to have some character and that chracter can shine through in your writing. The way you make your offer to your visitors, the sales call to action, the way you communicate - it is vital if you are to create any trust and get people to buy.

Throw up regurgitated content and your visitors will spot that you're a phoney.

I write all of my own content these days. Having experimented with articles from article site, I know they are not for me. (Though I'll write for article sites - that's different)!

It is time consuming to write something useful and interesting, that's probably why most blogs fail - the owners lose interest and can't think of anything to write.

I've been writing content for a long time, because it comes naturally to me.

Some examples?

Well, recently I've been having to learn some new skills to expand the surveying practice. This is in the area of Energy Performance Assessments for commercial buildings - so not the most interesting subject in the world.

So, I've been taking elements of it and writing about it - the bits I know about. I need to educate my clients.

Here are a couple of examples for you, just to show you what I mean. Two sites, same subject matter, different words!

Energy Performance Assessment For Commercial Buildings 1

Energy Performance Assessment For Commercial Buildings 2

Those individuals whop know a bit about SEO will know exactly why these two links are on this post and why they are worded the way they are. It's all about deep linking.

You see, a blog, whilst imparting useful information, should also serve to help the writer. What you've just witnessed is a top SEO trick and it's one that I hope you'll digest and use to your advantage - but use your own content and don't tell anyone who might be a commercial energy assessor!