You need to give them unique, original content. A website without any original content is boring - no matter how many dancing unicorns you've got. Bored web surfers never return, don't tell their friends about you, and they rarely buy anything.

Producing quality, unique content on a regular basis can be a challenge, so in this article I'll try to give you some ideas that may help.

What tactics you use and how, exactly, you use them will depend on what your niche is. A website about The Beach Boys will have different needs than a website about Dog Grooming, but both can benefit from regular additions of unique content.

  Create A "Product Reviews" Section.

Writing product reviews is a pretty common tactic, but what makes it effective is the way your own personality comes through in the review. Simply choose one of the products or services you are promoting and write about it - what it is, what it does, any special features it may have - but most importantly: your personal opinion of it, good or bad.

Write your reviews as if you were just sitting and chatting with a friend. Don't worry about writing 'good advertising copy', that's not what reviews are about.

To be most effective, a review section should be regularly updated. Once a week, twice a month, whatever you have time for... but keep it regular so your visitors will see it as a valuable resource and the search engines will see that it is regularly updated.

  Create An "Industry News" Section.

You don't need to become a reporter to have a good news area, a simple headline and a short story description with a link to the full story is all it takes. Something like this should be kept current: Daily updates if possible, weekly at the least.

I'd suggest you do not use a feed for this, a few minutes at a major news site and some copy/paste is all it takes to make some unique content - for visitors and search engines. Just remember to keep it up-to-date and informative.

  Create A "Special Offers" Section.

Depending on what affiliate programs you are working with, you may be able to offer a page full of special discounts, special deals, limited time offers, free shipping, free gifts with purchase, etc.

How often this needs to be updated depends on the merchants you are working with and how often they change their offers... but it's a great way to integrate relevant affiliate links into your website while providing a service to your visitors.

  Create A "Glossary of Terms" Section.

Chances are good that, no matter what your website is about, there are certain words and phrases unique to your niche.

Set up a page with the words and their definitions, as they relate to your niche. In the definitions, you can add links to specific pages or even to products or merchants.

Updating this section will only be needed when a new term comes into use, so once it's done, you can pretty much ignore it.

  Create A "History Of" Section.

This is another section that will take some effort to create, but once it's done you can pretty much ignore it.

Every industry and every company that you promote has some history. Some will be interesting to research and write about, some probably won't. You can write about the industry as a whole, or about certain companies in that industry, and the changes that they have gone through.

  Create A "Helpful Tips" Section.

If you give your visitors advice about how to do something easier, faster, cheaper, etc... then you can provide a service while creating unique content.

This could be 'Tips', 'Guides', 'Tutorials' or simple step-by-step instructions... whatever fits best with your niche and your target audience. The beauty of it is that people almost always want more information, either to help them decide to buy or to figure out how to use what they just bought.

Updating this section is at your discretion, it probably won't take much. Just when you add a product or merchant, or when you get an email from someone asking how to use something.

  Create A "Frequently Asked Questions" Section.

FAQ pages are pretty common, partly because they provide unique content and partly because they provide a service to surfers who expect to have their basic questions answered there.

For a new website, just brainstorm the questions that people might have about your website and products and answer them. If you've been getting emails asking questions you should add the questions and answers to the FAQ page.

The FAQ and Tips sections can also be set up to do some cross-selling for you. If there is a product or service that can help with a common problem or question, simply write a bit about it and put in your affiliate link so they can get more info and, hopefully, buy it.

  Create A "Related Products" Section.

You can set up a section for related products and services and treat it like your Product Review section... but pick products that are only loosely related to your niche. This not only adds unique content, but also gives you the opportunity to earn some extra commissions.

The main thing is to pick products that aren't directly related to your website, but are likely to be interesting to your target audience. For example, a Dog Grooming website may have a related products section talking about Portable Kennels, Dog Training Ebooks, Pet Friendly Vacation Destinations... and so on.

Like product reviews, this section should be updated regularly, but not as often. Maybe just whenever you find something interesting to write about.

  Create A "Helpful Articles" Section.

Writing articles for publication on your website is a bit different from writing articles to be used in article marketing - where they are meant to be reprinted on other websites.

The articles you write for your website can combine elements from product reviews, personal experience and how-to tips. The main idea is to create helpful, interesting content that is unique to your website and update it regularly.

  Add A Blog.

The cool thing about blogs is that they can be used as a way to connect with your visitors on a personal level. You can talk about your family, your pets, your favorite TV shows... anything.

What makes it work so well is that it shows that there is a real person behind the website, and it helps your visitors to identify with you and have more confidence in the reviews and articles that you write.... plus it allows them to add their own comments.

Updating your blog is simple and quick. You only need to post something when you have something interesting to say, whether that be daily or every two weeks.

If you do add a blog, it's best if you use software or your hosts blog feature to keep the blog content on your own domain. Using a free blogger service on another domain won't help your pagerank much, if any.

  Create A "Customer Comments" Or "Feedback" Section.

This is a great way to generate unique content with little work on your part... plus as it grows it will encourage new visitors to add their own comments.

This is not the same as a Guestbook or testimonials - this is people filling in a form that automatically adds their comments to a page or sending you emails which you than reprint and answer on a dedicated page.

The benefit of doing it that way is that you can respond to their comments and use it as an opportunity to show off your knowledge and expertise. This will add credibility to the reviews and comments that you published on other pages of your website.

Updating is easy, as most of the work is done by your visitors.

  Start A Forum.

If your website is getting enough traffic, and if your niche would support it, a forum can be a great way to get a lot of unique content.

It's not for everybody, though. Forums take a lot of hands-on management and need a lot of participants to really work, so a new website probably would not benefit from it.

Like blogs, it's important to use software or your hosting service forum option to keep it on your domain for the search engines to index.

  Update Regularly.

No matter what tactics you use, the main thing to remember is that you need to regularly add fresh, unique content.

It may seem like it's a lot of work, but the more you do the easier it gets.... and it's worth it - both for the search engines and the visitors you will get.

Because the more original, quality content that you put on your website, the more new and returning visitors you will get, and the more success you will enjoy.

To Your Success!
Tim

  Related Tools & Resources:

Writing Reviews - some guides & articles to help you get started writing good product reviews:
www.unc.edu
www.larkware.com
www.possi.org
www.webgrammar.com

  Related Downloads:

FAQ Generator 2.5 - Free software to help you develop a frequently asked questions section.

By Tim Brown © 2006. About the author: Tim is the webmaster at http://BLT-Web.com, where webmasters can find free tools, advice, tips and other useful resources designed to help them build a successful website.

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