If you run a content-driven Web site or ezine, then I think you'll agree with me when I say that finding free, quality content on the 'Net is a pain. Sure, people write articles that they want published, but nine times out of ten these articles are just "copy-pasted" or recycled from someone else's articles, and content like this won't build your site a particularly high profile.

The good news is that there are heaps of ways to add pizzazz and glitz to your site or ezine content, which will keep your visitors coming back on a regular basis. In this article we'll look at three of the key methods: Interviews, Reviews and Books.

Method 1 - Interviews

People like to read about other people: what they do, how they do it, and most importantly, why they do it. But have you ever thought about emailing a specific person from a company and requesting a "virtual interview" with them?

When I say virtual interview, I mean that you'll conduct the interview via a series of emailed questions. I've done this before, and every single person I emailed was more than happy to give me the time to answer a few questions about themselves, their job role, their history, etc. When you think about it, it's a win-win situation for both you and the interviewee. You get to add more quality content to your site, and they get exposure and links back to their site from your interview (this is a must, and can be the deciding factor in whether you land the interview in the first place).

But just how would you go about asking for a virtual interview? And whom would you ask? Let me give you an example.

About two weeks ago, one of my editors interviewed Markus Maki from MadOnion.com. This interview added value to our site, because in the interview Markus talked about his industry experience, the development of the 3Dmark series, as well as his opinions on technology, etc. No one else has this kind of "insider" information about Markus on their site, so it makes our virtual interview one-of-a-kind.

Here's the email that we used to ask Markus to participate in our virtual interview:

Hi Markus, My name is Tim, and I am one of the editors for http://www.devarticles.com. I have been a huge fan of MadOnion.com for as long as I can remember, and I was wondering if I would be able to conduct an email-based interview with you.

This interview would consist of you answering some short questions about your life, job and experiences and simply emailing them back to me. Your questions will be compiled into an article and posted on our site.

Your interview will also include several mentions of MadOnion.com, thus creating more links back to your site. Please let me know if and when this is possible.

I look forward to your reply.

Tim

Notice how the email was short and to the point? No marketing gook, no confusing sentences, just a quick description of who, what, when, why and how of the interview.

The email was a success, and the interview questions were sent to Markus the next day. We had the interview on the site within a week.

Method 2 - Reviews

Reviews are another great way to add some variety to your site's content. You don't have to be a professional to review a product or Web site. Reviews are merely one person's opinion of an item with some technical babble thrown in for good measure.

I'm currently in the process of reviewing Namo Web Editor 5, a complete Web editing solution similar to FrontPage. I decided to review this product because a lot of my visitors are newbies to the Web, and this kind of product might be of interest to them.

Product reviews can work well for you both content-wise and financially: You get a new form of content on your site, but you can also establish yourself as an affiliate for the product. Link back to the product (from within your review) with your unique tracking ID, and for every sale that the company gains from a visitor arriving at their site through a link in your review, you receive a percentage of that sale (usually around 5-20%).

Once again, it's a win-win situation. The key here is to review products that your visitors will find useful, cover all the points that your users will be interested in, and exclude marketing hype from the review.

Method 3 - Books

Everyone reads in some way or another: conventional books, email, the daily newspaper, ebooks, articles, etc. People feel empowered when they've read something that provides them with useful, free information. A book review can do just that.

There are hundreds of online stores that allow you to link to their books section and receive commission on a per-order basis. The most popular one is Amazon, with over 500,000 members. Their associate program lets you enter a book's ISBN code, and spits out a picture and a link right back to that book's page on their site.

Reviewing a book is easy, but the author of the review must have read the book first. Don't fall into the trap of simply reading the book's blurb before you write a review on it, because you'll get caught out and your visitors will lose trust in you.

When you review a book, let your visitors know your overall opinion of it, as well as your favorite points and sections in the text. Include as many people's opinions on the book as you can, whether they're positive or negative. Provide readers with as much information as possible. They'll expect you to present them with honest reviews, so there's no point in hyping up a bad book just so your users will buy it.

You may also like to include access to a sample chapter from the book in your review, which lets visitors have a taste of the book without actually purchasing it. If they like the sample chapter, then there's a good chance they will click on your link to buy the book. I particularly like to review Wrox Press's programming books, because they let you publish a sample chapter from their book on your site and other publishers do too.

Content Made Easy

Don't get stuck in the habit of posting the same type of content on your site day after day. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life, and this is as true in the online world as it is offline. If you run a content-driven site, have a brainstorm and list several companies, products and books that are relevant to your site and your audience.

Then, compose an email to send to each company using the format we looked at earlier. Start by writing to 2-3 companies to request virtual interviews, and gauge their response before you approach other firms.

For each product, write a similar email to request either a beta or full copy of the software you want to review. Because you need to actually spend time reviewing and testing the product first, you should start with just one or two emails and see how you go.

Books, on the other hand, are a different story. Become an Amazon associate for free. Then, pick a couple of books (ones that you've read) and write a 1-2 page review on each one. Post them onto your site, and include the link provided by the Amazon associates program at the end of the review.

Why not experiment with the ideas outlined here? If you get it right, you can expect your visitor count to increase as a result. Good luck!

SiteTell is a unique viral marketing tool that harnesses the power of viral marketing and lets your visitors tell their friends about your site using either e-mail or ICQ in just seconds.
Full Author Profile -->