You could probably build out a successful website based on what I set out below.
Not bad for a freebie newsletter.
Yesterday I typed your ear off about how to write a truly great article.
Today I’ll type your ear off with more examples of what I wrote about yesterday.
Concepts are great and all, but there’s nothing like concrete examples to help the blogging production line.
The article example yesterday was “what is a sports car?”
Done right, you could build an audience plus massage Google into sending you free traffic.
Turns out there’s some gold in those two opening words “what is”.
Not only are there thousands and thousands of great keywords starting with “what is” but many of those keywords lend themselves to writing interesting, opinion-based articles.
Sure, you could ruin all the fun for yourself, your writers and your readers by approaching these keywords literally.
But here’s a thought.
Why not leave the literal, boring approach to those lesser bloggers in your niche.
Elevate the topic.
Here are examples:
What is a good work ethic?
The answer: It depends. It depends on whether you’re a blogger or a lawyer. Lawyers who work 8 hours per day are lazy. Bloggers who work 8 hours per day are hard workers.
What is considered wealthy?
The answer: It depends. Does it mean financially secure or flying on Gulfstreams?
What is a good salary to live on?
Answer: It depends. It depends on whether you live in San Francisco or Thailand. It depends on whether you have 6 kids or it’s just you. It depends on what your friends make. If you’re hanging out with folks making $2 million per year, it’ll be hard to keep up making $300K. They charter a Gulfstream but you have to meet them a day later flying commercial. Them’s the breaks.
What is a good lunch to eat?
Answer: It depends. Are we talking healthy lunch or tasty lunch? Quick lunch or 3 courses accompanied with 3 martinis?
What is a good ROI?
Answer: It depends. Are we talking risk averse or betting the farm? If you go to Vegas and happen to earn 10%, nobody cares. Neither do you. But if you go and win a 10,000% ROI, now we’re talking. On the flip side, a 10% savings account would be awesome.
What is a good camera?
Answer: It depends. Takes the best photos in the world or does convenience count? What’s the budget… $200 or $20,000?
What is a good credit score?
The answer: It depends. It depends on the type of loan applying for, amount, where, etc. Are you coming out of bankruptcy or have you nurtured and grown your credit score for 20 years?
What is a good SAT score?
The answer: It depends. It depends on whether applying to Harvard or a community college.
What is a good email?
Actually, that’s easy. It’s “my emails”. The real answer is “it depends.” It depends on the recipient(s), purpose, etc. Is good based on how much money it makes or open rates?
Not all “what is” keywords are up for interpretation though. Sometimes it’s something concrete with no room to opine. These aren’t worth doing because the Google snippet will answer the question.
Examples of bad “what is” keywords are:
- What is today’s date?
- What are the 7 days of the week?
- What is my zip code?
- What species is a german shepherd?
The above have simple, absolute answers. No wiggle room to yammer on about.
How can you tell if it’s a good “what is” keyword?
If you can reasonably answer it with “it depends” there’s room for opinion.
Speaking of “it depends”, those are the two most-used words by lawyers (other than “I once had a client who…” Lawyers love telling war stories).
Every client gets the “it depends” answer at some point.
It’s an ongoing joke among lawyers.
Go ahead. Email your lawyer a question. I bet the first two words in the reply is “it depends.”
Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.
