Why branding is the future (and how to do it)

We no longer compete with hundreds of sites. We now compete with tens of thousands of sites! This is the crux of the problem AI brings to the publishing world. 5 years ago there was plenty of competition but there was still a barrier to entry which was content creation. Content creation took effort and/or money. Most people quit before their sites became anything substantial. AI obliterates that barrier. Now anyone with $5 for hosting can crank out thousands of articles on any topic. I don't have statistics but I suspect tens of thousands of new content sites are launched weekly. At least I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Site branding has always been a good endeavour but until recently, not necessary. --------------------------------------------------------------- -PAID AD- =​ Are you struggling with managing writers, guiding, revising and still end up rejecting articles? It’s not unusual because nowadays everyone is a writer. 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I'm also of the view that if you do it right, AI sites can work just fine. I'm not a one way or the highway publisher. After much thought in the Google updates aftermath, I'm of the view that FOR ME, the best route forward is focusing on branding. This email sets out why branding is good generally. I also suggest some ideas for how to go about it. Google doesn’t want AI content to rank in its SERPs. G said so. Agree or disagree with that decision all you want. That's moot. It should inform how you go about this biz. Google's problem is it can’t distinguish AI content from non-AI in a vacuum. What I mean by that is if presented with two paragraphs, one written by a human and one by AI, Google can't tell the difference. My theory is that G implements triggers into the algo to pick up AI signals. I don't know which triggers for certain. Perhaps new sites adding tons of content in the first few weeks or months. Perhaps sites that focus on PPA queries. Sites with NO social signals. Sites with NO search volume for its name. Sites with NO direct traffic. Speaking of direct traffic, direct repeat visitors are like this business model: ​ If a site triggers enough of these signals, Google slots those sites as AI and reduces rankings. Again, I don't know for certain but that's the concept. All those triggers I set out are just guesses. I really don't know but conceptually, it makes sense to me. What else can G do if it wishes to enforce its decision to not rank AI content? This helps explain why smaller sites might struggle longer and suffer more from updates. They haven’t had time to brand. One thing I know to be certain and that is building a niche site brand IS HARD and takes a LONG TIME. There are so many sites in every niche (more every day thanks to AI). SOME of them are really good. How do you successfully brand? There is no single path to building a brand. What really sucks about branding is you must spend time and money on activities that don’t drive traffic directly. I’m talking about social presence, YouTube and mentions on other sites. The effort that goes into doing all this exceeds the direct traffic benefits. In the long run though, if you choose effective off-site and on-site brand building efforts, your brand will grow so that you will enjoy the results of all that past effort. This is pretty basic stuff so far. If you want to speed up branding and do it better, analyze how other sites managed to do it. Buzzfeed: quizzes and viral listicles. Wire cutter: Trusted product reviews. Changed forever online product reviews. BoredPanda: humor Ranker: user-generated and ranked lists Quora: user generated Q and A (that actually works) Betterdwelling.com: data-backed real estate news written in simple terms so anyone can understand it. I know those sites are obvious picks, but what did they do to become the recognized brand they are? Ask yourself what you can do to distinguish your site in a way your target audience will like? Is there a type of post or content you can become famous for? Is there a voice or style that sets you apart? Do you have credentials that sets you apart? Note, this not necessary but if you do, it’s a start. Are you a master promoter? Are there things you can do to get exposure? Do podcast, YouTube and/or local TV interviews. Get mentioned on other big sites. Pay for sponsorships in email newsletters in your niche (or offer swaps). This is not about building links but instead about exposure. Here’s an obvious one - become the go-to site in a more narrow niche. Niche down and become the go-to site for that topic. A true expert and aficionado. It can be a part of your broader site. TIME: This is one aspect of branding that's no fun for anyone and that is it takes time. You can do everything right but it will still take time. Years. Content - all brand building efforts are wasted if your content is bad. If you're going to promote your site, ensure you have some (or all in a perfect world) really amazing content to promote and mention. What's your site's origin story? This can help brand. Is it interesting? Can you write it in a way that's interesting? Our recent 8-figure blogger's About page would stick in visitors' minds. It’s no longer good enough to pick the right niche for you. You must be able to do something extraordinary within that niche. Figure it out for your current site or any new site you launch. I know I’m not one to talk. My niche sites are nothing to write home about. They work. They earn. While my largest site is kind of branded (based on search volume for the name), it’s not the dominant brand in the niche. It only takes ONE angle to successfully brand This is the good news. If you can do ONE thing better than all the other sites in your niche, that will do it. Think about that. That's important. In fact, don't try to excel at everything. Excel at one thing. Now all you need to do is figure out what that angle is. This email is directed toward me as much as anyone else. No site I own is well branded. Which explains why I'm thinking about and researching this issue so much lately. I've decided branding is the next step. I need to get the process underway. In fact, it is underway. I have some very good ideas that I'm testing. Can you start the branding process for an existing mediocre site? You bet you can. I encourage it. There is no need to start over. If you believe the future is in AI content, I get it. In all reality, content sites will be a hybrid of AI and human generated content. My MO is to avoid cat and mouse with Google. Google is the cat and will always win. If you love the thrill of gaming Google, go to it. Fire up your AI writers and publish away. It's fun if you can stomach the hits. If you do this, you need to put together a longevity plan. I don't know what that looks like but my hunch is multiple sites. Bloggers talk about building a moat. A good moat is a brand. Does branding guarantee you won't ever lose traffic? Hate to say it, but the answer is NO. You could publish an astonishingly great niche site and still lose traffic from Google updates. No guarantees. I don't like it either but that's how it is. That's partly why going the full AI route is appealing. An AI site that succeeds is a bonus; a gift; a windfall. After all, it's takes very little work. it's money for nothing. Losing traffic to a site you pour blood, sweat and tears into hurts. It's confusing. It's infuriating. That prospect is not pleasant yet it's the reality. Is this a critical junction in online publishing? Hard to say for certain but my guess is yes. The last big one for me was the first Google Penguin update in 2012. That forced me to very much change the way I went about publishing sites. It was tough at first but it sure was a good thing in the end. Once again Google forces our hand with a rapid-fire series of updates that seemingly reduced traffic for more sites than not. Your next decisions are key decisions. After Penguin in 2012, I chose to be a good little Google fan boy by following G's publishing guidelines. It worked out well for me. I'll do so again. Thanks for reading. Jon Fatstacksblog.com P.S. If you believe the above is nonsense, I get it. I don't have a crystal ball. These are just the musings of one guy with some niche sites. P.P.S. I've merely just begun branding for my biggest site. I will be doing so much more. In all likelihood, that will be a main topic of the Fat Stacks message going forward. [Unsubscribe]( | [Update your profile]( | 2016 Hill Drive, North Vancouver, British Columbia V7H 2N5