Guest Post by Rena Klingenberg
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the new Authority Site Center training Wiki.
Good satellite content can put you in front of a ton of receptive people in your niche who may not have heard of your site before.
What is satellite content?
It’s useful, interesting, high-quality material you post on locations outside of your main site(s) – such as Squidoo lenses, Hub pages, FaceBook/MySpace blogs, etc. – and it can be an excellent long-term source of targeted traffic to your main site.
It can also rank well in the search engines, especially when it’s posted on social media sites. Most social sites are spidered and indexed rapidly because of their constant activity.
Satellite pages often attain a respectable PR in a hurry – which makes their links back to your main site(s) even more valuable.
If you create your satellite content right, it can also increase your status as an authority in your niche, and help you grab more of the top spots in the search engine results for your keywords.
Tips for Creating Successful Satellite Content
* Post only useful, high-quality content. Your satellite content may be people’s first introduction to you and your site – so you want to make an outstanding impression. Focus on being a helpful resource.
* You can speed up the process of creating good satellites by re-purposing some of your article marketing content (edited a bit for uniqueness, of course).
* Add images to your satellites when possible. Images attract people to read more, stay longer, vote higher, and leave comments.
* Add video whenever possible. Social media users love videos – and love to share them with their friends!
* Work toward creating small, bite-sized information snippets. People on social sites click around rapidly and tend to have shorter attention spans because there’s so much to see and do there. So instead of posting one long article that makes people click away, break it up into small paragraphs and use each paragraph as an individual “content bite” with its own keyword-focused headline. This strategy also increases the number of opportunities for interested users to find your content.
* Also apply the “content bite” strategy to satellite pages that are expected to be longer and contain more information. For example, a Squidoo lens should be composed of several small modules of varying formats, each targeted to the main focus or keyword of the lens. Each small module should have its own headline and image or video.
* Target a different one of your site’s keywords in each piece of your satellite content, if you can do it without sounding stilted. If you can’t use a main keyword without seeming contrived, then go for “long-tail” keywords, which usually sound more natural in a casual setting. Never keyword-stuff your satellite pages.
* Create “top 10” lists. Lists are popular and easy to read (and write).
* Create how-to posts, in step-by-step format and with related images or video.
* Create holiday or seasonal themed content, if you can relate it to your topic.
* Be funny or shocking (without crossing the line) whenever possible and appropriate. It catches people’s attention, makes them share your content – and many people are looking for entertainment when they visit social sites.
* Post your site’s main RSS feed or individual PheedPress feeds in your satellite content.
* Don’t fill your satellite pages with links to your main site. Link sparingly to your main site, using deep links to your relevant inner content rather than always linking to your home page. Make good use of your anchor text.
* Link to your other satellite content as well. Think of your satellites as places to have fun Bending the Web! Sprinkle your satellites with a few links to your relevant Squidoo lenses or Hub pages, your content on other people’s sites, other bloggers’ posts that include your comments, other people’s reviews of your relevant infoproducts, your own content on other social media sites, etc.
* Most social sites supply RSS feeds for your activity on their sites. You can include these feeds in many of your satellites, as well as on your main site.
* Encourage social site users to interact with your content – for example, post interesting polls or Squidoo “plexo” link lists (which can be used as an RSS feed or blog widget) that permit people to rank or vote on things.
* Go back and update, refresh, and add new pages to your satellite content on a regular basis.
* Never market, spam, or try to sell anything in your satellite content. People don’t go to social sites to see commercials, and you can damage your credibility if you try to use your satellites to advertise.
* Link to your satellite content from your main site – in your sidebar or your “About” page.
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Rena Klingenberg posts jewelry marketing tips in her Jewelry Business Blog. Among her successful satellite content are a Squidoo lens on jewelry displays and a HubPage on starting a jewelry business.