Are You a Robotic Webmaster?

I define a robotic Webmaster as one who goes through the motions of managing and updating a website, without a clear understanding for what it takes to succeed online.

They haphazardly throw up content without much regard to how their target audience will interpret it.

Instead of developing their own voice and personality, they often mimic other successful sites. So they end up re-inventing the wheel instead of redefining themselves as a credible Webmaster/Blogger of niche XYZ.

Robotic Webmasters Focus on Quantity Over Quality

One of the most common questions I receive is “How much content do I need to make money?”

As if there is some golden rule out there that says “Build 150 pages of content and you will begin seeing $3 per visitor.”

Or someone will say, “I created 45 pages but I haven’t made any money yet. How much more content do I need to write?”

First of all, you could build 400 pages of content and never see a dime.  Making money online goes far beyond robotically putting up content.   It’s about reaching a target audience and gaining their trust.

Robotic Webmasters Have Trouble Coming Up With Content

This often happens when a Webmaster is not passionate enough about their topic. They find similar articles on the Web and paraphrase them into their own words.

This may be OK for the first 5-10 articles, but this gets boring after awhile because the person is obviously not into the topic. So they end up with another personality-less site with no voice and no unique spin because they don’t have a personal attachment to the topic.

Another reason robotic Webmasters have trouble coming with content is they don’t take the time to define a specific audience, or they try to appeal to everyone and end up appealing to no one.

When you’ve defined who your site is directed to, you shouldn’t have to wonder what to write about. Anytime someone asks me to give them advice on what to write about I know they are taking a backward approach.

You don’t write content and then hope people will find it useful. You define who you are trying to reach with your site and make sure it meets their needs based on what you’ve defined.

As you develop traffic, you’ll begin getting feedback from your readers and that will further define the questions, problems and issues you may want to address. This will help you produce even more useful content down the road.

You may discover along the way (as I did) that your content is off-target. That’s OK. That’s all part of the process, my friend. Take what you’ve learned and work to make your site better.

So much of my content and videos are driven by visitor feedback.  Your readers will appreciate the fact that you listen to them, and it’s more likely they will become customers.

How to Get on Track

While there are certain steps you must follow as a website owner, if you find that you are performing many of the same tasks over and over again with no results, perhaps you need to step back and look at the big picture.

1. Have you clearly defined an audience?

2. Is your audience definition narrow enough?

3. Does you know what your audience needs and do you give it to them?

4. Does your site look as if it wants to inform/help or are you bombarding your visitors with ads?

5. What are you doing to set your site apart from the competition?

6. Are you focusing more on quantity than quality?

7. Are you trying to mimic someone else’s journey or do you have your own path?

8. Are you interested enough in this topic to remain creative and motivated?

9.  Is there enough demand for the topic you chose?

10. Do you challenge yourself to think outside the box in terms of marketing your site?

When you address these questions, developing a useful site and writing content becomes much easier and less robotic.

—————

While there are some repetitive tasks involved with owning a website, it’s the creativity, planning, analysis and hard work that is going to set you apart from your competition and make you successful.

If you’re having trouble generating traffic and sales, step back and answer the 10 questions above and see which ones need attention.

Robotic Webmasters have short lives. They start out full-speed ahead completing task after task, writing article after article, submitting to directories and social networking sites as if on queue.  But without direction, focus and a good strategy, their batteries will die quickly.

If you want success, you cannot be a robot. Robotic Webmasters often have no emotional attachment to their sites and may perform tasks as if they were programmed, while not seeing the big picture.

Step outside your box. Make sure the goals of your site are clearly defined and look for creative ways to market. Remember there are several ways to make it to the top, so if your methods aren’t working don’t be afraid to try something new.

Being successful online takes more than robotically publishing content, submitting to various sites and waiting for results.

You have to plan, be proactive, creative, take risks, know what your audience needs and deliver it to them.