Finding Your Focus - Chinese Education

Cast your mind back to our primary topic selections in week 1.

You used your topic research sheet to select relevant topics to your business.

It should look something like this one:

In the next few lessons we are going to choose just 1 of these core topics to focus on.

This laser-focused topic will form the foundation of the content you create for your site and the remainder of the 90 Day SEO process.

No pressure!

You might be wondering:

Why did we do all that other stuff in weeks 2, 3 and 4 before this?

Well that is because to see real success, you need to have built a solid SEO foundation and Google will need a few weeks to catch up on all of your changes.

And now all of those changes have being made and we are waiting for Google to process them, it’s time to bring our attention back to topics, keywords and content.

The Best Types Of Content To Create

First you need to understand the different types of content you can create and why you should create it.

Some topics are just easier to create content for than others, so you need to keep this in mind!

There are 3x types of content you should create-

1. Problem Solving Content

The 1st is PROBLEM SOLVING content. These posts help your reader to:

Find a solution
Reach a goal
Get answers

Since the birth of my blog, I have nearly exclusively focused on creating problem solving content.

I love creating this type of content because when you genuinely help people with their problems, it creates a great bond (and the feedback you get is incredible).

Problem solving content is

Easy to produce
Helping people
Really easy to build links to
Can result in leads and sales

It’s my favorite type of content to create! This course for example is essentially problem solving content delivering in a specific order.

2. Review Content

The 2nd type of content is REVIEW CONTENT.

This content gives readers insight into a product. This helps them make a purchasing decision!

I’ve published tons of reviews like-

https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/seo/reviews/accuranker/
https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/seo/reviews/semrush/
https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/seo/reviews/rank-math/

There is a caveat with reviews though:

The types of products I tend to review do not “expire” meaning that the iPhone 10 isn’t going to get replaced with the iPhone 11 – so please bear that in mind.

I prefer to review “evergreen” products in order to get the most return on investment however these are usually a little more competitive versus new models which have no established competition.

Review based content is-

Easy to create
Can often be tied problem solving content
Often faces less search competition
Converts into leads and sales at a high rate
Harder to build links to (well, for most people)
Can expire if you target a specific model

Use it wisely!

3. List Based Content

The final type of content is LIST CONTENT.

This type of content is super flexible. You can apply it to multiple topics in lots of different ways.

Take a look at these posts for example that use the list format-

https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/seo/on-page/seo-copywriting/
https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/traffic/website-traffic/
https://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/blogging/make-money/monetizing/

People love lists! They are usually sat right in the sweet spot between being helpful, linkable and shareable which is perfect for SEO.

And for the most part you can take any topic or keyword and come up with some list ideas.

List based content is-

Easy to create
Actually helps people
Easy to build links and traffic to
Often used within review and problem solving content
Applicable to most topics

I am going to discuss each of these 3 content frameworks with you in-depth later in the course.

But for now I want you to just keep these 3 in mind-

Problem solving content
Review based content
List based content

Along with the benefits of each of them as we review all of our topic selections.

Review Your Topics From Week 1

In your Topic Research Spreadsheet open the [4] SELECTION tab.

It’s likely you have a ton of possible topics to go after…

…but how do we filter these opportunities down further?

The DOs And DON’Ts Of Topic Selection

The best way to talk you through topic selection is to well, talk you through it because the process is usually quite dynamic.

Good Topic Selection

Here is how to identify a GOOD topic:

Bad Topic Selection

And here I want to talk you through of how I identify a BAD (or risky) topic:

My 4x GOOD Topic Selections

After spending some time reviewing all of my options…

…these are the 4 topics I have chosen for further investigation and keyword research-

1. DJI Refurbished

This topic immediately caught my eye. Why?

Because it has a high search volume and low competition:

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 4600 / 3
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 17670 / 3

This keyword also has commercial intent. Their credit card is basically out!

This could be used as a post or category page.

I could easily turn it into one of the 3x content types we discussed. For example:

Problem solving: The Ultimate Guide To Buying A DJI Refurbished Drone
Review: DJI Refurbished Drone Review: Was It Worth The Savings?
List: 5x DJI Refurbished Drones Under $700

This keyword is also evergreen. As long as DJI drones exist people will want refurbished ones.

2. Selfie Drone

This topic has a high search volume and low competition:

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 8700 / 2
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 12540 / 3

I see this topic being a good fit for sub-post as part of a “best drones” category page.

It’s also growing in popularity. (Thanks to Instagram.)

There is less commercial intent here. But it is an evergreen topic.

3. Drone Racing

This topic has excellent traffic and difficulty numbers:

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 6900 / 13
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 12640 / 9

It’s also easy to combine with sub-topics like “racing drone kit” with higher commercial intent.

Racing drone enthusiasts spend A LOT of money. So this is worth some focus.

4. Drone Photography

This topic has relatively low difficulty for good traffic:

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 7400 / 12
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 7970 / 11

This is really attractive as a category page or ultimate post, where I can use keywords like:

“Drones with camera”
“Best camera drone”

That would bring potential buyers to my page.

Photography is an evergreen topic and people spend big money on cameras. Same with drones.

Perfect! Affiliates love people that like spending money after all.

My 3x BAD And 1x RISKY Topic Selections

Here are 3x topics that I should AVOID.

And 1x that is RISKY and sits in a grey area.

1. DJI Assistant 2

This keyword looks attractive. The numbers are great.

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 17000 / 5
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 45370 / 17

But a closer look shows this is a free piece of software DJI offers their owners.

The intent for this is clear. They want to download the software and nothing more.

This doesn’t align with our niche site’s goals.

2. DJI Phantom 3 Professional Firmware

This is a misleading topic.

The topic has great numbers. But the main keyword doesn’t:

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 1200 / 3
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 12530 / 5

That’s a big difference. Why?

Because – like the last keyword – this is a free piece of firmware DJI owners can download.

There only intent here is to download the firmware. Then get on with their lives.

3. DJI Repair

The search volume and difficulty is enticing:

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 3800 / 6
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 9630 / 9

But there are a number of reasons not to go for this keyword. There is:

Heavy competition from local search results
Lots of free YouTube videos showing DIY repairs

This keyword is also hard to monetise.

You would need to offer specific spare parts for specific drones. That’s too niche.

4. DJI Phantom 3

This keyword isn’t bad. It’s just risky. Why?

Well it has HUGE search volume and is a little more difficult.

Keyword Traffic / Difficulty: 88,000 / 37
Topic Traffic / Difficulty: 178,870 / 16

But…

The intent is really unclear.

Targeting a specific model can also mean your post will eventually become obsolete.

That being said, this model is their best seller. It’s also the #1 result on Amazon so you could make good commissions with a “review”.

But you may be better off drilling down into a sub-topic like: “DJI Phantom 3 Accessories”.

This could create lots of sub-topics about accessories like:

Batteries
Cases
Parts

Which would spread the risk among multiple pages and attract tons of activity from long tail keywords.

But you have to remember, when you target specific models – eventually that search volume will be zero.

Final Thoughts…

I’m going to delve into 3x core topics a bit further-

Drone racing – because it’s an upcoming sport with people that like spending money
Drone photography – because drone owners and photographers like spending money
Selfie drones – because selfies are the new thing and it compliments the drone photography topic

These core topics have the right balance of search volume, difficulty, buyer internet, longevity and future growth potential.

No other core topics could traverse all of those requirements in the same way these could.

Whittling all of your options down to just 2 or 3 is a very difficult process that requires great discipline.

But if you want to deliver an effective SEO strategy that delivers the maximum ROI possible, you need to be strict in your core topic selections – it could be a critical mistake if you’re not.

Before you continue:

Make sure you have chosen 2-3 core focus topics!

Because next we are going to be building these core topics out further and we can’t do that if you haven’t chosen them yet.