Beating me at my own game

Last Update: July 19, 2012
In my niche, I've got about 5 to 10 competing sites that are regular bloggers, and that I consider real competitors. There are other sites as well, but their work is pretty shoddy.

From stuff I've learned here at WA, I've kind of figured out that there's a million keywords, and once you know you niche, you can just make them up because you know your audience. I've got tons of posting ideas and themes for articles.

But it's extremely frustrating when there's a trail of competitors pushing me out. The funny thing is that these 5 to 10 sites have about a week or two lag before they pic up on my new articles are posts. They take the exact keyword, write their own article, and push my site around.

Then about 3 or 4 months later, the others trail behind, with spun and poor English articles, flooding my work. I know the idea is that whoever posts first gets preference in Google, but it doesn't always work that way.

My positive thinking side says, "Work on your site, not your rank. Convert better for the keywords you rank for, and don't try to rank for so many."

My negative thinking site says, "Go get your own keywords!"

Oh well, I guess that's how business works. Just needed to complain.
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BIS Premium
Okay - I like the made up keyword. That one's fun!
BIS Premium
Hi

I'm slightly puzzled when you say about keywords that ''...oncee you know your niche you can just make them up..." I can't say that's something I ever do. Sometimes I write without thinking about a specific keyword and it later gets ranked for something unexpected but that's all.

I actually would work on your site and not your rank. Quality content will draw visitors and that's what you want. I don't know how often you're adding to your site or how many articles you're posting to an article like Street Articles, but this needs to be done on a consistent basis.

Don't waste your energy worrying about your compeittors Focus on your site.

Best wishes

Beverley
nathaniell Premium
Now worries, I was kind of venting. I realize competition is part of the game, it's just frustrating to do something creative, get results, then have them stomped by copy gatos.

I agree that return visitors is the key, but not all niches are targeted towards recurring buyers. I mean, if you sell headphones, chances are that once someone buys something from you, next time they buy they're not going to think of 'hey, there was that one website I visited 2 years ago that was really helpful'.

....and making up KW is fun! I mean, continuing with the example above, if you sell headphones, why not make up the KW, "best headphones for badass music while you're running to lose weight". I mean, chances are there are a few people who would type that into Google and turn up your street article!
mama2karsten Premium
so true
Pobman Premium
You are right it certainly does not always work out that the first to post wins, but generally speaking it does. It is a real shame that with all the changes Google keeps making that garbage content can still rank. All part of the game I guess :)
onefineham Premium
I keep hoping Google catches up with some of these "glommer" sites but so far big hammer programs that spin and automate still dictate the winners in many cases.
nathaniell Premium
Yeah, I guess what they're doing isn't technically "spinning"...there's really nothing to do but complain about some of them because they're doing their research, which includes my sites. The other guys are just poor bloggers as far as I can tell.
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