What makes a post good enough [& monthly report]

Revisiting the question of content quality + the monthly report!

Before discussing the topic in the title, I have exciting news to share:

I’m about to hold an AMA (Ask Me Anything) event!

Location: The Fat Stacks forum

Date: The weekend of March 25-27

I’ll explain more about how you can participate in the AMA at the end of this post. Also bundled into this post is the monthly traffic and revenue report.

Lots to talk about, so let’s start!

Table of Contents

Revamping old Yeys posts

I’ve been blogging here on Yeys for a few years now. I just checked, and it’s going to be five years in June.

I guess time flies when you’re having fun.

Anyway, five years is a long time in web publishing. My own business changed radically during these last few years. Some of my old posts make me cringe today. Others I still like but have new insights to share on the topic.

In other words, it’s time for some content updating. I rarely do that on my content sites, but it is probably more worthwhile in an actual blog.

I decided to revisit some of these old posts, revise, and re-publish them. Starting with this one! And since this is the first post for March, I’ll also include a mini-report on the four sites that I’m sharing in 2022.

What makes a blog post really great?

This was the original title for this post.

As you may have noticed, I changed it into –

What makes a post good enough

I no longer consider my sites to be “blogs.” Except for Yeys. Yeys is an actual blog where I share my thoughts and document my journey.

My money-making sites? They’re content sites.

The only thing similar between them and a blog is that both creatures use WordPress as their platform.

That’s all.

My content sites – or niche sites, if you prefer that term – are collections of informational articles. They are written by multiple authors – often with no mention of the author’s name.

And with content sites, content doesn’t have to be GREAT.

It needs to be “good enough.”

Hence the change to the title.

Why Good content matters

I don’t profess to be an SEO expert, so the following explanation is just my own perception of how Google works.

Google can’t actually read your page. The algorithm can analyze your use of key terms and tell what the page is about, but it can’t understand the actual meaning of the sentences.

I suspect Google’s algorithm can detect the warbled results of text-generators. It can possibly also detect AI-generated text (though the jury is still out on that).

Other than that, Google relies on human readers to evaluate your page and rank it. The two main ways Google can assess human interaction with your page are –

  1. Analyze user behavior on the site mainly through bounce and time-on-page.
  2. Assess the number and quality of links pointing out to your page (assuming they were vetted by humans who created the other pages).

Ultimately, in order to rank and get traffic, you need to create web pages that people actually like.

What makes a post Good Enough

How can you tell if a post is really awesome?

Let’s review the usual suspects here –

1. Post title

A good title is still important. People have short attention spans, so you have to carve out a title that will be compelling enough for them to click. There are tons of tutorials on how to craft the perfect post title. Here’s one of my favorites, an oldie but goodie!

2. The length of your post

These days, I try to keep our blog posts between 1200 and 1800 words long.

My primary consideration is RPM. I want our users to stay on the page for long enough to get served a decent amount of ads.

I am no longer sure that longer is necessarily always better. A lot depends on the niche, type of query, and how you present the content.

3. Readability & voice

If you want to keep your reader on your page long enough, you need to make sure that the text is well-written. It doesn’t have to be grammatically perfect. It does need to be easy to read.

And while finding your voice may be necessary in a real journal-style blog, I no longer think it means anything in a content website. Go personal or not; I don’t think it makes much of a difference.

4. On-page SEO

While I like playing around with page optimization tools, it’s not something we routinely ask our writers to use. In 2022, we ask our writers to write for people and forget about SEO. We also don’t use any meta tags.

5. The Visuals

A picture is worth a thousand words. And an infographic has those thousands of words in the picture.

We make sure to include 2-6 high-quality, relevant images in each of our posts. Pictures are good for keeping the reader on the page for longer. You can also get more ads in between images, so it’s a win-win.

Focus on your readers’ Needs

That one still holds. We tell our writers to keep their readers in mind as they write.

In the end, it’s your human readers who will determine how good the post was. If they like it, they’ll stick around and read the entire page. Some of them will also link back to the post.

And that’s all you need.

And remember – it doesn’t have to be perfect.

You just need your post to be good enough and better than the competition.

The February 2022 Traffic Report

You can read the initial report here. That post also includes more information about my web publishing business and an FAQ. Please check it out first if you have any questions.

My system in a nutshell

It’s not very complicated.

  1. Find suitable topics.
  2. Create good content.
  3. Scale by outsourcing, using a good workflow.
  4. Rinse, repeat.

I blogged here about my workflow.

If you want to learn how to find suitable topics and produce the right content, check out the courses on my resources page.

I won’t repeat each site’s story – only the basic stats. Please refer to the initial report to learn more about a site.

Site #1

  • Niche: General (the site does have a unifying theme)
  • First post published on April 2, 2021
  • Current number of published posts: 210
  • Projected number of published posts: 210 (for now – this might change in the future)
  • Monetization: Display ads + Amazon

December 2021 Traffic: 49,788 pageviews

January 2022 Traffic: 68,936 pageviews

February 2022 Traffic: 60,689 pageviews.

February was a shorter month, but the decline is real. We went down from a 2,224 daily average in January to a 2,167 daily average in February.

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen a decline in traffic across all of our sites. It began the day Putin threatened to invade Ukraine and continues since then – to some extent or another.

I guess people spend more time watching the news and less time browsing other topics. These things happen, and there’s nothing much to do other than ride them out. And count our blessings, as so many people are suffering through this war.

December 2021 Revenue: $1639.30

January 2022 Revenue: $1,546.57

February 2022 Revenue: $1,449

Per day, the revenue in February was higher than it was in January. RPM typically begins to go up this time of year, so that’s why less traffic still translates into more revenue.

Site #2

  • Niche: Home & DIY
  • First post published on June 11, 2021
  • Current number of published posts: 227
  • Projected number of published posts: 228 (just one more post in the content plan…)
  • Monetization: Amazon & display ads

Traffic in December 2021: 12,548 pageviews

January 2022 Traffic: 24,789 pageviews

February 2022 Traffic: 30,179 pageviews

Traffic is still growing but not as fast as it did last month. We’re approaching the expected plateau at some point (where Site #1 is currently).

Revenue in December 2021: $77.48

Revenue in January 2022: $379.69

Revenue in February 2022: $1,131

We added display ads to this site in mid-January. Having display ads throughout February, along with the increase in traffic, meant the site more than tripled its revenue in February (considering the length of the month).

I’m pleased with this site and suspect it’ll keep growing in the coming months.

Site #3

  • Niche: Pets
  • First post published on May 18, 2021
  • Current number of published posts: 119
  • Projected number of published posts: 119
  • Monetization: Amazon

Traffic in December 2021: 6,208 pageviews

Traffic in January 2022: 11,997 pageviews

Traffic in February 2022: 11,353 pageviews.

Traffic is still growing if you take into account the shorter month. We moved from 387 daily average to 405. Growth is slowing down, though.

It remains to be seen if the site stabilizes around these numbers or still has some growth potential.

Revenue in December 2021: $11.66

Revenue in January 2022: $45.95

Revenue in February 2022: $47

Site #4

  • Niche: Home & DIY
  • First post published on August 23, 2021
  • Current number of published posts: 206
  • Projected number of published posts: 216
  • Monetization: Amazon

Traffic in December 2021: 2,044 pageviews

Traffic in January 2022: 2,736 pageviews

Traffic in February 2022: 1,985 pageviews

The site is still deep in the sandbox. I was expecting early traffic signs in February, but we’re not just yet there.

I’m glad I included this site in the report. It’s an excellent example of how excruciating slow growth can be at first. And sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.

It’s too early to say whether this is a late bloomer or if we have an issue with the site. Only time will tell.

The Yeys AMA on Fat Stacks!

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’m about to hold an AMA event on the Fat Stacks forums, graciously hosted by Jon Dykstra. Super excited about that!

This is just a heads up for anyone interested in participating.

I’ll post more info about the AMA and how to take part in it in about a week. For now, I just wanted to let you all know about the dates and location.

Where and when

Location: The Fat Stacks forum

Date: The weekend of March 25-27

I’ve been a member of the Fat Stacks forums for a while now. It’s a wonderful community of web publishers where we can discuss things and share opinions and information in a (relatively) safe and private environment.

While I won’t be revealing any sites, I hope that the AMA will provide me with an opportunity to share more about my sites than I do here on the blog. Plus, there will be more room for discussion and dialogue with these being forums.

And yes, you have to be a Fat Stacks member to participate and ask your questions. With that in mind, I’m going to shut down commenting Yeys for the next couple of weeks to make sure questions are channeled to the AMA instead.

And what if you’re not a Fat Stacks member yet?

Ahhh, this is where I get to possibly make a commission selling Jon’s course.

If you’re in a rush to get the course now (perfectly understandable!), here’s my affiliate link.

If you wait for my official announcement post, there will be a special discount code for Yeys readers!

Whichever you choose is fine by me. Just keep in mind that Jon now limits registration to the course, so registration may be closed by the time you’re reading this post.

So, not asking anyone to leave a comment here today!

P.s. you can also find me on Twitter these days if you want to say hi.

One comment

  1. I think most important is realizing your audience. Like you said, they are alone the ones who judge the quality of your posts. When I give a presentation at work the same idea applies. I could have a presentation with very technical content that’s great, but if I am presenting this to a marketing team, the presentation will fall short and mean nothing to them. Thanks for the tips here Anne!

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