How to build a niche site - episode 1: content

This article was written by Peter Chen from ww2db.com as a series on how to build a niche site.  Peter runs the World War II database on his own and will be using his experience as a case study for the series. 

Before I start, I want to thank Steve for the opportunity to write this guest column. Not too long ago, Steve and I had a conversation about monetization which inspired him to wrote the entry "How to monetize and publicize a niche site". I thought maybe I could talk a little about how I built the niche site World War II Database at ww2db.com

Episode 1 - Content

"If you build it, they will come." Ok, maybe they will not come right away, but they eventually will. In the mean time, you will have to grow the content steadily. With ww2db, I am taking a two-prong approach:

1. I write lots of quality original content.
Quality content is what sets my site apart from the thousands of WW2 sites out there on the web. If the visitors are looking for a good brief on Douglas MacArthur, and they find it at ww2db, they will come back for more.

2. I collect a lot of things from the web
Meanwhile, I also collect a lot of things from the web, such as photographs, statistics, transcripts or historical documents, etc. The value-add that ww2db provides is a well-designed interface for visitors to easily locate the information. If the visitors are given a quick way to find what they want, they will come back when they have the need again.

It's worth noting I write content for humans, not search engines
One note in regards to content is that ww2db's content are written for humans, not search engines. Often times, I would run across websites so saturated with keywords that the language no longer flows. You may be able to trick a visitor to come to your site by scoring high with the search engines, but a visitor who leaves unfulfilled is a missed chance to convert that visitor into a returning visitor. It is ok to sacrifice a little bit with the search engines; content that reads nicely is more important in the long run.

So with the nice content written, make sure you are delivering them to your visitors! To achieve that for ww2db, I established RSS feeds to deliver new articles to my subscribers. I also made sure every article is categorized properly, so visitors can quickly find what they are looking for. The Google Customer Search also helps in this perspective.

You have to stay on top of trends, follow popular demand
I also recommend any niche website owner to keep on the top of trends. For example, seeing Hollywood heavily advertising the films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters of Iwo Jima, I further beefed up the already rather complete ww2db article on Battle of Iwo Jima and the Japanese General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. I also made sure ww2db is among the top sites with photographs from Iwo Jima, since the web is such a visual medium. The result? My site was ready for the Iwo Jima craze that lasts through until time of this writing. The article for that particular battle has been my top viewed page for months on end now.

Commenting is crucial
Finally, a webmaster should never underestimate the power of having a commenting system for visitors. Do not let the apparent lack of control scare you. Allowing users to comment, even if you get terribly negative feedback, is a good thing. For one, it may generate controversy that you will end up having several users returning day after day to see how others responded to their comments. Or, it might generate a community of its own, like ww2db has done with its article on the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, which became a hub of communications for veterans and their families. If anything, think of it as a way to get free content! I am not afraid to admit that some visitor comments on ww2db provide as much insight as my own articles, because these comments help me build better content!

Tune in tomorrow for episode two of this 4-part series on building a niche site. I'll be talking about my approach to SEO.  In the mean time visit ww2db.com.

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