Diner Dave Writes Content

Quick recap: I now have the domain name DinerDave.com, uploaded the basic wordpress template from my bluehost account, and I’ve done the market research to determine what my target readers would be searching for online.

So what’s next?

After speaking with Ros and posting a few questions in the NPT forum, I was advised to write at least 7 posts and publish them to DinerDave.com BEFORE enhancing my site with the StudioPress Lifestyles Theme. Ros says that by having 7 posts to populate the Lifestyles template it fills out the page, post, and category hierarchies more efficiently.

So now it’s time for the meat and potatoes of DinerDave! I need to write some content based on the most popular restaurant and dining related keywords (see last post DinerDave Does Market Research to see what those keywords are)!

Step 1 – Finding Content

I have a head start when it comes to FINDING content to write about in that I read the “National Restaurant Association Smart Briefs” at least twice a week to help me in my day job as a restaurant wine sales rep. This email newsletter is jam-packed with tons of great articles on dining out and restaurant events and specials.

I also regularly check my Google Alerts that I set up with the following words: restaurant coupons, restaurant discounts, restaurant specials, restaurant gift certificates, restaurant reviews, restaurant reservations. In fact, I used one of the USA Today articles titled “Full Service Chains Entice Diners with Deals” that was featured in the restaurant specials Google Alert. I paraphrased some of the information contained in the article and added more restaurants with recession specials to create the DinerDave.com post “Restaurant Recession Specials Mean Big Savings for Diners!“

And last, but certainly not least, I use my own experience with products and services offered by merchants such as Restaurant.com, Zagat.com, and OpenTable.com to write review posts. I have found that the easiest posts to write are the ones where I am simply talking about the products or services that I use frequently to enhance my dining out experience. See How I Saved $303/Week Dining Out with Restaurant.com” for an example of this type of post.

Step 2 – Determine if Content is “Post Worthy”

Now that I have gathered all these articles with ideas and information that I can pass along to my readers, I need to determine which ones will make the best posts. Here is the criteria I use to decide which posts to publish to DinerDave:

1. Is there an merchant affiliate program in place for the subject matter I’m writing about? I realize I cannot monetize EVERY post with an merchant offer, BUT I can at least populate the post with the right keywords to drive traffic to my site. Then maybe I can tack on some google ads to monetize that traffic or at least entice the site visitor to sign up for my e-newsletter.
2. Will the post have compelling content for “diehard diners” or at least be interesting to someone who would like to “dine more & pay less”? In other words, would a foodie like myself SEARCH for the content contained in this post?
3. Am I writing about product or service that I have personally used or experienced? If I have not used the product or service, then I will not write about it….period!

Step 3 – Writing Content

Writing content can actually be a bit of a daunting task for me since I have never considered myself to be a very eloquent, grammatically correct, or prolific writer. One piece of advice Ros gives that always helps me out when writing content is something I read in her article 6 Ways to Build Site Content:

“If you think that your writing lacks luster or you find that it’s a real grind, here’s a tip…writing well really isn’t that difficult. Can you talk? Can you tell a friend about a product or service that you like? If you can, then all you need to do is pretend that you’re talking to a friend and and type what you would say to them.”

This is actually what I’m doing right now…with you.

Using the advice and criteria listed above I’ve recently finished 7 posts and now I am ready to upload my cool new Studio Press Lifestyles Template to DinerDave.com (with a little help from my new friend Justin).

Stay tuned for my next Diner Dave Diary Post – “Designing the Look and Feel of DinerDave.com“!

Related Posts

1. Diner Dave Creates an Email Newsletter
2. Diner Dave Works His Email Marketing Plan
3. DinerDave Does Market Research
4. Affiliate Site Case Study: Introducing Diner Dave
5. 6 Ways to Build Site Content