The seven crucial factors for creating category-dominating and high traffic websites

Category-dominating sites are difficult to create and there’s little doubt why. Creating a formidable entity not only takes time, energy, and resources, but it also takes an in-depth understanding of oneself. There are seven crucial factors for success that must be mastered in order to establish front-runner position. Most would-be industry leaders find it nearly impossible to master one of these areas, let alone all seven. The requisite success factors—in no particular order—are:

• Specific Area of Focus: Identify your core interests and desired target market. In other words, what do you have innate love for and whom do you want to serve? From forensic accountants and third grade teachers to underwater welders and golf coaches, exhaustively providing relevant information and continuously adding beneficial, focused content to one specific subset of the population often equates to long-term success. This is not to say that expansion to other products and services is forever removed from the equation; however, this should only happen after market dominance has been established (think Amazon).

• Professional Website Design: Clearly a no-brainer, but there are so many poorly designed sites it bears repeating. Model competitive and other category-leading sites that receive significant traffic. Customers flock there for a reason.

• Visibility to Target Market: Where do potential customers gather and how can they be reached? One can have the best products and services in the world, but if no one knows about them, their business is irrelevant. Identifying high-return opportunities to spread the word is crucial.

• Expert, Valuable Content: Nothing breeds credibility and stickiness (the amount of time a visitor stays on the site) as will pertinent, well crafted content from both contributors the clientele knows and up-and-coming game changers. To establish authority, combine cutting-edge, exciting ideas and information with proven industry products and services.

Internet Prophets: The World's Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online by Steve Olsher

• Interactive/Social Visitor Experience: Leading sites encourage visitors to contribute content, comment on articles and products, and share thoughts via social networks with their tribe.

From Facebook and Twitter to StumbleUpon and LinkedIn, today’s customers insist upon leveraging social media to disseminate positive and negative feedback while cutting the learning curve down for fellow surfers.

• Free High-Value Products: Like it or not, free is mandatory. To drive traffic, one must offer something of inherent value that pushes beyond articles, helpful resources, and videos. Doing so not only enables site owners to capture leads as the customer typically opts in to receive the free product, it also fulfills the unwritten obligation they have to connect with their audience in a deeper manner than simply posting relevant content.

• Products/Services for Sale: Without products and services to sell, the rest of the equation is moot. Even not-for-profits ask for donations. Why? Because hosting, updating, and maintaining even the simplest of sites has related expenses. Creating for-sale products and services is a necessary part of doing business. the recommended manner for establishing authority is to first gain credibility within one specific aspect of the industry and then, if desired, seek to expand.

Although it may seem counterintuitive, the more narrow your focus, the wider a net you can cast.

Internet Prophets: The World's Leading Experts Reveal How to Profit Online by Steve Olsher