Here is an innovative way which companies can use to get more traffic to your site.
Do you know what skyscraper pages are?
The concept is very simple: these are highly detailed, in-depth content pages that offer an insane amount of value to the reader. In a nutshell, you take old content that’s performing well and make an even better version to blow your competitors out of the water.
The best thing? Because long-form content performs better than any other type of content, skyscraper pages help to bring more high-quality traffic to your website.
As an example, we have several skyscraper pages here at Idea to Value which bring in significant traffic every day:
- 15 most important Innovation Theories your company should be using
- 10 Famous inventions that were the culmination of other people’s work
- What is innovation? 15 experts share their innovation definition
How’s it all done? Let’s take a look at what you need to do.
Why Skyscraper Pages Work
Skyscraper pages sound tricky because they’re so long, so in depth and so valuable. To this end, they’re demanding on your part. A skyscraper page can contain upwards of 4,000 words, and as such, you’ll be spending a lot of time on its creation.
But here’s the better news: no one who creates skyscraper pages actually starts off with a brand new idea that no ones written about yet. Instead, they take the right existing ideas and execute them more effectively.
This means that you don’t need to waste your valuable time finding new topic ideas. Instead, a skyscraper page is a page that’s inspired by an existing, well-performing piece of content.
It uses that piece of content as its base and inspiration, and then expands and improves on it, offering more value – facts, figures, advice, infographics and so on – to your audience.
This works for two reasons:
- As consumers of information, we always want the best knowledge and advice. If Article A is offering us more than Article B, we’ll go with Article A.
- Google wants you to provide as much value as you can to your audience. For this reason, it ranks high-quality, long-form content better than short form content.
Skyscraper Pages and Links
The fundamental reason people create skyscraper pages is to secure more links.
Why? Backlinks help you rank for keywords on SERPs. The more times an authoritative website links out to you, the higher you will rank.
An authoritative website is a high traffic website that’s related to your niche, and which has good Domain Authority. When it links out to you, your own ranking – and thus visibility – will improve.
Not just this, but securing backlinks on related websites with high traffic means you’ll get more of that website’s traffic.
Why would these sites link out to your content, though? Because your content is so good, so in depth and so valuable that sharing it with their audience increased their own expertise.
How to Create Skyscraper Pages
Now for the not-so-easy part.
Find Linkable Content
As mentioned, there’s no need for you to come up with a brand new topic totally from scratch. Instead, you can expand on a piece of content that already exists. Your aim is to find a linkable asset and make it even more linkable.
The easiest way to find content that’s already being shared a lot is to use a tool called BuzzSumo. This is every marketer’s dream, as it shows you what content people are sharing the most.
For example, you can search for, say, ‘best productivity apps’, and see what comes up.
When you see the big numbers next to a particular piece of content, you know that content is share-worthy.
We also advise that you check out how many backlinks that the web page contains. It needs to have a substantial amount so that the piece is worth your time.
Use a tool like Ahrefs to do this.
Your next aim is to …
Spot The Weaknesses
Now, any content that is performing well is obviously good. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have so many backlinks or be shared so much.
However, there’ll be a weakness somewhere – and it’s your job to spot it.
This won’t be so easy straight away, but the more skyscraper pages you create, the easier this will get.
For example, it might be that the best performing ‘best productivity apps’ article is old and needs updating.
The weakness could be anything, and you need to spot it before you revamp outdated content. Replace boring language with power words. Optimize the content for SEO. Take the content from 50 to 100% before you publish.
Create the Ultimate Guide
When it comes to skyscraper pages, you need to think big.
Words like ‘ultimate’ and ‘awesome’ need to be at the forefront of your mind because your content has to be better than the competition.
In fact, the new piece has to blow the existing content out of the water, which means you need to pull out all the stops.
This can sound exhausting, but some of the times all it means is adding more words and items. However, you can’t just add words for the sake of words. Any extra content you come up with must offer value to your audience.
It’s a good idea to look for up to date facts and figures that the previous article missed, too.
You’ll also want to set yourself a goal before you begin your monumental task. For example, if you’re inspired by an article that lists 50 SEO hacks, you might decide to write one that lists 100. Add more meat to each bullet point and stock each item with more depth and more value.
Consider the visuals, too. People love images, and we process them 60,000 times faster than we process text. We share images more, too – as stats show, articles with images receive 94% more views. If an existing piece of content has 5 images, destroy it with 20 high-quality images.
Work on your presentation. The design is so important and no one is going to want to share or link out to an ugly page.
Rather than use the typical WYSIWYG editor for your blog post, leverage a WordPress Visual Editor to make your pages more stunning. People will stay on your page longer.
Reach Out to Influencers
Now that you’ve got your skyscraper page and you’re confident that it’s better than the competition, it’s time to reach out to website owners who have already linked to similar content.
These are the people who will help to create a buzz around your blog post and provide your website with a backlink.
To find a list of website owners who may have a good chance of linking to your blog post, you can use a tool like Ahrefs. This tool can show you the exact websites that are linking to the original piece of content that inspired your skyscraper page in the first place.
You will then need to find the website owners email address yourself by either going to their website content form or using software such as Hunter.
Then, you need to email them with a link to your content, explaining who you are and why their audience would appreciate your content.
Keep the emails brief and to the point, and focus on what your skyscraper page is going to do for them. Maybe it will cement their position as an expert, drive even more traffic and so on
Facts and figures can often win people over. If you’ve got some data that you know their audience is going to love, there’s a high chance they’ll be receptive to you.
Create a Company Logo
If you want influencers to trust you and share your content, you need to present yourself as a reputable and credible company. If your skyscraper page is on a website that looks spammy and dated, why would you ever receive a response?
To this end, you need to work on your branding.
Branding connects people and builds trust. Moreover, your brand informs your image and values, and an influencer needs to be able to see that you share their own values and image.
So work on your branding. Define your values and then create a logo using a logo maker tool, before creating consistent content that’s driven by your core message.
Conclusion
And that’s really all you have to do. Sound simple?
Well, skyscraper pages don’t have to be as arduous as they might sound. Just pick a great piece of content, find its weaknesses, and expand on it. And all the while, remember that this needs to be the ultimate resource. Add dynamic tips, images, infographics, and lots of data and you’ll be well on your way.
Ashley Kimler
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