What types of content are people buying and selling?

[PaulMaplesden]

Following on from my recent analysis of sales on CC ( https://www.constant-content.com/forum/ ... =4&t=76719 ) I recently carried out an analysis of four week’s worth of article sales on Constant Content (CC).

In total, I analyzed the titles of just over 800 articles, sold over the last four weeks and ran the results through some text analysis to identify what the most popular words in the various article titles were. I’m happy to share the results of this below.

Sentence length and syllables
Average sentence length (words) : 6.4
Average Syllables per Word : 1.75

A typical selection of article titles are:
The Role of Games and Play in Education
Avoiding Honeymoon Hotel Hassles
Eating for a Healthier Liver
A Guide To Selecting New Staff
Four Herbal Remedies to Help You Sleep
Expert Portrait Photography in Six Steps
10 Quick and Easy SEO Tips

We can see from this that the article titles are short, very clear and concise and tell the prospective buyer (and the eventual reader) exactly what to expect.

Most common words used in titles
your
how
tips
you
home
ways
top
best
why
make

We can see from the above that the second person pronouns ‘You’ and ‘Your’ are extremely popular. This reflects the trends towards educational and how to articles that address the reader directly. How to guides and tips are also very well represented.


Most common 2 word phrases
how to
tips for
ways to
your home
benefits of
tips to
to make
guide to
apps for
help you
your business
social media
your life
why you
steps to
safety tips
to keep
your child
back pain
your website
reasons to
reasons why
you need
small business
to save
health benefits
to avoid
warning signs
real estate
make your
this summer
save money
android device
your android
easy ways
become a
a guide
what to
a successful
know about
weight loss
early warning

Again, it’s clear that ‘how to’ guides remain by far the most popular type of article sold. There’s also an emphasis on home, health, apps, business and social media. Tips, benefits, guides/help and analysis (reasons) are also very well represented.

Most common three word phrases
health benefits of
how to make
to help you
why you should
you need to
your android device
for your android
easy ways to
ways to make
early warning signs
reasons why you
how to stop
save money on
need to know
to save money
watch out for
to boost your
how to be
what to do
the benefits of
ways to save
organic skin care
apps for your
brief guide to
when buying a
a guide to
law of attraction

There are some interesting insights to be gleaned from the three word phrase analysis. Health benefits was the most popular phrase, but technology, money saving and health are also popular topics. People wanting to change how they do things are a popular audience too.

Emphasis / Action word frequency
your
how
tips
you
ways
top
why
new
make
from
what
best
should
about
help
benefits
out
get
know

This list simply shows the most common words found in titles and would be the most common emphasis / action words that encourage people to click through. Again, second person pronoun, how to guides and educational / informational articles seem to be the most popular.

Subject matter word frequency
home
business
summer
reasons
health
apps
life
things
guide
cancer
work
day
jewelry
back
care
great
save
online
signs
safety
wedding
steps
seo
photography
money
basic
common
time
weight
social
easy
website
mistakes
successful
media
mobile
skin
child
green
healthy
loss
diabetes
success
water
safe
improve
being
sleep
pain
personal
android
year
children
content
increase
perfect
credit
write
understanding
estate
review
windows
living
fun
search
house
market
eat
device
create
beauty
options
marketing
treatment
exercise
warning
early
diet

These are the most common subject matters covered by the articles. As you can see, business, health, lifestyle and relationships are all very well represented.

I hope that you found this analysis of content marketing titles to be useful.

Paul.

[Lysis]

Nice job. Was this automated or manual scraping?

[PaulMaplesden]

It was manual scraping, based on the 'recently sold content' section - I've been gathering data from there over the last few weeks. I amalgamated it together and ran it through a text analyzer, cleansed the results and posted them here. I'm working on visualizing some of the data as well and should have that post up soon.

[Lysis]

Thanks for that. Good stats.

[Isabelnewth]

It's also interesting to see all the instances of you and your etc in the light of the questions raised by Renee F (I think) in the questions about rejections section! It's very odd.

And thanks a lot for sharing all that work The results seem to confirm conventional wisdom, but that's still very useful to know.

[ReneeF]

It's also interesting to see all the instances of you and your etc in the light of the questions raised by Renee F (I think) in the questions about rejections section! It's very odd.

And thanks a lot for sharing all that work The results seem to confirm conventional wisdom, but that's still very useful to know.

It is interesting and it confirms my thesis on what really sells, that is second person vernacular. The editor(s) who have demanded that the rules must be strictly upheld (only third person vernacular) informed me more than once that second person vernacular does not sell and that commanding the reader to do stuff through use of second person vernacular is rude and off putting.

On a happier note, I have sold a second article in six months since writing exclusively in third person.

The above data does seem common sense and makes me happier with the selection of titles I am working on (over 1,000 in my desk folder right now) as they totally fit within this data except for the usage of second person vernacular.

Thank you so very much for your hard work Paul, you are making work ROCK!

[Isabelnewth]

Halo, Renee, do you mind me asking what exactly you mean by 2nd person vernacular?...it's not a term I have come across. I was assuming you meant 'you' as a substitute for the more formal 'one'. As in: 'You should then go on to fill the kettle with water', for example. Is that what you mean or is it something else or something more specific?

Just asking, because I don't understand the reference to sounding too bossy in that case.

If it's what would be called the 'imperative' mood in Latin, eg 'Fill the kettle with water!' then that could sound bossy after a while.

Cheers.

[ReneeF]

Halo, Renee, do you mind me asking what exactly you mean by 2nd person vernacular?...it's not a term I have come across. I was assuming you meant 'you' as a substitute for the more formal 'one'. As in: 'You should then go on to fill the kettle with water', for example. Is that what you mean or is it something else or something more specific?

Just asking, because I don't understand the reference to sounding too bossy in that case.

If it's what would be called the 'imperative' mood in Latin, eg 'Fill the kettle with water!' then that could sound bossy after a while.

Cheers.

Yeah I didnt understand their reference to "bossy and demanding" and telling me the reader didnt want to be referred to as "you.

When I speak of second person vernacular I am speaking of "YOU" as opposed to first person "I, We. Us, Our, or ONE" which I did get dinged for. (I KNOW not to use I, but I had the occasional OUR or US slipped in to make the text sound more personal... as a sales initiated we know saying WE and OUR makes the reader feel like the idea or project is a team effort and generally fosters more camaraderie and sales.) And apparently ONE instead of YOU is also not accepted. and "one" sounds to me like someone from a third world country is writing it, because I worked along side quite a few in *cough less educated Cough* content farms in my early days as a writer (2001 to 2009).

When I speak of second person vernacular I definitely do mean "YOU, YOUR, YOU'RE" and since I do write a lot of recipes, how to's, and instructional saying nifty little phrases such as "raise the arms up over head before beginning to stretch" sounds clunky and impersonal. There is nothing like writing a recipe that says "turn the hand in a brisk manner while holding the whisk" to make the hand seem more like an object and quite cadaverous. Or when I write web marketing articles and I say THE WEBSITE instead of YOUR WEBSITE.



And the rejects were not in one section, I am quite an eclectic writer, and have 20 years real world work experience outside of writing, so I write everything EXCEPT political pieces and sports.

When I speak of second person vernacular here is an example of my content in 2013, pre-first person era: https://www.constant-content.com/MoreDe ... Wealth.htm

Apparently between this first article and the last one to sell in 2013 there were NUMEROUS complaints and I was notified that second person was not acceptable. I started writing here in 2011, but my content kept getting rejected and I took a break to take several more writing courses. I finally had 20 articles up by November of 2013, but I was asked to remove most of them. (After I voluntarily took them down to edit and resubmitted them and had them approved a second time). I was kindly handed long lists of problems with my work with each one and sometimes nearly a page of links and comments to improve upon (thank you for having faith in me editors, in some ways the/you editors DO rock!) and nearly every one came back with the second person vs. Third person issue. I have turned those comments into an 8-point font, grid-outlined two-page sheet of 12 areas with lists from 6 to 10 long for each section of editing changes which I review 5 times each per article.

Imagine how much I seethe inside to see nearly every article sold being in second person while I struggle to make third person less awkward, less clunky, more concise, and more active.

[Isabelnewth]

Hi there, that link doesn't work..says the article isn't available.

I think that it might be a good idea, if it's practicable, for you to post a section or a whole article (maybe in the 'rejections' section of the forum) to give a better idea of what actual 2nd person use the eds object to. Because quite clearly it isn't every instance of the 2nd person, and you may be going too far and damaging your sanity and your sales by avoiding any use whatsoever... Unless CC come back to you with an explanation that makes sense of course.

Congratulations on your sale, I haven't had any for ages!

[ReneeF]

Hi there, that link doesn't work..says the article isn't available.

I think that it might be a good idea, if it's practicable, for you to post a section or a whole article (maybe in the 'rejections' section of the forum) to give a better idea of what actual 2nd person use the eds object to. Because quite clearly it isn't every instance of the 2nd person, and you may be going too far and damaging your sanity and your sales by avoiding any use whatsoever... Unless CC come back to you with an explanation that makes sense of course.

Congratulations on your sale, I haven't had any for ages!

They were quite clear and listed the words "You, They, Them" and even articles were any occurrence was rare they simply sent the reject with "the use of second person is forbidden" and then sen me a link to owly.

My sanity was quite shaken and I have not written anything for months as I wrapped my head around following a VERY strict set of guidelines based on the links to owly and comments given by editors. My writing is much improved, even if my insanity towards editing is growing, LOL...

[Lysis]

I find that you need to write differently here than on other sites. You kinda need to get a feel for how the editors work. My normal rejections are for wordiness, so I try to keep sentences short. I have another site I write for where the editor kicks back stuff for sentences being too short and choppy, and she prefers me to have different sentence lengths. She says short sentences are boring to read.

So, there is a preference here. I also think different eds edit different topics, so it's easier to get a feel for certain editors and get surprised when it doesn't work for other topic editors. I don't want to tell you where or how to write, but maybe pick your favorite topic and focus there. Get a feel for the editor(s) and work there for a while. Then, go for other areas. There are certain topics here where I'll always get a kickback and other eds just seem to like my writing.

Writing drives me crazy sometimes. With code, it works or it doesn't work. As long as no one reads your code, it's all that matters. I think I'm pretty good at that. I am so-so at this artsy thing.

[ReneeF]

I find that you need to write differently here than on other sites. You kinda need to get a feel for how the editors work. My normal rejections are for wordiness, so I try to keep sentences short. I have another site I write for where the editor kicks back stuff for sentences being too short and choppy, and she prefers me to have different sentence lengths. She says short sentences are boring to read.

So, there is a preference here. I also think different eds edit different topics, so it's easier to get a feel for certain editors and get surprised when it doesn't work for other topic editors. I don't want to tell you where or how to write, but maybe pick your favorite topic and focus there. Get a feel for the editor(s) and work there for a while. Then, go for other areas. There are certain topics here where I'll always get a kickback and other eds just seem to like my writing.

Writing drives me crazy sometimes. With code, it works or it doesn't work. As long as no one reads your code, it's all that matters. I think I'm pretty good at that. I am so-so at this artsy thing.

I'd get so bored writing in just one subject that I would be too depressed to write. The big reason why I like ot write is that I get an excuse to read and study fascinating things all day. That being said, most of my work fits into business or health. Code makes me an angry person, but I still get to do my fair share of it every week.