Have you recently started a gaming and eSports news website? According to PR Newswire, 61% of Americans play video games. That means millions would love to get their hands on the latest gaming industry news, gossip, and updates. Your website aims to offer all that.
However, you might find it hard to manage this website while establishing an online presence. That’s because the eSports industry is on the rise, and new news channels are popping up every day. Statista reports that the American eSports market is expected to grow at a 14.6% CAGR to reach USD 1,515 million by 2028.
Navigating this growing gaming world through unmaintained web pages can be challenging for most startup founders. In this blog post, we’ll discuss three pitfalls that eSports and gaming news website founders should avoid.
#1. Not Providing Consistent Content on the Website
Content doesn’t always have value, especially if it’s irrelevant and incorrect. Forbes reported that outdated content can make any asset a liability.
Neglecting to upload consistent and well-researched content daily on your eSports and gaming news website can cause your online presence to dwindle. Without fresh content, visitors will feel disengaged. In turn, it’ll hinder traffic and reduce audience retention.
Unfortunately, updates and news are inconsistent in the gaming industry. For instance, eSports Insider, the leading news website, posted eight news updates on May 16th, 2023. However, on May 20th, they only uploaded four articles.
Let’s say there’s an eSports tournament happening next month. In that case, you can cover topics related to past tournaments, the expected number of rounds, the prize pool, and predictions. During the event, your news website can cover each game, the strategies used by the players, etc.
In the off-season, you can cover topics about gameplay tips, player transfers, new video game releases, social news about eSports athletes, etc. Doing so will help boost your rankings and bring organic traffic by keeping readers informed and engaged with relevant news.
Stagnant content can make your website outdated and diminish its relevance. Search engines also prefer websites that regularly provide updated content. That means consistent uploads will help your news platform grow and have an authoritative presence in the industry.
#2. Not Focusing on Link Building
How will your target audience find you? Industry leaders believe link-building is a good way to boost an eSports news website’s online visibility and attract traffic. These can become quality signposts that bring audiences to your website. For example, backlinks can truly make your website look trustworthy through off-page SEO techniques.
You can do this by collaborating with gaming influencers, using social media, guest posting, and leveraging gaming forums. Most platforms that accept guest posts use a backlink checker to determine the quality of your link. With this tool, they’ll determine whether your links are spammy or of low quality.
In most cases, you can also use this tool to help brainstorm backlinking strategies and fine-tune them. According to The Upper Ranks, these tools allow website owners to learn the kinds of links high-authority websites build and receive. It helps you study recent links and compare them with the web traffic metrics or with your competitors.
Another way to attract a wide audience and earn monetary benefits is by allowing others to use your platform for backlinking. You can create a separate section to post third-party articles related to game releases, updates, etc. However, you must ensure the backlinks in these published guest posts are verified by a backlink checker.
When choosing this tool, you must check its accuracy, reliability, user-friendliness, and functionality. Remember to also consider the cost, availability of customer support, and reviews.
#3. Ignoring Performance Checks
Just because your website is running and has traffic doesn’t mean your backend job is done. Not overlooking performance checks is pivotal for any eSports and gaming news website. For instance, you cannot ignore loading speed, site responsiveness, performance, server uptime, and overall SEO.
Did you know that slow-loading pages and server downtimes can be detrimental? For instance, you can miss the opportunity to cover breaking news and unique events. Poor website performance can also affect your search engine rankings, reducing online visibility.
That’s why you’ll need regular checks using website performance tools. Doing so will ensure that your web pages are optimized for a seamless user experience. All these will help uphold the website’s reputation as a reliable source for timely gaming news.
In summary, you must steer clear of these critical eSports and gaming website mistakes. Your online news platform will fail if you don’t embrace performance checks, consistently update content, and focus on link-building strategies.
It’s also crucial to create a responsive design to make the website accessible across all devices. Doing so will maximize engagement and organic reach. Moreover, implementing SEO strategies can help foster a community by enhancing your online visibility.
With these tips, your eSports news website can aim for long-term success in a fast-paced industry. All you have to do is focus on a user-centric approach.
