Engadget

Engadget needs very little introduction. It is a super successful website offering news, reviews and deals on everything tech.

How successful?

Well do you know those blogs that earn $100k/month? This is not one of them. This is a $5million/ month super site that we all aspire to.

Some stats just to make us even more jealous :)

• 286.2 million backlinks. The links are from authority websites as well- like Forbes, Gizmodo and Crunchbase
• around 1.3 million visitors per month
• 1.4 million Youtube subscribers
• 1.7 million Facebook fans
• I like it that you can imediately upload or send on the article from a button at the top of the article
  

So the website is a pinnacle of blogging. And that is ultimately what it is. At the end of the day it is a blog which offers uptodate news, reviews and deals. Which, if I never stated the blog's name, you would think it was a standard blog. What separates it out is not really the style- even though it looks great. It is:

• the amount of content
• gaining those specific backlinks to increase its authority

That is all. There are no specifics here. Content and that is it. Sure it has great social stats, but not as high as some other websites. It is really worthy to note that the articles are not over 800 words which Google likes. Theres one post about Youtube and Apple glasses- 230 words. So they don't really care about meeting that word count. So does Google care? Or are they not worried about SEO placement. Probably that- not worried about SEO.

It also helps that it was aquired by AOL in 2005 and probably has access to their advertisers. But...an advertiser won't put their ads on any old site as advertisement budgets need to be (hopefully) directed in the right direction.

How does Engadget sell more?

This is going to be a tough one. How do you say to a company, "hey do you know that successful business thats generating $5 million a month....you could do better!"

Most would laugh.

But, after a few walk arounds you can see things which might make sense- or actually doesn't.

• Youtube video. I dont understand why Youtube videos are not linked within the articles. Or if they are, they are well hidden. Take a random Apple glasses article:

Now, through that article there is no where linked to the Youtube video, or even the Youtube video within the article. Which Youtube video? The one with the same picture...showing off the Glasses.

For a company that seems to gain a lot of its revenue from Ads (through Yahoo Ads) are they allowed to promote Googles Youtube and have another moniterisation channel? If yes, then why not increase views of videos by placing them in the appropriate text? Sure you have a tab at the top that says "video"...but thats all it says and not even Youtube.

• Content. You can get lost in some of the content. Now this is probably by design and works wonders. But you can stray from the original article but stay within the theme. So in search you go to Apple Glasses (it gives great suggestions) you are presented with a list of articles. Click on one and it flows from one article to the next to the next. So it probably keeps people on the page and site longer but does it increase clickthroughs to the links within the articles? It is similar to "you might also be interested in" and theres thumbnails of articles. I am unsure.
  
• Content part 2. This content issue happens to all pages. So if you go onto deals you get a list of titles of deals on offer. You go into one and then theres a list of articles, one after another, not necessaily. So I clicked on Chromecast- I got a small article listing it and its sale price. Then underneath that I got Amazon Fire. then an article about Google search?
• Links. Some of the links jump you off the page- especially on affiliate pages.
  
• Ads. You have ads on the affiliate pages. Unsure which would be better- both? But are the ads a distraction or do they pay per page impression? If so then it doesn't really matter. But it is odd how the pages are not laser guided towards one link. In fact multle different affiliate companies are linked to- which when you think about it is a good idea.
• Dates. Some of the segments are not updated as much as you would have thought. So the movies section was last updated in early January:
  

It is also odd/ nice to see products listed within Movies- like the review of the TV but not put under the TV header?

• Community. I didn't realise that there was a community until I saw "login". Clicked it and then was asked to join the community. Unsure if this is like a forum thing or newsletter. Some differences would be a nice touch, also why should I join the community- is it any good, do I get bonuses/ deals earier than anyone else (which in itself would be a good idea)
• Email. Its good that you have an email sign up box- which sometimes is not that well seen. But also, could you throw in a bonus or an idea of what people have saved if they have joined? Its a good idea of segmenting the newsletters to deals and news. How about even more segmentation with Gaming, PC etc?
  
• Appropriate links. Sometimes when you click on an article you get links at the top of the page, normal right? But are they links to other articles of news or are they generated some other way? Take the picture below:
  

The links under the top ad read: Joe Rogan Spotify Deal, the best air fryers, Apple Air Tags sale...etc

To get to the article I clicked on a featured article. But, if you go to the Podcasts tab you get:

Same thing. But it doesnt appear on the other tabs. I thought it was an ad bar but nope, links within EnGadget.

• Interviews. I like interviews, could there be any, especially with some of the people that you cover?
• Bottom links. Why are buying guides listed at the bottom of the page. No other guides are? Just seems...different.
  
• Engadget masthead. I dodnt know what that means, it is their about us page, listing the editors/ contributors. Just About Us would be nice :)

Clearly Engadget are successful, we wish them all the best

More online selling articles can be checked out on the Jasonera blog.

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