Google Adsense: Your Content Better Not Suck

I wanted to take a few minutes and write to you about something that is vitally important in building websites with Google Adsense for fun and profit.

I’m sure that you’ve heard this before, but I’m going to beat a dead horse right now, because it’s really, REALLY important to understand, and newbies and even experienced people STILL don’t get it (or maybe want to get it).

Let me shout this from the rooftops, so all will hear it...

Without good content, your venture into Google Adsense, and getting any kind of profits from Adsense is going to be tough, tough tough.

In fact, I’d say that it was almost impossible to generate any long term profits without good, solid content of some kind on your website.

Content is something that you simply can’t ignore, and it's a crime above crime if you do. Search engines love content and depend on it to kick back quality content results to its end users, people like you and me, or that guy who's looking for what you've got to give him, whether it's actual products, a service or just a Google Adsense ad.

Without good content for search engines to use and direct people to you, your website will never be found by anyone. In short, without content, your isolation from your end user is pratically guaranteed.

In case you haven't gotten it about the importance of content, let me one more thing. The big search engines, in many cases, even check your page for content and relevancy when you buy pay-per-click traffic. And without relevant content, they won't accept your ad.

So guess what? You need to be relevant, and you need some content to be relevant with.

Then there the problem with Google Adsense dropping advertisements into your site that have nothing to do with your site. I'll talk about PSAs (Public Service Ads), and how to avoid these no-paying ads in another message soon.

Readers love content, and will go out of their way to find good things to read in the subjects they care about. And if you provide them good content, they'll come looking again for you.

Without good content that people will come back to again and again, you’ll be a one shot website, and people won’t come back.

I’ve seen different webmasters and builders use specialized programs for page building. These programs build what is commonly called “scraper sites”. These sites take info from other web pages, and assimilate keyword-rich pages that supposedly will rank high on search engines. Granted these pages are total nonsense, and while they generate huge traffic from their high rankings, they usually don’t stay around long.

This scraper strategy may work for a while, but eventually search engines like Google will find out, and penalize your site.

Many sites are using programs that generate content. But people know what those sites are about the minute your page opens up on their browser. And once again, the search engines may very well pick up on the fact that you’re using artificial means to generate pages on your site, and ban you. It’s not worth it.

So you ask: how do I find relevant info to use in my site?

1. Explore Other Sites

No, don’t steal articles word for word from other places. But ideas for stories? That’s a different story (literally).

As Solomon said the Bible, “there’s nothing new under the sun.” But there’s always a “new” slant on content, and you’re a good brainstorm away from finding it.

Use your head. Check out what others are doing on their sites, and then combine the things you like in their content and ideas to make your content sing.

Be objective when looking other people’s content. If something grabs you, ask yourself why? Ask yourself why that angle of idea appealed to you when you came across it? And when you visit each site, ask yourself as you leave, “why would I come back to this site?”

2. Remember: The News Of The World and Your Adsense Site Are Connected.

If you’re maintaining an Adsense-oriented site, you need to be a “mini-expert” on your niche. That means reading material from others, and seeing how they can affect your Google Adsense site. You may think I’m repeating what I said above. I’m not. I’m talking about being personally involved in your content.

In your niche, affected by the winds of change, fickle buyers and surfers, and the ever changing landscape of the world and the web are sub niches. By keeping even the slightest tabs on your niche, you can align it to happenings outside of your niche that will affect your niche itself.

Example: One of the heavy keywords that came up this week when I was putting together my Top 500 Google Adsense Keyword List (available every two weeks for free, by the way, from http://axalda.info/topkeywords.html) was “cheap student airline tickets”. Of course, people always want to travel cheap, but why students?

Because it’s Spring Break, and kids are looking to spend Mom's and Dad's money for two weeks. If I had a niche, that I could have tied that information into a page on my travel or vacation website, I’d probably do very well in Adsense.

3. Read Magazines

Read a book or two. In many cases, magazines don’t follow trends—they make them. If you can get your hands on a publication or two that covers aspects of your niche, plunk down a buck or two, and get inspired.

There are a lot more ideas about how top get good content. Use your head, and fix it on your niche. Remember, like I said, you’re only one good brainstorm away from Adsense gold.

Till Next Time, Keep Building!

Gary