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Your Content for Nothing and Your Clicks for Free
The first thing my business consultant (read brother-in-law) asked me, when I told him that I wanted to build a website and put AdSense on it was, "Do you want to build a site to help people or to make money?" After thinking about it for a while I couldn't imagine why I shouldn't do both. Why not a website that helps people and generates money for me? My consultant looked at me like I had taken one too many falls off my bike, which he knew I road primarily to save on the cost of gas, but he proceeded forward.
"Okay, well what will your site be on?" He encouraged me to think about the things in which I was an expert. That wasn't too tough.
I've spent five years helping people in crisis find drug addiction treatment. "How about if I help people understand drug addiction treatment." Now he was sure I had taken too many falls, and that they had all been while riding without a helmet. More out of pity than duty, he showed me how to use Overture's bid tool. We put in drug addiction treatment and found that the top bid was for $100.00 "www.customtreatmentprograms.com (Advertiser's Max Bid: $100.00)". My consultant's mouth dropped to the floor. "Is that good?" I asked. He just shook his head, probably wondering why his sister had ever married such a dope.
I quickly learned that the challenge was going to be content. I could only write so much of it myself, and when he told me that I needed to try and build up to 500 pages - I almost lost interest. He explained about free articles and showed me where to find them, but there was hardly anything related to the subject in the archives. He suggested that I write what I could and consider getting some professional help. Of course, he explained that everything I paid for meant less net profit.
My first attempt at buying articles was a disaster. I found a freelance site and solicited bids. I negotiated $115.00 for ten and thought I was doing great. I paid forty percent up-front figuring that it would help provide motivation for the writer to do my work ahead of others. When the first four articles came in there was something suspicious. I found unique lines in each and googled them, they were all stolen off the net. After spending hours making sure that I could get my money back, I contemplated giving up.
But then I had an idea. Frequently, when I needed to learn something about the latest drug I got it from the government. That's when the two sweetest words in my vocabulary became "public domain". I decided I would collect the best and most important information on drugs and drug addiction and build content rich websites. For a case study of how great this can work check out www.addictionsresources or www.alcoholismresources I have written some of the content, but more than 85% of it is public domain.
Not all of the public domain material turned out to be AdSense worthy. That is, not all of it had content that allowed Google to match appropriate ads and I so some pages were being served public service announcements. Some still are, and looking at the site will help you see what has worked and what hasn't.
Can this strategy work for other high paying key words? Consider these high paying key words and keyword terms: "Home loan" there are 3,940,000 pages in an advanced Google government search; "Asbestos cancer" 63,900 pages and mesothelioma 767,000 pages.
Remember it's good form to credit your source even when it comes from the public domain. Happy mining.
© 2005, David Westbrook
David Westbrook is a freelance writer and the creator of http://www.allthingsadsense.com where you will find the best information on this and other afiliate programs you can contact David at http://www.recoveryresources@gmail.com
Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 2
Succeeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many these days. It may seem nearly impossible at times, but it can be done. This series covers some of the basic success factors - things you must consider in creating, implementing, managing and developing a quality eCommerce web site. There are many ways to do business on the internet - and, not surprisingly, a lot of ways to both make and lose money. Mainly, I'm focusing on eCommerce sites intended to sell products of various kinds. Not every factor is going to apply to every site, but since a major failing of many internet entrepreneurs is the lack of multiple income streams, you'd do well to carefully consider all factors and apply them as needed in developing alternate revenue streams.
Server Side Includes (SSI) with ASP
People often have identical sections of code spread throughout many ASP pages, typically code at the top of the page (usually referred to as the header) and the lower part of the page (the footer). Similarly, you may have code that performs a certain set of instructions that you are repeating across multiple pages. Consider an example:-
Make Your Web Site User-Friendly!
Making a web site is easy. Making a good web site is not so easy. There are many things you have to consider if you want to make a good and successful web site.
The Power Is In The Pipes: How To Get Maximum Leverage From Your Website
What is the most important part of your online business?Many people would say: "my website". And that'sunderstandable ? it's the most visible part of an internetbusiness.
Effectively Using Robots Meta Tags
The "robots" meta tag, when used properly, will tell the search engine spiders whether or not to index and follow a particular page. For the purposes of this article, we will be using the "( )" symbols to represent the "" in html coding.
Autoresponders Make You Look Like A Pro
People like to get immediate responses to requests. Autoresponders are great for letting people know you are on the job and that their requests are being taken care of. These are much better than thank you pages.
I Did It: Six Months to a Successful Website
For years now I've been looking to start my own business, but my highest priority has always been to spend less time working, and more time with my family, while still giving them everything they need (and most of what they want). It's a common dream, right? No boss to answer to, less stress, more vacation, more quality family time... I wanted to get away from the 9 to 5 and the traffic. (I bet you do, too.)
The 2 Most Common Web Site Mistakes
When we review the sites of potential clients, there are 2 mistakes we see over and over. If you are having problems with your site, make sure these 2 problems aren't killing you.
What Your Customers Say About YOUR Site! Part 1
The following is a list of patterns that many visitors follow, and you can use these suggestions to better your site.
You Need a Website!
No matter the size of your business, having a web site is a low cost way to market your services and products twenty-four hours a day. Web sites are a constant advertisement for your business and will help you reach your targeted customers effectively. Your business will not be able to compete without a well-designed web site. There are several key elements to consider when you make the decision to start a new web site:
Topics to Add When Creating an Alternate and Modern Medicine Web Directory
Alternate medicine finds its own place in the hearts and minds worldwide and has a separate following to back its existence. There are many subcategories that could be added to the modern and alternate medicine website directories. Although the list below is not exhaustive it is a good start. After looking at multiple directories in the web that just places everything into one big category "health related websites". I thought it's time to present some categories in this vibrant segment of the web; there are lot's of websites in this category which need a separate home in the directories. Even in the High PR and traffic rich directories finding the right websites gets tough by browsing the whole category. For your reference a single line definition obtained from wikipedia is placed under each category.
The Secret Benefit Of Accessibility: Part 2 - A Higher Search Engine Ranking
An additional benefit of website accessibility is an improved performance in search engines. The more accessible it is to search engines, the more accurately they can predict what the site's about, and the higher your site will appear in the rankings.
12 Tips To Great Websites
Why do some sites succeed while the vast majority of others fail? More and more website owners are asking themselves these questions. The answers are often more obvious than you may think. Below are 12 tips for better, more successful web sites.
FREE Amber Alert Tickers for Your Website
Project Safekids provides webmasters a valuable tool which could save a child's life. Add our Amber Alert Ticker to your website today.
From Search to Sale
The Internet car buyer is an elusive animal. Trying to hunt them down for the kill is not to be taken lightly. Dealers across the country continuously ask me what other dealers are doing to improve their closing ratios and CSI. I am constantly working to bring more traffic to their sites but as the old saying goes - "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". I have compiled some things that definitely make the horse thirsty and can provide a continuous water supply, but a little help from the dealer is still needed. This month we'll work to circle through the cycle of the Internet car buyer with an effective CRM process so that you can reach and keep improved CSI scores.
You Cant Just Build A Website And Hope It Works!
Like any area of business your website needs some effort from you if its going to be successful. You'd be foolish to just build any old website and hope it works. Yet this approach, or rather lack of approach, is still widespread on the internet. Businesses still dont seem to understand what the internet can do to benefit them and their customers. They just dont get it.
Selecting a Web Content Management Product
So you want to take a look at a real Web Content Management (WCM) product. How do you go about evaluating all the different products and vendors? What should you be looking for in a WCM package? Is it better to build your own, buy or use Open Source?
3 Essential Tools Every Website Designer and Marketer Needs
Appealing to others is really important when you have a web page. This is because you will not have any personal contact with visitors and cannot persuade them to buy from you or come into your store, not personally that is. Your web page is your medium for persuasion so you need to put as much thought and effort into the design of your website and how it will appeal to potential customers as you would into a physical store. Unfortunately, a lot of web designers and marketers don't think of their web pages this way and make a lot of mistakes that cost visitors and sales. Don't let this happen to you, instead focus on the importance of appearance and have fake visitors visit your site and let you know what works and what does not, anonymously of course, before you launch so you will have some real web input. Beyond that, there are some other important tools you will need to utilize as well if you want to have ea successful website.
Thinking Of Taking Money Online? Whats Best For Merchants? PayPal, WorldPay or Something Else?
It's now easier than ever to take payments on the web. As people selling their wares take pot shots at eCommerce providers in an ever-increasing battle to sabotage their "competitors'" success it gets harder and harder to find an honest unbiased opinion.
Three Way Linking - Webmaster Strategy
Three way linking and concerns.