Your Content for Nothing and
Your Clicks for Free
by David Westbrook
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
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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