Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Is it all self written or (and this my guess) part self written and other content cherry picked from article directories / other resources?
I do my site in my spare time and after coming up with the idea the research, draft writing, checking etc. takes around 1 - 2 weeks for one article / page.
I'd be interested if you good folk could let me know approximately your ratio of original to externally created content is.
Thanks in advance.
I write all of my own content. I have an academic research background which helps quite a bit.
I like very long, dense pages (in contrast to many others who contribute here) so I consider a page to be about 3,500 to 5,000 words.
I can usually hammer out 2 to 3 a day.
But that doesn't include merchandising them with appropriate products, if I want to add some in addition to adsense code.
Usually I grind out pages with adsense, then on less inspired days, I hunt for the perfect products to place on them.
Usually there is a point that is reached where we see that traffic and interest in the site is growing where we can tap into other content generation resources. I guess you can say that you can tap into those other resources when your site has enough authority pull.
The downfall of user generated content is that you give up a bit of control over the content and how it is written. It is kinda like you take what you get. There are ways in which you can sway that a bit.
I prefer webmasters to deliver unique contnent written specifically for us and can only be distributed by us but they maintain authorship and even liability for what the content says. We just maintain the distribution rights to the article. This gives us the right to go after any content theives.
This is kind of a turn off to many webmasters who like to shell out a bunch of articles to many places, but then again the ones who are serious and want to tap into our visitor base have no choice. Also this is a way to screen out the not so serious junk articles from webmaster just looking for a link.
I can usually write a good, 1500-word article within a few hours, but my probablem is coming up with content ideas!
In my opinion, it's a good argument as why one should not write his own content. Of course some people write their own content and do very well. But if you look at the Alexa 500, how many sites do you find which are written by one person? Zero.
It seems to me that if you want a nice little site that maybe makes a bit of money, then write it yourself. But if you really want to make money at the Adsense game, then you have to have LOTS of content.
The consensus seems to be to find a way to have your users make the content for you. Or find another way to legally and ethically get content on the site without spending 20 hours per day writing content. I found that analysing sites in the Alexa top 1000 was very helpful to me to come up with ideas.
The great thing about this adsense business is that the answers are right there on each website, as to how to do it right. The trick is to do it a bit differently, and a bit better.
My two cents, anyway.
But I don't get that content from article sites. For the most part, the articles I reuse are not available online, at least not in their present form. They were published in print, or used to be on another site, but are no longer. So some are a few years old, but I try to pick evergreen content.
I get them from regular visitors, for the most part. Sometimes they come to me, because they know that I republish articles. Sometimes I contact them, when I see something that interests me. I look for useful information that I don't address.
My problem, since I work on my site very part time, is that I don't have enough time even to get all the articles I COULD use up on my site.
I haven't done a count, but I'd estimate that at least a third of the articles on my site were not written by me, including a few of the most-visited pages on the site. Definitely worthwhile to get articles by others, in my experience.
Freely distributed articles are good in a way in that you can use them to SUPPORT your evergreen articles. To further you theme in your site structure. From what I have experienced is that republished articles are a hit and miss game when it comes to search engine traffic.
If you are looking to build SE traffic then evergreen content is the best way to go.
If you are looking for extra content to keep "eyes" then republished stuff can be an option. But search engines do not like duplicated content. If you are in the resutls with a republished article you stand a chance to be removed. Sometimes it is hard to get in there in the first place. Also another site with higher rankings can plop the article on their site and take over your rankings.
Then again you also have the problem of little control over the keyword game at that since you cannot edit someone else's work.
I have several advanced degrees (in both science and business) and I've worked in several very different kinds of jobs (career change anyone?). This is the very reason I decided to write myself.
Sometimes I ask someone with expertise to write an article but I don't advertise that I take articles. I only want experts in the field writing.
I do have the advantage that almost any article I write makes it to the top 10 in Google and MSN. Yahoo has not been so good to me lately.
I'm not sure that pumping out an article a day is the best approach. It makes more sense to do some research on what topics people in your field are interested in and write quality articles on those. But then if your site is still getting established pumping out articles may be good.
I am in awe with how much some of you can write. I have plenty of ideas but can't write off the top of my head like that.
85% press releases - they are mostly written professionally, add good value if detailed and are little labor-intensive.
handling is easy, sometimes you have to take out parts with too much product placement.
disadvantage: rarely unique, therefore sometimes problem with duplicate content between competitive websites and with search engine ranking.
15% user generated - advantage: unique unless copy&paste. since many people can't spell, in case of an editorial site it has to be reviewed manually. so it's a bit more labor-intensive, but i'm striving to boost the quota of user generated content with maturity of the site because it's the future of content generation.
0% own content - because of the sheer volume i'm dependant on external content. so where's the special flavour to push it in the right direction? answer: filtering and selection!
However reading this thread, lots of you seem to be saying that you are writing your own content and doing very well at it. But does that translate into high traffic/revenue?
I'm curious if anyone who writes most or all of their own content is in the top 1000.
I doubt it. Writing your own content can make a nice solid small business but it wouldn't be much of a get rich plan. So it depends on what you want.
I write all my own content and use my own photos/scans etc. In fact it was content and masses of enthusiasm first! Then I posted it all on the web about 14 years back, on free servers and I pretty much havent changed or added to it since.
It earns more now than it did 2 years back at 3.9k per month approx. I doubt thats in the top 1000 anything. But considering its work free now a great number of years its not bad.
Thing is IF I had had the time and health I could have written much much more and easily doubled/or more that income. All of my traffic is natural links etc.
My point was that if you take a look at that list, you don't see any companies that write their own content. So when someone asks how much content he should write vs how much he should try to get in other ways, the only logical answer is: write as little as possible if you want to make big money. I just don't see how their can be a difference of opinion on this.
I'm not trying to knock anyone's site or technique. We all get involved in this for different reasons. But if your goal is big money, then do what others who make big money do, i.e. find a way to create content without writing it yourself.
BTW, I currently DO NOT make big money online. I'm rolling out a site now, trying to take my own advice :)
Well that wont work if you have fifteen sites fragmented covering 30 bits of "free webspace" will it!
So I have no idea.
I only get 7k pageviews per day. I suppose it also depends on your definition of big money. A big site run by a team in an office block will be "bigger" but may be far less of an achievement when you consider their running costs like wages, rent, power, tax, vehicles, server costs etc.
That's good thinking, and a forum can work well, exceptionally well.
However, starting a forum can be very difficult. The approach I like is to create the website first, get people tell a friending, grow the site's popularity, then add the forum. You can then feed the visitors from the original site into the forum. The forum may in time outstrip the original site in terms of content and traffic.
Sounds like the way to AdSense world domination is to get visitors writing your content for you. I'm some way off that yet but I'll bear that in mind for the future.
Cheers
Sounds like the way to AdSense world domination is to get visitors writing your content for you.
Not necessarily. Every topic is different, as are the reasons for visiting a particular site.
Also you could read out your own text. That helps to find even more mistakes.
I'm amazed that sites with self-written content can do well... It seems like an awful lot of hard work.
Not as much hard work as programming, community management, or trying to keep up with the latest fads (at least for those of us who come from editorial backgrounds).
There's a tendency for many Webmaster World members to assume that what's best for them is best for everyone. In reality, WW members come from different backgrounds and have different skill sets. As a writer and editor, I'm amused by the common misconception that all "content" is the same, and that any Tom, Dick, or Harriet can crank out articles about anything from home mortages to Mallorca to mesothelioma and become an overnight millionaire. I'm sure that a programmer would be equally amused by the notion that every Sam, Sid, and Sally can put together the equivalent of a TripAdvisor overnight and be awash in riches like Uncle Scrooge in his money bin.
To succeed in publishing (whether with AdSense or other revenue sources), you need to leverage your personal skills instead of just trying to piggyback on the latest fad (which is likely to be past its peak by the time the average Webmaster learns about it).
GOOD content comes from real knowledge and abilities shared! If the public like your sites content you are like a best selling author. Not everybody or every writer can write a best seller!
If not you will struggle and not understand why some earn lots and others dont.
If you just think of "content" as something that you add to your pages then you will never do well and always struggle. try plumbing, taxidriving or whatever.
