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