Google Adsense: Your Content Better Not Suck

After a recent issue a client of mine had, I wanted to take a few minutes to touch base on proper use of Google Adsense. See among most webmaster forums you will find a plethora of people wondering how to make any substantial money from Google Adsense. I’m sure that many of you have heard this before, but I’m going to beat a dead horse right now, because it’s really, REALLY important to understand this – and so many people still don’t.

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

In fact, I’d say that it would be impossible to generate any long term profits without good, solid content of some kind displayed on your website. Content is king right now; and that’s something you simply can’t ignore. 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, 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 say 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 simply won’t accept your ad.

So guess what? You need to be relevant, and you need some content to be relevant with. Have you noticed the pattern yet? Good content is everywhere. It’s all over this post, it’s all over the Internet, and it should be all over your website.

Readers love content, and will go out of their way to find good things to read in the subjects they really care about. If you provide them good content, they’ll come looking again for you. However – now we must take it a step further. See without new good content to come back to, you essentially become a one-hit wonder. People have read what you had to offer them; and now there is nothing new to come back for.

Now, let’s filter out everyone that’s too lazy to write good content right now. If you’re sitting there thinking you’ll simply use ABC Generator which you found on your favorite BlackHat forum – you won’t. I’ve seen different webmasters use specialized programs for site & content generation. 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 very long.

This scraper strategy may work for a while, but eventually search engines like Google will find out, and penalize your site. Then it’s more work to restore it than to simply start over. Still there are many sites that utilize generated content – and the more common they become the easier it becomes for the average Joe to filter those sites out as he’s browsing the web. And once again, you simply end up running the risk of getting yourself banned from a variety of search engines.

So, how do you find relevant info to utilize?

1. Learn From Others
   No, don’t steal articles word for word from other places. But ideas for stories? That’s a different story (literally). As it has been said, There is nothing new under the sun. But there is always a new slant on content, and you’re merely 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 at other peoples content. If something grabs your attention – ask yourself why? Ask yourself why that angle appealed to you when you came across it? And when you visit each site, ask yourself as you leave, would I come back to this site? Why/Why not?

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 targeted niche. That means reading material from others, and seeing how they can affect your own 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 target niche.
   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: Let’s say you run a travel blog about Belgium, and you start to notice through the Google Keyword Tool that the keyword “cheap student airline tickets” has significantly grown in use within the last week. 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. Now you can head back over to your travel website and write an article about low budget ways for students to experience and travel to Belgium.

3. Read Magazines
   While you’re at it, read a book or two. In most 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.

Remember, be creative. You’re only one good brainstorm away from Google Adsense gold.