Conversely, websites with good and excellent quality control and all original material received a boost from the changes. My own niche site on pets was one of these -- its Adsense earnings for March are stronger than ever. My total Adsense for March is projected to be my highest month to date and should close at $700 or more. I'm still working on my goal to get that up to $1,000 a month by the end of the year.
How can online writers, especially those working to build up their residual income through niche sites and blogs, stay on Google's good side? What do you need to know to "write for Google"?
Don't write for Google.
That's the simplest way to put it. Your website, whether monetized with adsense units, affiliate links, paid ads or a combination of these and other models, should have its audience (real live humans) as the primary focus when creating content, not Google (the robots).
Is your site helpful? Funny? Informative? Will the people who find your blog based on the keywords you're targeting find what they need -- whether its information, resources, product reviews -- if they land on your site?
Do you publish only original, creative, quality material, whether it's written by yourself or a paid freelancer? You should be -- for the sake of your readers and for your own success. I have never paid for PLR articles (the ones sold in packs to multiple buyers who then tweak them to make them "different"). I have never "spun" articles myself or with a program to turn copied content into something "unique." About 95% of my content, including the articles I post on article directory sites, was written by me. I've paid for a few articles but only from US-based freelance writers.
Ensuring the best of quality control on your site, in addition to a pleasing template and tasteful ads and links, is the best thing you can do for your online business and to increase your residual income. Position your sites so that these quality control checks by Google and other search engines improve your ranking and boost your earnings, not the opposite.
Did Google's changes affect you, for good or bad? What's your strategy to improving your online residual income?
9 comments:
Thanks for the update. I was saying the same thing to someone the other day. I write what I would like to read myself and really don't do a lot keyword stuff anymore. I need to update my blogs cause I enjoy working on those. God bless ya!
At eHow my earning continue to climb, especially since the Google change. At Suite 101 and Associated Content, nosedive for sure but are picking up. Good info as always, Maria. Thanks!
My Associated Content went down, but my Examiner has went up a lot.
Thanks for that info! I've noticed that there is a lot of mediocre content out there, seemly designed to send traffic to their site. I put thought and effort into my articles, and I wondered how I was going to compete with this. I'm glad google is taking quality into account. Maybe I have a shot at making a little money from adsense.
This is a great blog I intend to return. Google's changes hasn't really affected my earnings. I concentrate on original content and good Keyword research for my lenses.
Maria,
Have your e-How earnings been affected by the change? I've actually experienced a slight increase since the last article purge at e-How.
Hi Maria, your blog is a great read and a very useful resource for someone looking to earn an income online. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with other mums!
Since Panda, I have had increased Suite 101 earnings (minus lower earnings during the first 48 hours).
I am happy about the changes and glad to see that quality will prevail. I only have 15 articles and 8 weeks under my belt there, and am about to reach payout ($10), which is (according to many reports) quite a good start. I do have a few I want to patch up, but, overall it is promising considering I have not promoted a single article outside of a tweet or FB "like."
Keywords Research = Thumbs up
Keyword Stuffing = Thumbs Down
Allie Mae
Joey, it' so important to keep the reader in mind. If websites are just rehashing what I can find on 10 other sites, I'm not going to stick around, either.
Peg, I know, the Google changes definitely increased my earnings on eHow WCP articles. I only wish I'd written more there in 2007-2009!
Mandy, I heard AC went down, but hadn't heard about Examiner -- that's great.
Sarah, you should do very well now that Google is valuing quality, original content even more than before.
Holly, thanks! Yes, sticking to good content on quality sites is the way to go.
Michele, I haven't checked in about a week, but right after the sweeps I did think I saw an uptick in daily earnings.
Wendy, thank you so much!
Allie Mae, I'm happy too -- quality should prevail!
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