Anyone searching the web knows how much crap is out there these days. This is to be expected when you have millions of people mining for gold.
Markets cycles come and go – The stock market Internet craze in the late 1990′s, the housing frenzy that ended in 2007 and now the get rich quick craze in Internet marketing that is tailing off in 2010. So now Google is starting to clean things up bit and the shot across the bow could have been taken at Alan Liew (blogger site has now been removed) having a top ranking for the making money online search for the last few years. He ran a blogger blog and from what I read he was making a nice 5 figure monthly income.
Is the Small Niche Site Business Dead?
It’s almost certain that website with thin content is going to be slapped when discovered, did they use Alan as an example so others would clean up their act, or will they chop more heads? Whatever the case, the panic within the Internet community tells you that Adsense is still important.
If the majority of your income is from blogger sites then you may want to reposition yourself, the bigger issue is losing your adsense account. Even with independent hosting, if you use adsense should you be scared?
From what I read Alan’s site was a good content rich site, so why the boot? Line up your guesses which could include politics, chosen as an example or maybe he did violate the rules, we don’t know the exact truth.
Where Do We Go From Here?
For myself, I will definitely be reviewing some of my earlier websites to see if they need some beefing up, and I will also be looking at revenue alternatives because it just makes sense to diversify. We are entering a stage where people are more reliant on the Internet and this means they will be more savvy and discerning about what they read and what they buy.
I don’t think Niche sites are dead, I do believe they should and will be more content rich providing your reader with information they can use. Keep this in mind if you decide to start your online business in the area of niche sites. Also keep an eye out for other ways to make money besides adsense.
Update – In February of 2011 Google made more changes to the way it rates websites and quite a few, what were considered quality 2.0 properties, were banged up pretty good. So everyone concerned about organic search rankings are going through their websites again to see if improvements can be made. I don’t think the shake up is quite over yet, Google knows there are still a lot of junkie website out there and I believe they are on a mission to clean up some more.
Just stay focused on providing good information for your readers and subscribers and you won’t have to worry much about search rankings as your subscriber list grows.
Anyone serious about starting a good long term, ethical, Internet business has the opportunity right in front of them, just make sure you understand the commitment and the responsibility it takes to be a successful and just do what’s right.
