While we have discussed the general headings of what a niche website
may contain, it is important to delve into the specifics of the content.
Specifically, a niche website should embody the look and feel of a
newsletter or online magazine. That means it should have a number of
articles on it for the visitors to read. These articles are commonly
referred to as website content and it is critical for placement in the
search engines and for maintaining visitors.
Remember the good old days of the early 1990’s where websites
contained sparse text, a few pictures, and a huge advertising come to
purchase? If you do then you realize these were not so much the good
old days as much as they were the dark ages of website design. Do
such sparsely designed websites still exist? Yes, but you will have a
hard time finding them as they have essentially been dropped down an
Orwellian search engine black hole. To survive in today’s day and age,
websites need to have well crafted prose. Without it, the site is
essentially worthless as far as Adsense revenue generating.
The search engines thoroughly frown on websites with little or no
content. When it comes to ranking a website in terms of its numerical
importance, sites that have more content will be given preferential
treatment than those with limited content. This is because a site
offering a number of excellent free articles will certainly be more
worthwhile to readers than those sites without content.
And speaking of readers, those that come across your website need a
reason to stay around. If all you have are a few pictures and a little bit
of writing, even if it is good material, it doesn’t exactly take a long
time to skim 100 words and two photos! Also, such sparse information
does very little for stimulating the imagination or emotions of the
reader. In short, it becomes a marginally positive experience and the
reader will invest a small amount of time on the site and then leave.
Does this sound like the type of visitor who will be clicking on your
Adsense ads? Hardly! You really have to give the reader something to
offer.
How many articles should the website contain? At minimum, you will
need five. However, five to ten can be a better amount of articles. The
reasons you want several articles are varied and they are all
important. Namely, not everyone will have an interest in every topic
you write about. When you provide the visitors with up to ten different
topics you will probably present the visitor with a few topics he will be
interested in reading. Therefore, he may read several of the articles.
This will bring him into contact with the various Adsense ads on the
pages the articles are placed on. So, the more choices of articles the
more articles a visitor may read and the more Adsense ads the reader
might click on. Conversely, too few article topics could dissuade many
visitors from sticking with the site.
Now, does there need to be a specific length to the articles appearing
on the niche website. This is a slightly difficult question to answer
because content dictates length. That is, you want to write a good
article with good content. It the article naturally comes out to 500
words, you will not make it better by forcing it to be a 700 word
article. Padding or lengthening the article will become obvious because
such an article will contain tons of words and phrases will not yield an
article that is worth reading.
Similarly, you do not want an article that is too short. A 200 word
article is not an article. It is a paragraph! You should shoot for a
minimum of 400 words. 500 – 750 word articles would be fine
provided, of course, they are well written. 1200 – 1500 word articles
would be ideal since they can flesh out their subject matter in a great
deal of depth. Most magazine articles fall into this very word length
because covering a subject in a cursory manner is not always a good
way to sustain a readership.
Can you write extremely long 5,000 word articles? It is possible if the
subject you are writing about can sustain such depth. An article on the
subject of the Pacific battles of World War Two would need such
enormous length. Just be sure that you do not publish the entire
article in one column down the website’s page. This would not make
for great website design. Also, much of the text might be below the
“cut off” point of the Adsense ad columns. You do not want people to
ever end up on a part of the niche website that does not have ads
clearly displayed. If your visitors cannot click on your ads then what
value would the website possess?
Instead, opt to break a 5,000 word article into five pages at 1,000
words each. At the end of one page, place a link that continues the
article on another page. This will ensure that the readers are always in
contact with the ads. It also makes for a much more aesthetically
pleasing website design.
Of course, no matter what the length of the article may be it is of
paramount important to never lose site of the necessary keywords.
That means the keyword density would need to be maintained
throughout all the subpages. This is critical because once the keywords
are out of concert with the content of the articles then it will be
doubtful people will click on them.
Adding and updating articles to your website at regular intervals is not
a bad idea either. Look at it this way, if people loved the 5 – 10
articles you have written, they will certainly look forward to reading
the next 5 – 10 articles. (That’s why Stephen King has been in
business since 1975) Adding new articles here and there will keep
attracting old readers back to your sight. They will also aid in
attracting new readers as well.
