I’m hoping this will become a series of posts that I plan to do over the next year on various topics.  I will admit; I’m not a very good blogger and I hate details.  To write 300 word posts with great detail on anything bores me to death.  What I would rather do is share with you tid-bits of information that will get the ball rolling for you, so that you can search the topic in more detail if it interests you.  You see, I have sticky notes with topic ideas, but by the time I get around to writing about them, they will be outdated.  This way you get the info, straight to the point and if you wish to follow it up, just go to our best friend/enemy (Google) and look it up.

Hope you enjoy!

Thin Affiliate Websites - This has been talked about for years, but it’s safe to say that it’s true;  Google hates thin affiliate sites and will devalue the pages (or de-index them) if they see a page full of affiliate links and no content.  Focus on content first, ads second and you will be fine.  As for number of words on a page;  It’s hard to say.  Depending on your topic, how much competition and what it would take to make your website useful.  At minimum, I would say 300 words, but this is a guideline only.  Remember, Google will de-value PAGES not entire websites, so if you have a few light pages, they may get devalued yet the rest of your site may do well.  For some pages that don’t need much content, it may be inevitable to leave them light on content.

Kontika Ads – I wanted to try something other than Adsense to see if I could get a better Click-Though Rate.  Kontika mini-malls seem to be a good choice.  Tested them out for a week or two and I noticed a few things.  #1.  Not a single click, with thousands of impressions #2. My rankings slipped during the time that they were on my sites.  Maybe it’s a coincidence, but needless to say, I’m not thrilled with them.  I’m not thrilled with Adsense either, but at least Google has some incentive to rank your website higher if they’re making money from it.

One Lung Affiliate Websites – Many in the post BANS/EPN Affiliate world who have jumped onto the One Lung Affiliate Website bandwagon.  If you don’t know about it, Google it.  If you’re looking to make a quick buck, this might be your answer.  It helps you build a really poor quality, crappy looking website  with random keywords tucked into a thin site to capture long-tail keyword searches.  To me it’s a lot like the Buckley’s slogan “Tastes awful but it works”.  One Lung’s slogan should be “Looks awful, but it works”.   I actually signed up to it for about 10 minutes before realizing what it was and decided to ask for a refund.  If you want to build a long-term income, focus on quality instead of building Spam websites.  Even if you fool Google for a while, they will catch on and One Lung sites do mostly qualify as web spam.  Build a website that you will be proud of, not some spammy looking website that may earn you a few dollars and that you would be embarrassed to share with your friends.  Of course, this is my opinion…

That concludes Volume #1 of Random SEO Stuff.  Stay tuned for more in the coming days, weeks and months.