I've got a lot of original content put into my stores and I've yet to be penalized and removed from the first page...
not sure what you mean, your watch bans site in your signature goes against a couple things in the google guidelines.... 1) it is a cookie cutter site 2) offers little or no original unique content 3) offers no value for a user to visit maybe your other bans sites are different, no google doesn't mention BANS specifically, but it might as well....
Hi there I started using bans 3 months ago. I also had concerns that it would not be useful due to these reasons stated above: 1) it is a cookie cutter site 2) offers little or no original unique content 3) offers no value for a user to visit This is why I was wrong It's not about the cookie, it is how you decorate the cookie to the point that it is so coated in frosting that you can't even taste the cookie. The BANS user brings the unique content. You can grab a little search traffic with an otherwise blank store but if you are putting love into a store than you write the stuff for the spiders to eat. I think the build 1000's of stores approach will always work to some degree, just as 100 rss blogs or 100 youtube sites will, but I prefer to build stores I would link to (and do) I don't think people should forget the power BANS has for use with Adwords either which in my experience does just fine with no extra content. I think the clean contentless ebayish look of a default template BANS store (with a custom header) is like a spend magnet for some niches. At the end of the day even a contentless BANS store can pass the "does it add value" test if it has a better category system than ebay does for that area, which is usually not hard to do since their category structures are pretty bland. BTW I have made $175 with BANS so far this month so it can't be all that bad surely. Mmmmmm cookies!
I have good reason for disagreeing with you. If what you say is true, why do my BANS sites enjoy good rankings on Google, why do people visit them and bookmark them, and, most of all, why am I earning money with them? Obviously, buyers find value. Among other things, assembling the eBay listings for a given niche in one place does furnish value, in my opinion. Cuts down on searching. The evidence I have at hand certainly contradicts your opinion. Thank you, BTW, for clarifying that what you were stating was your opinion and not a position taken by Google regarding BANS. Of course, BANS sites are shopping sites and, by and large, not informational sites. They're set up to sell, not to educate. Google, IMO, makes plenty of room for shopping sites.
it takes time..... BANS is still relatively new..... the fact that you're making money and well ranked doesn't change the how the site does or does not follow the google guidelines....
Its not the BANS sites which is the problem. The problem is the duplicate content. If you don't have it, its not a problem.
I agree with not using the "powered by" link. The new version of BANS is supposed to remove all of the obvious affiliate links so that should help as well. --- I would also disagree about users not finding any value in BANS stores, I've seen very good conversions with my stores which makes me think that users find the sites quite helpful in a way. I think they make the huge selection at eBay seem less overwhelming and regardless, it helps them to find what they are looking for.
Here's an interesting sidelight. I was looking at time on site with one of my BANS stores, you know - stickyness. The stats show that 43.6% leave within the first 30 seconds. In my experience that indicates excellent stickyness. I have a pr6 informational site on a very serious topic with lagoons full of original content where over 80% of visitors spend less than 30 seconds. Draw you own conclusions.
google shouldn't de-index these sites simply because they are easy to set up... you can add joomla to the list of other sites that would need to be de-indexed as well if that was the case...
If Google needs to get some jollies de-indexing, they should nuke all the MFAs still out there before anything else. Will they do that? Not on your life. Why should they kill off a good revenue stream. Same with BANS sites, a goodly percentage of which run AdSense and have far more to offer than MFAs..
Ok guys time to update. I have put up a Bans store. Check it out on http://www.onlinebidspot.com/gpsauctions/ Now its time to promote and see what happens. Have begun the link building for the store. I hope to get feedback from you guys. I am going to start from one store and then complete 100 stores. Lots of effort has gone into building and customizing. Regards Ajeet
The moral of this story seems you need 3 phases: 1. Create bans store (categories etc) 2. add unique content. 3. promote. Agree?
Agreed 100%. And, the unique content does not have to be Pulitzer Prize worthy. You'll do just fine doing C student work, which takes less time and causes less brain damage. Just keep moving and promote, and then promote some more.
Bans is only a good as the person using it... it the wrong hands its just another junk affiliate site that will last 2 weeks in the rankings in the right hands it a method of creating a shop front that can generate a lot of money! The checks i receive each month from CJ causes me to not care what you think! ALSO on my last point if a Bans store offers nothing to a user can someone explain to me what this site http://www.theworldofgolf.com/ offers to a user? And this site sits happily at No1 spot for 'golf clubs' with a healthy PR5 and to finish off if someone searches in Google for DKNY Watches and they click on a Bans site advertising DKNY watches which then shows them auctions of 1000 DKNY watches to which the user can then BUY a DKNY watch .... well im sure you get my point by now!
Is it worth having unique domain names for all these BANS stores you set up? Is it easier to get backlinks, since if you use a subdomain on an existing site, finding places to accept deep links is usually more of a challenge. Any thoughts on this?