A bit scared now..need advice..adsense on a site with several categories

Hi,

I just started a site about a week ago, a blog site where I will be dumping various articles I write. I've been surfing these forums and alot of people are saying 'stick to one topic if you want to get anywhere with Adsense' and that kind of thing.

The problem is, I write articles about everything--hobbies, eBay, poetry, really diverse topics. I would like to perhaps put Adsense up and start making some money from it.

Should I stop right now and start up a website (or blog) for each category I write about, or should I continue along with just the one, if I want to have any hope of earning from Adsense?

Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

You will see two school of thought here on that, which probably won't help so you'll need to decide for yourself.

Some people like the one site per subject method and others like the one big site for all method.

Personally I like to stay topical on individual sites. Someday they may be big individual topic sites!

It's like the difference between building many small buildings or one huge office building.

 

Ads are determined page by page within a site, so if you write one page about, say, chess, and a second page about chicken soup recipes, on the same site, that will not cause a problem for adsense.

The only time this may not work I think is for a day or two after the page is first added, when AdSense seems to use your existing settings / ad history until it has determined more accurate ads.

 

Well, think about this: (assuming your site is a blog) On a blog, your index page may be the most visited page. The ads will only update every few days, and you may be showing multiple posts on the index page anyway. your ads on your most visited page may end up being very poorly targeted to the content displayed.

If your site is not a blog, this is less of a concern.

 

Yes..I am using WordPress. But wouldn't the articles bring in the most traffic, as they would be indexed by Google?

 

If each article is an individual page, no problem. The ads on each page will relate to the topic of that page. The ads on your front index page, however, may not relate at all. You may even choose to not have ads on your index page.

 

The main thing I consider is "how will my visitors use the site". If your visitors are interested in a specific topic e.g RPG games... it would be wise to create a site/blog dedicated to various topics about RPG games. Those visitors won't care much for articles about E-bay (unless it relates to RPG games in some way).

If your site is about 1 central theme, it's also often much easier to promote and get higher rankings than trying to get a site with 101 odd articles noticed.

 

That's what I'm worried about..but I can't afford a domain name for each topic. Would blogspot be an alright place to start?

 

Your index page will get you the most visits if you plan to build a regular readership. If you are planning to just get visitors from serps exclusively, with a high turnover rate, you will most likely then see interior pages getting the most hits.

In your case, I suggest subdomains or subdirectories of an existing domain. I always recommend against free hosting. Accounts go AWOL all the time (happened to me and a ton of others). As one DPer put it, "why would I invest my efforts in building traffic to someone else's domain?

 

I pay for hosting that includes my own IP. If I were to make subdomains or subfolders, would I have to install a copy of wordpress in each folder? That would be a mess..

 

I wouldn't do sub domains. I would keep your blog as your "everything" site, and as you start getting some income from it start to add niche sites (domains) for the topics your write most about. You probably have just 2 or 3 topics that you are mainly interested in. Hopefully you can afford the $20-30 bucks a year for a few domains.

Personally though I would find the 20 bucks or so now and start with 2 or 3 sites.

 

The argument for sticking to one topic is two fold: guaranteeing relevant ads everytime and engendering visitor loyalty. If visitors know, without a doubt, that you will be talking about food tomorrow, just not about what food, they will keep coming back for more info/clever articles you have on food, because food is their topic of interest as well. It's the same reason people keep going back to their favorite, say, movie or book or funny video website. They know what they're getting, they're interested in it, and they don't want something else.

 

the best topic you can brand is yourself. Write about what you love no matter what the topic. Your readers will first come to you because of you, not because of the subject (although that may come later). Brand yourself for the site. Use categories for individual topics that you cover. Your site will "gel" over time and you'll find an audience.

 

The problem with branding oneself is that it takes years for a nobody (I'm assuming the OP isn't a celebrity ) to accomplish. It's much easier and faster to brand a site.

 

Sorry Jack, I have to disagree. While I understand what you are trying to say I'm still going to support my previous point. You have a brand within your friends, family, co-workers, peers, teachers, bosses, future employers, employees, neighbors, kids, spouses, community. How many times are you introduced as a "[friend/family member/etc] that [knows/likes/enjoys] ________". Happens daily even to those of us who are recluses (This is Jason. He likes his [bed/computer/corner of his room].)

But if you feel that you still don't have a brand, I'll be happy to get a branding campaign running for you at less than $.10 per click

 

LOL. Branding yourself with your family and friends is a good way to get banned because they like to "help you out" if you know what I mean.