Many people like to believe there was a time in the olden days of the Internet when there were no ads on web sites.  While technically true since the ad serving technologies that exist today were many years to come, it can be argued that most web sites in and of themselves - were advertisements.   Warner Bros. advertised their movies,  Playboy advertised its magazine, etc.

What everybody can agree on, is that in the beginning - content was king.

We developed web sites because it was fun, because we enjoyed a subject, because we delighted in knowing that the more we put out there on this new playground, the more people will see it.  We loved seeing our stats rise and rise, not because our wallets were getting fatter, but because it meant we were reaching people.

Then, boom - here come ads.

There was a change.  Suddenly we weren’t making content just because we liked it anymore, we were making content so we had more pages to put ads on.   Instead of one HTML page for oua particular thought or subject, we split it into two, placing ads on the top and bottom, with a “read more” button down below to force more ad clicks.

And people responded by learning how to ignore ads.

Many people often ask “how can I make money on the Internet.”  The same can be said about writing a book, or finding fulfillment in your life… write what you know and love.  The rest will follow.  If you were around back in 1994/95 and part of the Internet explosion, remember what that felt like.  You can still put your Google Adsense ads or whatever on your site, but go back to your roots and write some real content.

You may  amaze yourself by the results.

Filed under: content, ads, adsense, content