RE: Death knell for quality content?

["Lauren" <lauren -at- writeco -dot- net>]

> I must not be the target audience for these ads.  All I saw was
> a page full of text that was mostly too small for my aging eyes
> to read clearly.  That must have included the ads.
> 
> Gene Kim-Eng 
> 

The inline link box or pics, usually of cars, the links or graphic in the
lower left column, and half of the right column (links or graphics) of any
article are all ads.  The tiny font jacks me up, too.  Articles provide font
size selection.  I usually adjust by browser to use large font size.  My
keyboard has buttons to change font size as well.  Really, the ads are a
little sneaky.  Google ads are customizable for color and size so they can
blend in with web sites.

Here's an article that, when I viewed the page, provided 6 Google link ads
across two blocks, 2 graphic ads from services (one inline and one on the
right), and 1 graphic ad from a partner.
http://www.helium.com/items/114187-education-arrival-kittenthe-arrival

Even the inline Honda was relevant to the pet-focused content.  The ad
showed the waterproof interior of the vehicle, it had a dog, and the caption
was "Man's Best Friend."  All of the ads served by Google were about cats,
like the article.  After a refresh, the advertising.com ad (University of
Phoenix) was replaced with a third Google ad (cat-focused), so Helium is
using something to keep the ads fresh, as well to keep the content fresh.

Fresh content with ads is the new trend for making money online, but it will
evolve and eventually settle into something, but what?

I worked for a company 8 years ago that produced online publications for
colleges and tried to get its revenue stream from banner advertising.  One
of the programmers said that such a model would never work.  The company
failed, but the business model has evolved a little.  The technology for
producing articles has certainly improved, ad-serving is definitely better,
but conceptually, it is the same thing now that it was then.  

Online publications are an extension of user-generated content or consumer
generated media, which are meat of Web 2.0. It seems that the only thing
that is changing in the evolution of online publications is the focus of the
content.  Should the content be driven toward a specific purpose that serves
a particular community, like traditional magazines that focus on fashion or
cars?  Or should the web site focus on general interest articles like Helium
and Associated Content?

Regular people are becoming compensated writers.  The writers that receive
the better compensation are probably the better writers as compensation is
based on page views.  The base of writers is certainly expanding as more an
more people exploit the possibilities of Web 2.0.

I doubt quality content will die as more people begin publishing their work,
but certainly more variety will emerge.  I think these changes will be
interesting.

Lauren


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.