Content Host Risk
I just read about some different content producers getting their various accounts shut down on “web 2.0″ sites.
And it presents the opportunity for an interesting discussion on content creation/exposure risk.
Ultimately, the higher quality the content you produce, the more exposure you would like it to have.
But as we know, content quality and search engine content exposure have very little to do with one another.
The internet is a highly commercial environment, and search engine rankings have much more to do with business revenue and business relationships than they do with content.
Right now, the squeeze on small internet businesses is not due to increased competition within the niches those businesses operate - but rather the squeeze is created by big businesses who don’t even operate in the niches they are squeezing.
So how and why is this happening?
Right now because of the value on links and the way search engines are happy to consistently rank the same websites at the top of the search results over and over (like wikipedia, answers, about, etc.) there is a real push on small websites who are unable to gather link value and thus break into the top search results… in ANY market.
Which has produced a “user contribute” website model.
This model has not yet been perfected, although it has been attempted by many punters (like squidoo, hubpages, mahalo, etc.) and attempts to lure content producers into creating content, by rewarding those content producers with visitors.
Of course though, content producers don’t just want visitors: they want money.
However, monetization of content is something that the host website company aims to achieve for itself - after all - that’s why they built their website in the first place.
As a risk/reward opportunity I see those external content websites as highly risky - for a reward that is simply not worth it.
After all, you are producing content which you “own” - but not the platform it sits on. If people link to the content because they like it, you are not getting links - the website who owns the domain gets the links. And at any point they can remove you, your content, and you go empty handed.
These companies don’t have any interest in you, your business, or what you aim to achieve. They care only about their own monetization and exit strategies, both of which you “the content producer” are not a part of.
For the record I don’t have a problem with the content host strategy - it’s a highly risky move for the hosts themselves to attempt their business model, and they are entitled to whatever rewards they can garner if they actually manage to succeed.
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