Blog Content Based Solely on High Paying Keywords

Doug Nelson writes "Michael Buffington chose to build a weblog using highly automated content aggregation tools around a single keyword, asbestos, because of the high click through rate associated with the ad. 'The subject matter, while weighty and all that, is of little importance to me. It's not that I don't have opinions on asbestos and asbestos reform, because I do. The whole point of the site is to experiment with an idea. I built a tool that helps me aggregate topical news with the help of Google's Alert system. So far it works wonderfully. But there's a second motive as well. Right now asbestos reform and asbestos related litigation is on fire. Lawyers are paying anywhere from $15-100 per click through on Google ads. The second part of this big experiment is to see if I can capture some of that click through revenue while still providing a somewhat valid service to people who might arrive by search results.'"

Comments

The big picture

[ka9dgx]

So, here we have a person who is using Google as a tool and revenue source. He doing data mining, and marketing to the "long tail". This is exactly the kind of thing predicted years ago as the job we'd all end up doing as "knowledge workers". We should be rejoicing at the way the InterNet is changing the world, but alas... we didn't expect it to change in quite this way.

The Slashdot reaction is interesting, as we tend to hate lawyers, corporations, and especially anyone who dares to try to make something as vulgar as profit off the InterNet. We see all of them as offensive scum-sucking machines feeding on our souls.

I see two ways this can evolve forward from this point:

• Government regulation to protect citizen safety - reducing the need for lawyers as watchdogs
• More efficient lawyers, aided by more intermediaries like the blog sited. - lawyers as watchdogs with keener ears

Personally, I've recently come to see the necessity of good government as a strong counterweight to the nature of unchecked greed that is the marketplace. While it may offend our liberitarian sensiblities, the only effective means of limiting the abuses of corporatism is good government. That is, a government of, by and for, the people.

We need to kick the bastards out, and put in good representative goverment, accountable to US. Yes, we need to get political, and organize.

If we fail to do this, the resulting will be even more lawyers and more stupid laws like software patents, DRM, etc. A world in which any random lawyer can take out a company or person on a whim, or as part of a larger campaign to monopolize an industry.

The choice is yours, be a whiny liberitarian and hope the marketplace works it out, or do the dirty work of cleaning up the mess that is the current political system.

--Mike--