All Links, No Info

You see this in a couple of situations, either the site has lots of pages, but no info on the pages once you get there, or the only information provided is a list of links. In the worst case, it is nothing but disguised Google Ads.

Links are not content. Ok, there are people who will disagree with me here, but how likely are you to actually USE a site if all it has is lists of links?

A directory has descriptions, and often has some sort of rating system. This gives it what is called "value added". There is a reason for its existence, beyond just accumulating links which have no meaning in and of themselves.

Some sites have nothing but Google Ads (or other ad server ads). No content at all! Just links to ads. They have the appearance of containing some kind of content, but once you get into them, you are just sent to pages of ads. This is against the terms of use for most Ad server programs, but a number of site owners do it anyway, until they get caught. Kinda dumb, because people don't like the sites very much either.

Even if you are intending to build a directory, it has to be more than just links. Directories are a dime a dozen, and in order to get good traffic, you have to provide something unique. Give it a twist, do something better, or provide additional information. It's gotta be more than just a listing of links, and to a certain extent, any more, it has to be more than just links and descriptions.

There is no easy way to build a quality website - no shortcut to eliminate the element of personality and value that comes only from giving some time and work, above and beyond a token effort. Lazy content is recognizable instantly! And nobody appreciates it!

I went to check out a site this morning. It was all Flash design. I waited about 3 minutes for a page to download. Then it loaded a photo (which should have taken 30 seconds to load), and these words appeared, "Maybe I'll tell you later." I waited 3 minutes for something that could have been done in 30 seconds, and even THEN, would not have been worth the wait! Consequently, I chose NOT to offer the site owner the thing they were requesting from me.

When people come into a site, they want solid information. They don't just want to be thrown a bunch of links that they have to wade through in order to even find out if they are worth their time, nor do they want to be greeted with a message that tells them that they have reached a dead end.

If you are building a site in stages, then some flippant message on the unfinished pages is not going to help your credibility. Give them something that tells them that even though you don't have the information up yet, that you do care! Offer them an email address to ask you about it, or give them an idea of when you plan to have it up (if you can stick to the schedule). But don't be rude or flippant, they won't appreciate it!

Do not try to substitute ad links for content either. People CAN tell the difference, and they will come away with a bad attitude about your site.

Written by Laura Wheeler