A while back there was an article circulating about how Google had hired students to review websites and rate their content. The major question asked of the reviewer was similar to this…

If you removed the affiliate links, Google adsense or other contextual ads and RSS integration feeds from the site you are reviewing…would this site’s content still stand? Would this site be worth anything, or would it be an empty shell?

If the answer is no, then I believe that steps were taken to remove the offending site from the Google index. Whether or not the leaked Google article is true (as some have speculated), the point still hits home.

Why risk this? Why bother creating “scraped sites” with no original content? Instead, why not be that internet publisher that ads to the web by offering additional value and opinions that your visitors will want? In turn, you may find that…

You increase your visitor length

You increase your conversion

You increase your bottom line

For me, I want to focus on the long haul, building websites that will increase my online net worth. I want to build online riches.

Which road will you choose?