Picture this. You’re jumping online to check your favorite website for some information on a specific product or service. You know exactly what you’re looking for and where to find it. You type in the URL and when the page loads you move your cursor to … oh, let’s say, those fuzzy pink bunny slippers you’ve been wanting. Before you can click on the image of the adorable footwear, a popup fills your screen. You click the X to close the new window and continue your journey toward the fuzzy bunnies.

But then another popup arises … and another … and another. You end up clicking five different “close this window” boxes before you ever get the chance to check out the slippers. Irritating right? So, why would you EVER do that to your own clients? Sure, if someone were looking for your specific, unique product they might stick around and tolerate the many extra clicks to get to what they’re looking for, but in most cases, after the second extra click, your potential client would be moving on to another site where it wasn’t so cumbersome to get to what they wanted.

When you’re the owner of a commercial website, it’s great to be able to gain additional profit from incorporating ads either as popup windows or interstitials, but it’s really vital to keep your priorities in line. Sure, ads are important and, of course, the point of your Internet business is to make money, but what about your actual content? Your users are visiting your site to gain access to your products and services, or information about the two. And, if they’re like most web surfers, they’re in a hurry. The fact is, an extra ten or even five seconds feels like an eternity in this instant gratification era of ours where we want what we want right now, and where in most cases, we can get it.

Creating extra clicks/steps for your users or making them sit through a 30-second advertisement for each page they visit is not only frustrating, it gives the impression that you’re not nearly as concerned with imparting your wisdom and services to your clients as you are with making a few extra pennies from each person who happens upon your site.

Put yourself in your users’ pink fuzzy bunny slippers. Most web visitors expect an ad or two from the sites they visit, but if they’re bombarded with ad after ad and have to jump through umpteen loops to get to the content they’re looking for, they’re going to move on. Take advantage of the additional income from advertising, but not your clients who are dropping by to see what you’ve got going on. Respect their time and find a balance between the ads and content on your website that works for you and your clients.

Discovering how well fresh and original content will boost your SEO is one of the most profitable lessons you’ll learn about doing business online. Original content (while not fully “original”) is typically content about topics that haven't been overdone by other writers, and if they have, they haven't been written about in the same way that you write them.

For example, the Internet is filled with articles about SEO. Few of those articles, however, discuss the importance of fresh content rather than the strategy of layout, keywords, etc. Most of them deal with where to put your keywords, how many keywords you should use, what kind of keywords are best, or tracking keywords. Few articles deal with the importance of original content in your SEO strategies.

Writing fresh content becomes a problem when trying to find a good topic. Writer's block is so common, and it hinders the writing process so badly that it takes superhuman effort just to write 300 words, let alone fresh ones. Here are ideas to help you get past writer's block and get back to real writing. Adapt them, or use them as they are. Consider writing about...

• an article you thoroughly enjoyed

• a post on one of your favorite blogs

• a post on a blog you found annoying

• a book in your niche that you just finished

• a recent news item

• organizing your workspace

• helping your readers make your website better meet their needs

• a lesson your favorite TV show can teach your target audience

• several links to popular resources you use regularly

• a quote from a movie that inspires you

• an order you received from a new client

• a pet peeve as it ties somehow to your niche

• something that motivates you continually

• a repeat client

• money saving ideas for your niche

• a funny thing that happened on the way to your office

• top 10 sites in your niche

• top five articles you found

• a local or national trade show you took part in

• a website you wish you owned

• the lousiest website you've ever seen

• your most recent project

Always put your own slant on any topic you write about. It’s your ideas, insights, personality and knowledge that will make your writing the most original, and that will improve your SEO efforts more than anything else you can do.