How much content before launching?

[Jason_H]

Had a question about how much content is appropriate before launching a content site?

Also, what is the general consensus on trying to monitize the site right away with ads, as opposed to launching with no advertisments on the site? I hear differing opinions, and I'm not sure I understand the pro's and con's.

Thanks!

[Cutter]

Depends on the subject, 5 or 6 pages is a good start. I put ads on my sites right away. I want to get an idea of what kind of CPM I should be expecting as soon as possible. That gives me a good idea of just how much time and money I should put into the site.

[James]

It's all in what you want. That's why people all have different opinions about it. Some will launch with just one page of content, some times even none, some launch after they've accumulated 20, 50, even 100+ articles.

Launching earlier with less content means your site is online for longer and has more chance to be crawled by spiders, and no one really minds ads on websites any more IMHO as long as they're something like adsense and not annoying talking flash movies, large image files, or popups. So personally, I'm for launching with few articles and a small amount of ads, but ads nonetheless.

[Jason_H]

Ok thanks for the replies, it's definitely good to hear some opinions about this from others who have been there before.

[ozgression]

If you launch with little content and ads on your site (especially with only one or two pages with adsense featured prominently) you run the risk of having your site labeled as SPAM and removed from the index or atleast penalized.

Finish your site, wait a bit and then put the ads on. Or, if it's a regularly updated site that will never be "finished", wait until you have atleast 6-7 pages/posts/articles.