Some article websites (I’m looking at msn.com right now, as an example) show the first page or so of article content and then have a “Continue Reading” button, which you must click to see the rest of the article. This seems so ridiculous, from a UX perspective–I know how to scroll down to continue reading, so why hide the text and make me click a button, then have me scroll? Why has this become a fairly common practice?
And why does good content cause advertisers to come to you?
Traffic. The more people come through your site, the more valuable the ad-space, the more they’re willing to pay.
Good content in niche areas will also increase value, yes, but there’s a reason websites pay for SEO services…