3 Ways To Stop Relying on Google Rankings

You know what makes me kind of nervous? Relying more than just a little bit on Google rankings for traffic. First, they take a lot of work if you want to rank for moderately-to-heavily competitive keywords. Second, they can go POOF! overnight. That's no way to run a business!

So I've been thinking a lot more lately about 3 other ways to get traffic and make sales where Google plays no role at all:

1. List Marketing
2. Continuity Memberships
3. Info Products (using affiliates & launch contests)

This is where I'm heading with my own business, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on why. Obviously, the first and biggest reason is reducing the reliance on search engines for free traffic. I guess I could add PPC as an alternative, and I know lots of marketers make good money using it. But it's not for me. I have an innate aversion to paying cash for traffic. I think it's genetic.

If you're into blogging or affiliate marketing, etc. where you rely on Google rankings to send you traffic, aren't you tired of being at the mercy of Google's next change? Man, that just wears you down, especially if you've ever been hit hard by changes. So, I'm not doing it anymore. Well, I am, but I'm not going to rely nearly as much on SEO and all the rest. I'm breaking free!

Having a list has taught me over the last couple of years that long-term success and growth are predicated on developing relationships built on trust and value. The more you have of that, the less you have to rely on a steady flow of new people from search engines or anywhere else.

I think the same can be said of continuity memberships. As long as you provide real value and solid info, you take all of the pressure off of having to constantly sell to a flow of new prospects.

All of which plays, I think, into creating your own products. You're gonna need content, whether you work hard on a list or a membership site - and especially if you do both.

But before you get to that, you need the knowledge. I think a lot of people never get into list building or memberships simply because they don't think they're "expert" enough.

But I've learned over the years that such thinking is also a fallacy for many people. Chances are, unless you're really and truly a newbie, you know enough to provide good value and solid info to others who are a step or two behind you on the learning curve.

So, ultimately, what I'm saying here is to think outside of the SEO box a bit. Don't limit your chances by following the crowd. Yes, some of them make nice livings! But most of them also have had to spend lots of hours (and/or a fair amount of money) getting themselves into that position. It's not a quick way to start seeing the $$$.

Trust me - a simple little 10-page report on some aspect of IM or MMO that you know a bit about is valuable to lots of other would-be marketers! Write that report, set up a simple little opt-in page, and build yourself a list. Then, help your list members by sending more good tidbits about that same subject. While you're building up trust with them, create a more in-depth ebook about the topic (or something closely related). Offer it to your list. You'll be surprised. You really will. As long as you gave a lot of value and built up that all-important trust level early on, your list members will respond by buying your ebook. Make sure it's related to the initial report that got them on your list, though. That's really important!

Once you've got your feet under you doing that, work on setting up a nice little membership site. WP has some free plug-ins that make this a snap to do. Where do you get people to join your paid membership? From your list!

Notice how none of this relies on Google traffic? You can get people to join your list by using articles on sites like EZA and ArticlesBase. I also recommend videos on YouTube. You would be surprised how easy they are to make if you have a mic or a headset for your computer. You just need something like Jing or Camtasia. Jing Pro is very inexpensive and I use it all the time. It has a feature to upload directly to your YouTube account. Super easy! Put a link to your opt-in page in your video description and drive traffic to your opt-in page that way. Same with your articles... link at the bottom and lure them in with a strong call to action.

Now you're building a 2-pronged business that is sustainable AND does not rely very much on Google rankings! To take it a step farther, set up an affiliate program for your membership site. Promote that part of it in forums like this one. There are many other IM and MMO forums, as well. Lots of affiliates frequent these forums, so they're right there for the asking.

This is the direction I'm heading. I got to where I am largely by building an empire of Adsense and affiliate niche sites. Those will always be there to make me a nice residual monthly income. But they rely very heavily on Google rankings.

And I'm sick of worrying and tweaking and being under the threat of the next Google change. In other words, those are good income streams, but they should not be anyone's SOLE source of online income. It's too shaky a foundation.

Hope this helps some of you who are floundering and wondering what direction to take things.

John