Lessons from the Recent Google Algo

My sites have seriously been affected by the ranking changes, but I'm not worrying because I think they'll come back. The drops coincide with some link building that I've been doing so I'm not sure if it's because of aggressive link building or the algo change on Friday. I'm going to wait it out because I don't solely rely on my IM profits to pay my bills, but I'm sure things will bounce back.

Here's my advice:

1). Keep a Steady Hand
If you're building links, don't stop. What do you think it looks like if you stop building links because of a ranking drop??? An admission of guilt (especially when you consider that Google looks at link velocity).

If your traffic is down DON'T PANIC. Fear and panic cause people to do irrational things. Keep doing what you're doing, but diversify your traffic generation so you rely less on Google.


2). Build a List
If you've been getting by on AdSense, you need to seriously think about building a list. Create a responsive list and incentivize your readers to share your emails with their friends. Offer them free products, reviews of products, whatever.

3). Buy Cheap Traffic
If you have a site with engaging content, you can buy clicks from StumbleUpon for 5 cents per click. If your content is good enough, it can go viral. I have a blog post about Bruce Lee's one-inch punch and how you can do the same, it's the kind of thing that will spread on its own once it gets enough traction. StumbleUpon shares will result in natural links and coverage from big blogs in your niche (because prolific bloggers scan social media for cool stuff)

There are always banner ads too via buysellads and other networks, which won't give you as much traffic, but they're an option.

4). Do Guest Posts
Write real posts on blogs in your niche. Comment on these blogs and build a reputation first. Make at least 10 real, insightful comments over the course of a week so the blog owner gets to know you. Then ask him for a chance to write about a topic that you feel passionately about.

Shopify.com and Balsamiq.com (ecommerce platform and a wireframe mockup tool) launched their businesses by interacting on blogs (listen to how they did it on Mixergy.com). Of course, they were providing a real, valuable product, and were in it for the long haul. This can work with your affiliate sites, provided you actually care about the niche.

5). Interact in Forums
Interact in forums, not just for the backlinks. Participate/create in 5 threads per day. Build a reputation. I know of a $4 million e-commerce company (tss-radio.com) that built their business in discussion forums. Today, every employee, from the two owners to the shipping people answer questions on satellite radio forums (again, he explains how on Mixergy.com)

6). Engage in Social Media
There are two really cool plugins that incite people to promote your stuff on Twitter, Google +, and Facebook. Craig Mako and Arvind put up a WSO for $9 (yes only $9) that hides blog content unless people G+ or Tweet you. See a real example of it here: Get On Top of The Next Generation of SEO In One Click | The Link Back

There's another really cool plugin offered by Chris Munch that encourages people to share your posts on Facebook. Check out the posts on MunchWeb.com to see what I mean.

That's what I'm going to do for my most high value sites. Losing search engine traffic does hurt, but this is an opportunity for motivated site owners to rise above the noise and create truly valuable sites that the search engines will have to rank...

More than anything, my mentality is to force the search engines to chase me rather than the other way around.

Thoughts?

Raza