Newbies Hit By EMD Update

I remember when I got into IM at the beginning of last year and built my first site (I was reading alot b4 that). I invested a great deal of love and passion into that site! I learnt all the fundamentals and implemented all I learnt and my site began to take shape... and to grow into something I was really proud of. It was something I created and it gave me a great deal of satisfaction to admire my creation! But then Panda came along and I lost a great deal of income from that site... I was devastated and I was really sad and depressed for a good few weeks before getting back to try and pick up the pieces.

But I did pick up the pieces and I got my site ranking again which was a real victory for me. I also began building more sites to diversify my income at that time, but then came the mass blog network deindexing and my most prized site was hit again (my first site). Luckily the other sites I built carried me during that time but again, I was heartbroken and I did not even want to visit the site that was hit because it embittered me even more that all the work had come to nothing.

Then Penguin came and completely wiped out my first site (I was still ranking for a few KWs) and it took out a few of my newer sites!

Now again, one of my sites was hit with the EMD update but the site was not even on an EMD...lol! I am actually not feeling too bad today because I have been through it before, but I know you are hurting... I am sorry you have to go through this, BUT

I have to highlight that this is the life of an SEOer. No one can predict what Google is going to do next... we all can try and follow best practice but that does not guarantee your site's ranking tomorrow. People can sell you SEO strategies but no strategy is full-proof because no one will ever know what is around the corner. No SEOer has had the priviledge of dissecting Google's algo and none of us sit in the boardrooms at the Google plex so no one can ever give you a full-proof SEO strategy that will gurantee your rankings.

SEOers can gloat about how well their sites and their client's sites are doing but none of them can tell you the 200+ ranking factors that Google uses to rank a site and none of them can tell you why one EMD was hit and another wasn't. We can have theories based on what others say but they will always be just a theory. We can follow best practice based on what has worked in the past but that does not guarantee anything for the future.

Do you see how crazy SEO actually is? Do you see that this addiction to free traffic goes against all sanity? But guess what: I LOVE THIS GAME!

You see to be in SEO you have to have a thick skin and you have to be able to roll with the punches. Google can stick a screwdriver soemwhere and your site can tank and you have to be willing to accept this fact to be an SEOer. When you get hit you need to pick yourself up and try again!

Many SEOers apply their trade to make money for themselves and we know that SEO is risky business and we are playing a game that changes at every corner regardless of what strategy is been utilized. With an algo you will have false-positives which means even good sites tank!

My reason for starting this thread is not to scare you away from SEO but rather to reveal the unfeigned truth about SEO. If you want to play this game then strap your self in and prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster ride!

Ask yourself whether this journey is what you want to pursue and if it is really worth it? Do you have responsibilites like taking care of a family and putting food on the table? If so, then SEO should not form the foundation of your traffic generation approaches - it is too unpredictable! If you love IM but you know the SEO road is a bit too risky for you then my advise is to leave this sub-forum and go to the main forum and start reading the threads there - you will learna great deal about alternative methods to generate traffic and how to build a long-term sustainable business that does not revolve around russian roulette.

The truth is that when the responsiblities of a crazy SEOer like myself begin to increase then mindsets change and that is when people begin offering SEO services, products, consulting services etc. Why? Because every SEOer knows deep down that this game does not guarantee your rent will be paid, kids will be fed and clothed and the wife gets to be lavished and romanced.

Think hard before you build your next site and always develop a contingency plan that will allow you to pay the bills. Diversify your traffic sources and do not make search engine traffic the base of your business. If you have a skill or special knowledge think about offering a service or creating a product but if you just like living on the edge then go ahead and play the game