Scared of or hate Google? Then why don't you try diversifying your traffic sources?

I think by pursuing other sources of Traffic, you will catch Google's attention in the process. It's all about backlinks. Take your link and put it where people will see it. Not that hard of a concept.

wise words, indeed, and it's basically what I do, with several income streams too.

Learn to diversify and be flexible. Stop believing that your livelihood depends on Google. It shouldn't.

I agree you shouldnt rely fully on Big G , but what you are saying by diversifying your traffic is alot easier said then done.

Examples of diversifying your traffic with having the same target audience ???
would love to hear what you have to say. Social media is one way but its not comparable to google

There are plenty of Warriors who don't rely on Google for the bulk of their traffic. For me, personally, Google is definitely not my biggest traffic source (even though I'm on pages 1 and 2 for a number of my keywords). I consider the traffic I get from them to be a "bonus" - but focus the bulk of my efforts on other avenues. That way, my business isn't at the mercy of some button-pusher out at Google headquarters

Hyperbole much? This is the problem with this obsession of article syndication on the warrior forum. People sell it like "Hey, guest posting on high traffic blogs is super easy. Just go out and do that".

So if you're in the fitness industry, just go out and contact a bunch of high traffic blogs and get your content published there. Super easy. It's like push button stuff. Anytime you want some traffic, just send it out to all those high traffic sites that are just begging you to put content out there.

This kind of advice reminds me of a real estate attorney getting advice to just ignore the yellow pages. Instead, just go out and tell realtors to send you business. Just call them up and ask them. They'll just send it over!

Of course, never-mind the fact that the realtor is the one with the lead (power)....the attorney might be great, but there are hundreds of great ones.

Sure, article syndication is great when you have the relationships. But it's not as simple as just announcing to the world that you're in the syndication business baby!!!!

Personal health blogs, I'm not talking about affiliate websites but actual community blogs. Personal health ezines and offline newsletters. online groups and so on..........

Far better traffic than you will get on Google.

Nonsensical statement. I should probably ignore the rest of your post.

Yep should have ignored it. What utter rubbish.

-Chris

Please do not take offense to my quoting you here, but you expressed in a very concise fashion a sentiment I do not fully understand but have seen out of many IMers. I am new to this and finally decided to concentrate my efforts on starting a business online, and to not give up. However, being one month shy of 40, I am not new to the internet. I remember the days of Prodigy, Compuserve, etc. I remember my really sweet 33 MHz processor 386 chip, 1 MB RAM, 120 MB hard drive computer and 14.4 kbs external fax/modem I had custom built for almost $2000.00.

I remember the days before Google when finding pictures of nekkid ladies was a chore.

I also remember the frustrations of crappy search engine results replete with spam. Although I am about done with Google after their latest privacy policy shenanigans, they were once a young startup, competing with other search engines for market share. And in order to grow to the market dominating $199 billion enterprise that no longer feels it necessary to honor my privacy they are today they first had to focus on giving their users quality results for search queries.

And the vast majority of users 10-15 years ago were not looking to make purchases on the net - they were exploring and communicating. I doubt they ever intended to be COMPLETELY FREE ADVERTISING for IMers, IMers that forced themselves to the top of search results by manipulating and exploiting their algorithm.

Their algorithm has never been in place to serve IMers or SEOers. It has been constructed to provide search results to average knuckleheads such as myself looking for information and communication - not products and services.

Above all of their mega corporation concerns driving them today, their first task was to provide the best possible experience for their users. And they did a very good job of that, overall. Part of the equation was to keep early day IMers from spamming the crap out of me and others. Many seem to forget the length some SEO gurus and IMers went to in order to manipulate the Google algorithm.

Spam sucks. 99.9% of internet users have no interest in spam and have spent 25+ years being annoyed by it.

Never forget that it is the original IMers that invented spam and the original BH SEOers that tried to devise methods to slip their spam by Google and into my home. Silly methods like taking a crappy, spammy page and using, say, a green background and hidden within that background was their keyword in the same color, repeated over and over and over. Things like that. I went to Google for answers, not spam.

I did not want spam 20 years ago and I do not want it today. Google knew this back then as they know it today.

SEO guys did it to themselves. They tried to 'outsmart' Google and not ask, but demand and force themselves upon an unsuspecting public. To get their sites on page one.

I have no doubt you are correct in your assertion that Google does not want to see the SEO industry continue, as they have probably spent millions of dollars trying to prevent SEOers from skewing search results. Still, today, some of the top 3 or 4 sites I get for random searches on Google are crap. They are crap pages, trying to get money from me, invading my house where I sit.

And the reason those crap pages are ranked so high is because of intentional manipulation from SEOers. Not because they are useful pages and sites.

I cannot tell you how many waste of time websites designed to separate me from my money I have clicked on in 25 years, complete with pop-ups popping up faster than I could close them - despite the fact that those were not the type of sites I was looking for. At all. Maybe some of you IM 'ol timers have lost the forest for the trees and don't realize that unless Google engaged themselves in a battle that the BH SEOers started years ago, they wouldn't be around in 2012. They would have folded or been gobbled up by another search engine.

Google has NEVER been in existence to support and promote IMers. They have exsisted to provide some knucklehead like me who has never tried to make a dime on the net a means to search Da Net for information and to present me with those most relevant sites relative to my query.

I first bought something online about 1 year ago. I never wanted to before. Yet, the amount of crappy webpages trying to sell me something I have been sent to as a result of search query is HUGE. Not because I wanted to visit those sites and not because Google had any interest in sending me to those sites, but because SEOers and IMers, rudely interrupted my internet session.

Forget about Google's wishes. My prediction is that in a decade, the SEO industry as we know it will not be around. Evolution of algorithms, evolution of internet users, evolution of social media, etc., will make the importance of SEO for selling products or advertising diminish.

Doubt me? It is already in progress. Look what Google is doing to heavily SEOed sites today.

I can't help but feel many IMers and SEOers are a bit ungrateful. All of this complaining about Google and how mean they are to IMers SEOers. Laughable. Google, its employees and its financial resources are responsible for turning many IMers and SEOers into MILLIONAIRES.

Google has made a lot of people rich, very rich. And those people never once punched a time card nor provided anything of value in exchange to Google. Instead of a lot of complaining I see, it would be more appropriate for many IMers and SEOers to thank Google. Thank that company for making you money, for without them many of you would not be where you are today.

Again, no offense or insult meant to anybody. I certainly understand that SEO is important today and plenty of good folks emphasizing white hat SEO are providing a service for their clients. I merely want to encourage veterans and other noobs like myself to look forward and listen to the experienced ones here preaching the importance of focus not on SEO, but rather on what their potential customers want.

I am new to this forum, but not new to forums. Like many of you, I have spent countless hours giving meaning to the term Flame War. That is not what I am trying to engage in here and will certainly take the time to read the response of anyone who's skin I may have gotten under with an open mind.

The internet is maturing. In 10 years, the only people making real money on the net are those that are truly providing quality content they can sell advertising on or quality products and services. People that refuse to focus on that and continue to try to game search algorithms will be in the unemployment line.

Build it, and they will come ...

[/newbie rant]