More Reasons Why It’s Not All About Google Traffic
Do you work for Google? Who is your boss?
I’m self-employed — I don’t have a boss, I don’t have one boss, I actually have thousands of bosses. I answer to my readers.
Having the entire proverbial rug on which my financial survival depends ripped out from under my feet without warning is not my idea of “job security.”
When Google Pulls Your Plug…
New Media Master Robin Good recently shared his personal horror story of Google’s penalizing his site.
I’ve been reading Robin’s articles for years now, but I have to say, I found it distasteful that “sustaining his site” is dependent on — not regular readers — but a flood of first-time visitors referred by Google Search who click on contextual ads.
How is that authentic? A business model that’s dependent upon all the people who AREN’T interested, instead of the regular readers who ARE? That sounds like an inversion of value, if you ask me.
Search Engine Optimization guru Aaron Wall of SEOBook talks about how, when, and why he began distrusting Google’s business practices in an article called How Google AdSense Cannibalizes Content Based Business Models.
Have you read the fine print on your Adsense Agreement?
I decided I didn’t want to pander to Google a few years ago when they started disqualifying site owners for clicking on Adsense links on their own web pages. I don’t think they should tolerate anyone trying to cheat their click-through counts, but it was Google’s “attitude” and the tone of the language in their Adsense Policies and Procedures documentation that disgusted me. It’s like the manufacturer of your bath linens coming into your home and telling you which towel you’re allowed to dry your hands on.
Google owns Feedburner now…
I’m a big fan and die-hard user of many of Google’s free applications — Gmail rocks my virtual workload — and Google now owns the service I use to manage my list of subscribers and deliver my content, but there are plenty of web-based email service providers out there; I can take my list of opt-in subscribers with me to another RSS service at any time, also.
Unlike “PageRank.” Rank is a rich word… so many layers of meaning…
You can take subscribers with you — automated “rankings” don’t transfer so easily.
- What if your web hosting company’s servers bite the dust?
- What if you have to move to a new domain?
- What if your blog is still relatively new and the search engine robots haven’t found you yet?
Thank God people aren’t robots
It only takes a small amount of the right readers — provided that you deliver truly valuable content to them — to maintain a meaningful mission.
More importantly than investing all your eggs in one basket — one monetization scheme — one popularity contest — is the idea of investing in the interest of other people. You can’t be removed from the hearts and minds of those with whom you’ve established an authentic relationship.
This is why my problogging model is not about ads and not about high traffic. Forget about your would-be blogging overlords – Google Adsense, Alexa, Technorati, StumbleUpon — feed your people.
Slade Roberson is an intuitive counselor, ATP®, professional blogger, and the author of Shift Your Spirits, Automatic Intuitive Response, and the PageCoach Problogging Tutorial Series. Slade on Blogging shares behind-the-screens internet marketing, self-publishing, and blogging strategies with other personal development writers, coaches, and healing arts practitioners.
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Thanks, Slade, for the reminder that business, whether online or elsewhere, is about building relationships with those whom we seek to serve!
Blessings,
Andrea
http://www.EmpoweredSoul.com
Andrea,
It’s pretty cool how the simple motivation to follow relationships with your readers takes care of all the other “stuff” you want to accomplish.