On November 16th, 2003, Google commenced an update (the Florida update) which had a catastrophic effect for a very large number of websites and, in
process, turned search engine optimization upside down. It is common to give alphabetical names to Google's updates in very same way that names are given to hurricanes, and this one became known as "Florida". In a nutshell, a vast number of pages, many of which had ranked at or near top of results for a very long time, suddenly disappeared from results altogether.
To so many on Internet, Google has become omnipotent "hand of God" and it's sickening! Why are so many people falling into trap of optimizing their website's to cater to Google's ever-changing algorithms? I refuse to play that game! I personally could care less about my search engine rankings. I never have. My search engine rankings go up and down like a yo-yo! They have for years. Yet, I'm still able to comfortably support myself and my family.
If you only remember one thing from this article, remember this: DO NOT DEPEND SOLELY ON SEARCH ENGINES FOR YOUR TRAFFIC! Find alternative ways to attract traffic to your website. If you're fortunate enough to achieve a high search engine ranking, consider it a bonus. But DO NOT MAKE THE SEARCH ENGINES A PRIORITY!
Why? Because when you stop to consider that Google, DMOZ and Yahoo! has millions and millions of pages in their directories, you'd really have a better chance of winning lottery, than getting high enough in results pages where it's going to make a significant difference in your traffic.
In fact, I receive a very tiny percentage of my traffic from search engines.
So, where's my traffic coming from? Well, vast majority of it comes from dozens of articles I've written that have been picked up and published on popular websites. I also get traffic via word of mouth, newsletters that my articles are published in, and a few other secret methods that I use.
Yes, like Colonel Sanders, I too have a secret recipe!
And if all of search engines disappeared tomorrow, I'd be just fine, because I'm a marketing man. I know how to market myself and my service. I was lucky enough to be born a "baby boomer." That means I had honor and privilege of personally seeing first-hand, some of greatest copywriting in history. I took lots of notes and learned my lessons well.
Back then, mailorder was Internet of its time, and boy was there marketing talent everywhere! You should really do yourself a favor sometime and go to library and read old mailorder books. Some great titles to look for include, "How To Get Rich In Mail Order," by Melvin Powers, "Money In Your MailBox," by L. Perry Wilbur, "How To Make A Fortune In Mail Order," by Al Stern and "Building A Mail Order Business," by William A. Cohen .
You'll come away a lot smarter and you'll discover some ingenious ways to market your website, besides search engines.
Will somebody wake up DMOZ? I hear they're sleeping on job. DMOZ (The Open Directory Project) is another prime example of why you shouldn't depend on search engines or directories. I've heard and read countless horror stories about DMOZ taking 9 months to a year or more to add new sites to their directory, and in many cases not adding perfectly qualified sites at all. I've also heard their directory is not kept up to date, because editors can't keep up with workload.
