Postcards from the Funny Farm

There’s been a lot of buzz about Google PageRank on the internet lately. Many people have had their “currency” (I say that tongue in cheek but that IS what it is for those who seek advertisers favor for a living) taken from a 5 or 6 sometimes (or more) to a 0 overnight. I wrote about how my page rank was set from 4 to 0 and it was a real bummer let me tell you. I was angry.

Then some time passed. I was once the wild horse on this subject that Google has finally broken. I want my pagerank back if I can swing it.

I decided that it is possible Google is trying to do something right (I didn’t say probable). I can’t question their motives. So I started searching the web for examples of bloggers who had restored their Page Rank and the stuff I found wasn’t too promising. The first 3 that came up in a Google search with the search terms: “How I Got my PageRank back,” had some good advice, but when I by chance checked their pageranks, they were ALL STILL ZERO! My experience was that there were two waves in Google smackdown: 1) An initial and then a restoration of many and then a more resolute “spank” as IZEA calls it. (see button up top.)

Then I found a promising one. You can read it here. It’s where I got all the ideas I have engaged to try and get my page rank back. First, I went through and for every sponsored post link and/or commercial paid link, I added this inside: rel=”nofollow”

It took me a long time because I had two pages of PayPerPost links and quite a few PayU2Blog links I had to put rel=”nofollow” in. the rel=”nofollow” keeps the search engines from crawling links you add it to. This process took me 4 days to complete. I can’t imagine how hard this would be for someone who made their living at sponsored posts. You’d almost be better off just starting new. As for me, I’ve only done them for several months.

Next, as indicated in the article, I requested reconsideration from Google. (see below) Now I just wait. Google says it “may take a while.”

Hello. This is my second request for reconsideration to have my Page Rank restored. I believe the reason it was removed was because I did not identify paid links with a rel=”nofollow” tag. I took some out altogether and then requested reconsideration but I didn’t understand how to insert the rel=”nofollow” until recently.

I have spent the better part of 4 days going through all my posts and adding rel=”nofollow” to any commercial or paid links. I feel 100% confident that my site is worthy of page rank and that it will not follow paid or commercial links ever again in the future. I also know that now it does not have any paid links that are not kept from the search engine crawler by rel=”nofollow”

I average 80 visitors a day and I value the Google Pagr Rank system in letting readers know my content is trustworthy. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

To close I just want it to go on record with my readers that I still think Google is purposely sabotaging people who use paid links. I find their way in this to be at best anal-retentive and at worst crooked but I can’t deny the power pagerank has over advertisers. I am hopeful it will change but for now, I’m takin’ what their givin’ … well, you know the rest. To Google I say this: “My hands are held up high.”

So I’ve started this series and I will keep you posted what I have done and what result there is good or bad. I hope it helps out those in my shoes: Content-filled bloggers that are being penalized by Google for making money with their work.

I made more money in March than I have made blogging to-date. In this post I show how. So, without any further ado, lets get to my March 2008 goals and results.

In February’s post, I broke down my March goals into three categories. This worked so well that I will be doing the same for April. You may recall the three categories are:

1. Traffic Goals,
2. My Web Publishing Goals, and
3. Monetization Goals.

First, let’s look at last month’s stats:

March 2008

1. Traffic Goals:
   3,532 Visits: Goal exceeded! (was 3500)
   114 Visit/Day avg.: Goal of 100 visits/day exceeded!
2. My Web Publishing Goals:
   Just to reiterate: One of my main goals with my blog is to establish more of a name and an online presence through multiple online locations. These also help with backlinks, Google PageRank and Technorati authority. I went on a publishing field-day to put it mildly! I hope to do even more next month.
   
3. Monetization Goals:
   Feeling a little jaded after Google smacked my page rank from a PR4 to a PR2 because I used IZEA, I decided to set my PayPerPost goal low in March at $30. I exceeded that goal with an income of $65 from PayPerPost in March. Also, I was able to make $20 from Loud Launch and an incredible first month of $70 with PayU2Blog. The PayPal payment just went into my bank account an hour ago. Can you say Sarah and I go to Chili’s for lunch today??? ;) Oh, one more money item: I gained 2 125×125 paying advertisers this month. It is a pleasure having them and I plan to do all I can to keep them happy.

Okay, now it is time to list my future goals for April:

1. Traffic:
   3750 Visits.
   175 Visits/Day (I know it is almost doubling last month’s goal, but I am networking through 9Rules and BlogCatalog much more as well as some sources I’m choosing to wait to mention in case they don’t work).
2. My Web Publishing Goals (10 published articles in April): Publish on …
   BlogCritics (2)
   Associated Content (1)
   FuelmyBlog (2)
   GuestBlogging as the coveted offers come in. I would anticipate a minimum of 5 offers, but we’ll see. If I don’t get that many, I may approach YOU! ;)
3. Monetization Goals: I’m making a goal to make $100 minmum on PayPerPost and PayU2Blog. We’ll see what the ads bring in as well but I am not setting an ads goal at this time.

Think I can pull it off? I am confident I can. You might consider subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss an update! This month should be an exciting month of meeting these new goals. Oh, and if you are interested in getting traffic from this blog, I would like to do a guestblog or interview for you on your blog. Let’s talk! Thanks for reading Postcards from the Funny Farm.

Google Vilifies PayPerPost and PayPerPost Fights Back

By now you may have heard about what Google did in attempt to destroy a small startup company, PayPerPost. The story goes like this:

Google invented PageRank. They set the secret criteria websites are assigned a rank from that called “Page Rank.”

When PayPerPost came on the scene, they paid bloggers to write posts on given topics. As with any open platform on the web, some abused it and wrote short meaningless posts that met the criteria of the job but were basiclly just filler posts with no new content. Having said that, there is still the large potenial for PayPerPost posts to be even more effective sources of info on the web (which I THINK Google would see as a good thing.) That’s why I was was shocked to find out that Google becaise a couple months ago stripping every blog with PayPerPosts on it to a zero page rank.

Now the big irony: To get the decent paying jobs on PayPerPost, you mch have a high Page Rank. Google not only sent all blog with PayPerPost to the bottom of the snake-pool but they alsocut off the life dollars of “posties,” as they are called who were once making $500/month writing quality articles.

Google is protecting its interests just like Microsoft tried to do by making Netscape incompatible with its software. Google is going to find that spam sites and services are much more prevalent that PayPerPost writers. Many I have spoken to are fed up with worry what Adolf-Google will find immoral so they are doing PayPerPost when it sounds interesting. I’m in this camp. If I get a great idea from PPP idea, I am going to write and link it . If Google think that make my writing spam, they can sit on their thumb and spin. I predict: Google will change or start falling in the next 5 years. They will not be the best company with tactics like these.

It’s the new Page Rank! RealRank.  The company is IZEA and it makes a lot more sense as a ranking system than Page Rank does. I recommend you head over and get your blog claimed … I predict this will transform rank as we know it. IZEARanks.com :: Top 100 Blogs, Blog Ranking, Real...

Tonight I was going back through some of my posts in an extensive series I wrote about blogging tech and tips and I thought they ought to be brought back to the front page. If you are a beginner, this long series I wrote last year might be like gold for you. It’s the results of my blood sweat and tears teaching myself blogging and web-design over the course of a year. You’ll find the Table of Contents for this series linked above. The one that helped me especially tonight and inspired this linkage was: “Blog Writing, Look Before You Leap.” I had forgotten about a certain Google resource to help with getting popular blogging ideas that get traffic. Sweet resource.

Another new idea I tried today after reading my post on 41 recommended plugins was to add the “Popularity Contest” plugin and create a “top 50″ page linked in the sidebar menu. This allows my readers to scan a list of my 50 most popular posts of all time (as determined by a set of criteria such as comment count, hits, etc.) , assembled on a dedicated page. It’s nice after a year of writing so much content. The only problem is, some of it never gets to the forefront. For this reason, my blog might not get the chance it deserves to be read by millions and get a higher rating. A blog rating is like a hairstyle: everyone has one but only a few are happy with it. Anyway, maybe these posts of the past year will help somebody out there get a better hairstyle. I could use your tips too, after all I am bald.

This blog’s stats for the Month Ending December 31, 2007Traffic
Total Visits: 1,173
Average Daily Hits: 38
Average Daily RSS: 36

Ranking
Google Page Rank: 4
Technorati Authority: 92

Money
Commission Junction: $ 0
Adsense: $ 1.03
Pay Per Post: $70.00

Dollar Total: $71.03
__

Goals for January, 2007:

Traffic

1. 1500 total hits.
2. Post one or more relevant, seo friendly posts per day.
3. Daily average of 80 hits

Money

1. Continue to learn and use Adsense and PayPerPost.
2. Write a post for Smorty.
3. Break $100 in earnings for January 2008.

This is the first post in a monthly series I am calling: “Blog Traffic, Rank, and Money.” I invite you to watch the progress of my blog. I also hope you can take something from the data to help boost your traffic, ranking, and money. As far as December goes, all I want to say is this: The only way to go is up ;) As things rise, I vow to share what worked and, as Derek Semmler has pointed out to me, sometimes what didn’t!

I invite you to subscribe and keep up with the updates!

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