After the roller coaster of the past few months, with Panda and Penguin dancing this way and that, it is fair to say that some of us who were just settling into the reality of things gone by, and the subsequent painful lost income due to devalued search engine rankings, were left wondering what to do next!
Not everyone of course lost everything, but most of us have in fact suffered from the effects of such changes, even though most SEO and Internet Marketing “gurus” will regularly go out there claiming that “THEY” were not affected. Maybe there were not, or maybe they are just NOT being “truthful”.
As far as we are concerned though, let me tell you that whilst the majority of our websites did come out of the latest big G tsunami unscathed, (we own over 400, but if you add customers sites, our portfolio of the sites we handle is a whole lot more), some of our websites were indeed affected by our furry friend (Panda) and its not so furry accomplice (Penguin).
When you lose up to 40 pc of your income on a bunch of websites, as an internet marketer with a portfolio of hundreds of sites specializing in a wide variety of (affiliate) products and services you realize the true value of not putting all “you eggs in one basket” so that all in all, whilst our overall income stream has diminished, our portfolio is wide and varied enough that the 40 pc drop in some of our sites is something we are able to deal with.
If you have witnessed a drop in your rankings, and you have largely stayed away from “black hat” techniques, over optimization may be the culprit and you will probably be looking at ways to recover the Over Optimization Penalty! To that end I encourage you to read the excellent article written by Nick Eubanks at SEOmoz which will provide you with a step by step blue print of what to do in other to recover from said over optimization penalty!
As if Google’s new policies hadn’t been enough to cause us to reach for the anti vertigo medication that all of us involved in internet marketing keep in the top draw of our desk Facebook and Google+ were at it again with the introduction of their latest feature changes!
First it was the launch of Facebook Promoted Posts a paid for new feature enabling the promotion of recent posts by extending its reach beyond the normal exposure this post might get in fans news feeds.
Or in other words, reach more people than the number of fans your organic content currently reaches.
“… promoted posts will be seen by a larger percentage of the people who like your Page than would normally see it. It will also be seen by a larger percentage of the friends of people who interact with your post.” – Facebook
Then it was the turn of Google+ to rock our world with the death of Google places which has been replaced by Google+ Local.
And finally it was Facebook turn once again in this battle of the tit for tat with the introduction of the brand new feature of “Scheduling Facebook Posts“!
This is one feature that has god Crescele (our own social media expert) all excited since she will now be able to schedule posts in advance instead of having to login daily. Of course, there were apps already who could do just that, but now all you have to do is log into your Facebook Account, go to your page’s sharing tool, type your update, click on the little blue clock icon and schedule! Easy as that. Now of course, scheduling doesn’t mean that you will get away with “bad” content, since in the world of social media, your fans will determine how useful your content by way of their interaction. And just in case, you want to increase said interaction, you can always pay for promotion which is at the end of day exactly what Facebook and Google are moving towards.
Never a dull moment in the online world.
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Stevie,
I never utilized these location in my business. This is very hard on so many of our people in this great industry.
When you deal with affiliate marketing it is all about selling others products and making them increase more than your efforts.That is just how it feels. Now, this situation has most giving in to affiliate marketing which will still be around.
I can feel the hurt so many are faced with. Now, with prices jumping at high, we must be award of every new development in this industry. You have made this very clear.
Stevie, your one on top of areas we must focus more on and that is why I thank you for bringing this to my attention. More people have asked for my support and now I understand why.
Thank you William for your visit. I am always delighted when you drop by. Affiliate marketing is a very powerful and effective method to earn more than a decent living. Some affiliate marketers do much more than that in fact. It used to be a whole lot easier but the latest changes in search engine technologies have introduced the need to be much more innovative about we market our sites.
Hey Stevie, Thanks for keeping us updated on the “dance” going on with Facebook and Google. Almost feels like a jive and not a waltz.
I do like the idea of scheduling Facebook posts. I have not experimented with it yet. However, there is much to be said about being more personal and actually hanging out there for a few minutes at a time…..if you have time for that.
Thank you much!
Lynn
It does feel like a jive! Scheduling of posts on Facebook can be really valuable IF the posts we schedule have real value to our readers!
Hey Steve,
As far as the G tsunami, so far so good for me. I loved the anti-vertigo medication. Where can I get some. The only thing I’m doing now is taking my own pictures because even the ones I have purchased can effect those bots creeping up my spine! So…another learning curve for me.
Reading about the paid versions of Facebook I’m on the fence right now. I need to do more investigation if and how it would benefit me personally.
But I must say, I like the new scheduling. There are so many articles I would like to share with my readers on my page, this will be a great way to do it.
Thanks for all the latest and greatest,
Donna
Stevie,
Great post. Learned cutting edge stuff on FB that I have not had time to keep up with and am so very impressed that you are involved with or own more than 400 websites. May I ask how long you’ve been managing over 400 sites?
Thanks!
~ Jupiter Jim
Hey Jim, thanks for the visit. We have been doing “this” for nearly 15 years! Back in the days, SEO was all you needed to be successful in internet marketing. Things have changed now and it takes a lot of hard work. I went from one site to over 400 over this period, adding some really competent and innovative people to help along the way.
Hi Stevie, I like the recent changes at Facebook – being able to schedule post right there on the site is much better, because facebook members won’t be penalized as they are when posting from a third party application.
Being able to promote a post is a good thing also – when you think about how many fans/likers people have on their page, it’s impossible for facebook to put an update on everyone’s news feed.
Thanks for the updates Stevie, Regards from Julieanne
Said this has affected many, but the best way to overcome is to get to them what they want in the new update. Vary anchor text so it looks very natural and no over stuffing keywords, and writing great content. This should last and give great results for a long time.
Exactly. Build backlinks to appear as random and organic as possible and at all time present content that readers want to read!
Must say I am not online enough to be affected.. Sorry to hear you got hit… so to speak.. As times change I guess we are going to have growing pains as those people who came before us.. Our growing pains will be some what different but also a way to learn things, suffer I guess and then move on. Thanks for the updates/info.
You’re welcome!
Hello Steve
Right on topic with your post. Well for the moment my experience is we are having a few buggy issue but given this is all new ad Facebook have become such a beast of a size in terms of its user base not doing to badly!
John Jansch wrote a pro-post using the new sponsored stories and the like the other day worth a read if you get a few moments
I will Sadie-Michaela. Thank you for pointing it out.
Stevie,
Thanks for sharing this information. I am not keeping up with the details of which search engine site is changing what policy. So your summary is most useful. I did not realize that Facebook is now allowing scheduling of posts. That sounds like a wonderful thing and I will check into it.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
I understand exactly where you are coming from Dr. Erica. It is sometimes difficult to keep up with all the changes. Glad you find the information on this website useful!
Hi Stevie,
Thanks for the updates on what is going on out there. I am working with Google+ Local right now, so I can assure everyone that nothing much has changed yet. It will mean you can share positive experiences in your Google circles and is designed to get more people using Google+.
In general, these mega giants are wanting us to spend more money with them and are doing everything to get us to use them exclusively.
The complexity is overwhelming, and could very well leave us at a standstill.
Like it or not Social interaction is the way forward. That means mutual friends who comment o each others material as a way to overcome the changes.
At least that is my opinion!
This is exactly right. These corporations are looking after their bottom dollar, and whilst none of us can begrudge of that right, I do feel saddened that the internet is gearing itself towards an environment when what used to be free, no loner is!