My main money maker has been a blog that has been consistently earning me between $100-$150 a month since February. Last night I decided to check up on its position and I was shocked to find that not only was it not listed in the #3 position on page 1 but that it also wasn’t listed on page 2, page 3….you get the idea. It has totally been sandboxed by Google and I have no idea why. I never built up the back links too quickly. I last back linked it about 2 months ago and it was about 60 back links in a period of 3 days (20 each day). The only other back linking I ever did to it was I used UAW back in December and January for it. Not only did it lose its position but it also lost its pagerank. I am totally speechless and downright frustrated!
It is still getting sales, it’s already sitting at $24.00 since July 1, 2009 but still! This has been a heartbreaking lesson. It is definitely is not a good idea to just focus on a few small authority sites because if you put all your time and energy into one site, it can be gone in the blink of an eye.
The good news is my adsense on another blog broke it’s first $50.00 month. It earned a little over $54.00 last month.
I am frustrated with how much time has gone by and I am still only earning about $200 a month. I’ve been internet marketing since September 2008 and I really hoped I’d be earning at least $1,000 a month by now.
After talking with Mike and seeing his $2,000.00 income from last month from his sniper sites, I have decided to return to google sniping. In addition I am going to start writing hubpages. Some people are able to earn a decent income from hubpages alone. Time to put my Dragon Naturally Speaking into overdrive!
Update July 11, 2009: Well 4 days later without worrying about it, it is back in the #6 position on page 1. Whew! I’m sitting at $50.00 in sales so far so I don’t think I suffered too much from it falling off.
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Hey Sara,
If it makes you feel any better, we started at the same time and you are doing better than me
That’s weird that your site just disappeared. Maybe it will come back. My main site fell back to page 7 after weeks on page 2, then slowly crept back up and is now flirting on and off with page 1. My only guess at why it fell is that it lost some “link momentum” but hopefully it is starting to stabilize. The whole time my PR has stayed at 2.
I would give that site some more BLs and hopefully it will come right back. But I understand your frustration!
Carrie´s last blog post..June Earnings
Yea, I think it must have lost some link juice. I was debating whether or not to build more back links for it today or make a few more posts on it, or just forgetting about it for the time being and continue with my hubpage project.
Yeah I think if you write an Ezinearticle or get more links, that will help Google see you need to be on Page 1 again! One of my first TNB sites still isn’t ranking for my main KW at all and it was started in March I think. It’s ranking for other ones but not very high. We are at the mercy of Google!
In my experience, you may continue or start building backlinks again on that blog.
I mean maybe big G thinks that your money making blog is idle that is why they sandboxed it.
I think a few strong links can make your money making blog out on the serp’s again.
Just my two cents.
Boracay Hotels´s last blog post..Fridays Hotel Boracay
Just continue to build backlinks and never give it up. I know, for sure, google is just waiting to see some fresh inbound links for that site of yours.
This is based on my personal experience and tests.
Diteck´s last blog post..Diteck Facts And Information
Sara, I think you just provided some good info for everyone that reads this blog.
Its never a good idea to put all the eggs in one basket when it comes to IM.
I’ve had sites drop out of first page rankings just like yours did…and they have returned just like yours did as well.
Google’s shuffle can cause panic, I know.
But, I’m starting to accept its just a natural consequence of relying on seo primarily.
Yea, all my eggs in one basket has been the biggest fear and the reason why I have been trying all sorts of methods the past several months. I am just glad to see the site naturally popped up again on page 1.
Glad to hear your sites have returned as well.
I’ve never used EZineArticles so this is completely a noob question for that site–am I misunderstanding something there? It looks like you publish material there and other sites are supposed to reprint your work…but duplicate content is one of Google’s no-nos, so I see a potential flaw in using that site for backlinks….can someone enlighten me?
Gerry Pacemaker´s last blog post..Read The Fine Print
Ezines; discussed in this post, is used for the purpose of building back links only. The duplicate content will not effect you because you do not post your the ezine article on your own website. Other sites will pick it up and republish your article as is, but they have to keep your links intact which point back to your site. That is how you are getting even more back links. You want people to pick up your article and add it to their own website.
Google made a big change around the time you saw your blog disappear and then pulled it back a little. If was favoring brands I guess in an attempt to stop the rot.
If you want to make more money online you really need to pump out articles on your own site <– I would bold that last piece and then gradually get links to the articles themselves rather than your home page. Best not create content for someone else unless you create useless content just for the links.
Lets us know how you get on with your blog.
ATB
Peter
help desk software´s last blog post..Help Desk Service Desk Publications
Google made a big change around the time you saw your blog disappear and then pulled it back a little. If was favoring brands I guess in an attempt to stop the rot.
If you want to make more money online you really need to pump out articles on your own site <– I would bold that last piece and then gradually get links to the articles themselves rather than your home page. Best not create content for someone else unless you create useless content just for the links.
Lets us know how you get on with your blog.
ATB
Peter
It looks like you publish material there and other sites are supposed to reprint your work…but duplicate content is one of Google’s no-nos, so I see a potential flaw in using that site for backlinks….can someone enlighten me? thanks..
webpage maker´s last blog ..Useful tips to create an attractive website
There is no duplicate content on my sites so there was no penalty for me because of that. It has to do with building up back links too quickly.