arubicus - 5:35 pm on Nov 10, 2005 (gmt 0)

"Good grief ... don't y'all think your time would be better spent not living life in fear and, instead, be bold and create more content?! "

After 9-10 months being out and a revenue drop of 1/4 mil - we have added more content fixed this tweak that. It seems efforts become a bit futile. Yes it is difficult to replace the traffic loss from such a huge source. PERIOD. Does Google owe my company anything? NOPE.

Nothing can change the fact that Google is a HUGE source of traffic. Like placing a restaurant in a high traffic area in town next to a motel right off the interstate. You will rely on that off-the-road customers - this is just business. Sometimes reality hits and the interstate gets moved. I have to say you best be prepared to move the restaurant or step up your brand and advertising to compensate any loss of free off-the-road customers.

For many of us the interstate has been moved. We are all trying to compensate. Many of us are looking for the quick fix trying to get back next to the interstate because the financial ramification leaves little choice. Most of us put ourselves in the position.

Many here are venting on google for our own mistakes. I myself thought my company was immune to these search engine hiccups. I was wrong. I though I was in control of the game. I was DEAD wrong. We will still chase Google to obtain a portion of their searh market no doubt. But stable alternatives are now needed more than ever. This will be much work.

Many of us SCREWED up big time (we did) by not building a stronger brand, partnerships and preparing to spend $$$ on advertising to stay alive. Many of us did not have an alternative plan. I do have to say at least in the real world we know where the road has been moved to and it tends to remain more static. Google is quite opposite.

"Our site receives over 4000 NON-SEARCH ENGINE free visitors per day, from articles, press releases, inbound links, etc. etc. All that traffic converts as well, if not better, than search engine traffic."

This is what is keeping us alive. We are holding on by a thread but thank goodness we had built up a little cushion or we would have closed our doors many moons ago. Reality hit after the fact though that more time and effort COULD and SHOULD have been spent creating a BIGGER cushion.

[edited by: arubicus at 5:39 pm (utc) on Nov. 10, 2005]