incrediBILL - 10:14 am on Jan 8, 2013 (gmt 0)

its important now to plan your business beyond Google

No, it's important from the beginning to build a complete marketing plan. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to address the situation now rather than later when it's too late. Google by itself isn't the marketing plan, it's just one component of an overall plan.

It appears some can't seem to wrap their head around anything beyond Google which is how they get caught in the trap in the first place.

If you do get into trouble in Google getting second hand traffic is another strategy by trying to get mentioned or linked in any sites, if possible, that are in the top 10 results for any of your keywords or long tails. I made a lot of money selling that ad space to people for many years.

Funny thing is how us internet old-timers got lots of traffic before Google ever showed up in the first place so it's obvious very possible, even today, just at lower traffic volumes that you would get being at the forefront of a search query, but it can still pay the bills.