Life without Google

26 steps to a successful site without google

[texasville]

What I would like to see is contributions from successful webmasters on what should be done to have a successful website WITHOUT relying on google traffic. I see many comments throughout the forums about people bemoaning being dropped, sandboxed, or otherwise ignored by the se giant.

What I am proposing is an antithesis thread to Brett's 26 steps to a successful website with google alone.

26 steps to a successful website in 12 months without google.

[texasville]

I thought I would start if off with some obvious steps and see if anyone can contribute ideas. We don't need these ideas to flow in any direct order but at the end we can align them in logical manner.

1.write and distribute articles
2.find as many directories as possible and submit.
3.submit to all search engines you can.
4. press releases(although I have heard the press release is dead)
5.?
How about it? Those that say to get over whining about google and improve your site in other ways, promote elsewhere...what are your tips? I challenge you.

[bekyed]

Hmmmm!

I am assuming you mean the free google listing?

That is a difficult one.
A successful website without google would be very difficult if you are looking to make serious money from it.

You could get by with

Overture campaign
Google adwords
MSN
Yahoo Directory
Yahoo search
Paid advertising
TV
Radio
Word of mouth

We are top on most search engines for generic keywords, but nothing comes close to our google conversions.

This thread will be interesting.

Bek

[trimmer80]

The goal for any website should not be to just to get traffic but to increase the value of traffic.

1. Should contain valuable information to the surfer.
2. Should contain a content creation system (user generated content)
3. Should have a number of sticky elements (reasons for the surfer to return tommorrow). Such as Forums, Calculators, news, articles)
4. Should contain significant motivation for people to link to the site.
5. Should appear to be updated daily
6. Should encourage two way interaction with the site. Give the surfer reason to contribute to the site, such as forum, submitting articles, membership systems.
7. Have a revenue system that is as subtle as possible. Your site should not appear as a money machine. This is done by promoting things that are useful to the surfer.

[Nikke]

This isn't very different from how I would release any site with or without Google. So lets get on with it...

Wen all of the above on-site features are in place,

* Find all the relevant forums and drop your URL.

* Work through your personal network. Moth-to-mouth.

* Press releases might be dead, write a news-letter with nice images and send it off (personally) to webmasters covering the same area as you.

* Have your "club", "member area", "subscriber section" set up from the very beginning. Make sure people register so that you can remind them of your existance. But don't hide any of the substatial content from unregistered visitors. Just make sure the registered ones get extra value.

* Make sure you communicate your domain url in every kind of communication with potential visitors, on- or off-line.

[andrea99]

The Press Release may or may not be dead but media exposure is not. Try to be a guest on TV or radio talk shows, get to know the person who books guests and be persistant, have a well developed "talk show presentation." Make a list of programs you'd like to guest on and methodically pursue a booking.

Have visible signs with your URL ready in case you're allowed to show it on air. Calling in to a talk show to promote your site is tacky but if it fits well into the topic it can work.

Do your best to see that any celebrity who might be interested in your site is aware of it. I know this is difficult but a single mention of your site in the right place can bring in a lot of traffic. I have seen nice spikes associated with on air mentions.

Develop relationships with journalists who might want to write a feature about the subject of your site. Or you could write one yourself and give it to a lazy journalist who will run it under their byline.

Make sure that everyone in the field in which your site operates is aware of it. A post card mailing can be effective, but remember that direct mail is a brutal business.

[econman]

The problem I see with this question is that almost all of the 26 steps, and most other things you would want to do for a google oriented site will be the same if you are relying on traffic from the other search engines.

For that matter, some -- but not all -- of those steps would still be important even if you weren't hoping for a single referral from any of the search engines.

[lufc1955]

Speaking as a web site owner whose web site was banned from Google for the last 9 months let me tell you it is very very difficult to replace lost traffic from Google. We had high rankings in MSN and Yahoo. We had a massive Overture campaign. We spent $15,000 a month on adwords. We advertised on TV. We dropped thousands of leaflets. We did online PR. We did magazines. We did email newsletters. We are an established business with many repeat customers. despite all this our web site traffic dropped 70%. Google is very powerful. Don't lose it.

[texasville]

The last two posts and a message I got in sticky mail had a good point about making up for the lost traffic of google who, as we all know can provide the heaviest traffic. Even tho these are all great tips and great advice...how about some tips and advice on possibly picking up more traffic from the remaining search engines out there.

Possibly ideas on diversifying your web site. Other ways to multiply traffic from the other se's.