Success - Ranking through Brand Building.

[bwnbwn]

The last 4 months of posting has been interesting. I will link to some post that validate what I am about to post. I quit some time ago posting on how to rank because it allows the SE's to develop or counter the way we/I might rank a site. With that said 3 years ago I changed everything with the sites I work and the sites our company uses to generate revenue.

There is a new post in Google forum
[webmasterworld.com...]
I said here in a thread when the P2 launched.
[webmasterworld.com...]

I felt this was coming. The SEO we did 5/10 years ago to help rank a site is now considered BH. Call it WH at the time the fact is we manipulated the serps and this is BH. The recent update confirmed this.

I looked into Branding and how I could develop and implement a program that slowly built Brand awareness to our products. I moved away from the traditional methods and went back to ole school. I quit all linking, I quit all anchor text linking, I quit everything that worked 5/10 years ago and built our Brand. Our Brand is our product our Brand is our domain, our Brand is our business. This was developed through traditional advertising, trade shows, blogs I host, forums I post in, advertising we do on and off the net, and other marketing methods I might have left out.

I have an never will use the disallow Google linking tool. This just tells Google I screwed up and got caught. I don't or can't worry about all the websites ripping our content. I developed a Brand that was strong enough to beat any of these leaches, just like all the Brands you see in the serps today.

I see so many poor me and Google bashing post here, but what these people failed to see or do was build their BRAND. They continued to do what worked in the past. Well the past is over deal with the present and future. Look and listen to the Google employees (without having a chip on your shoulder) If you can't then the net is over for you, if you are open adapt to the new ranking, adapt your SEO/SEM, build a Brand presence because if you don't IMO your TOAST, done, over, find another deal, and forget about blaming Google that is BS.

[goodroi]

shhhh I don't want others to realize this

[netmeg]

(exactly. brand up or die)

[atlrus]

If you can't then the net is over for you, if you are open adapt to the new ranking, adapt your SEO/SEM, build a Brand presence because if you don't IMO your TOAST, done, over, find another deal, and forget about blaming Google that is BS.

Lol, you just wait a bit. You've been here for a while, so you should know best that there is no "sure thing". You just haven't been googlizied yet, that's all.

Brand is just one of many ways to do it, but not The Way. If anything, putting all your eggs in one basket seems very risky as of late.

[hitchhiker]

I've now spent the last 2 days trying to stop the 'pointless' Google bashing (on my other thread). Most of those people simply need to take your advice and go the branding route. It's a great idea, it will reasonably secure their existence, and it's within reach for 90% of them.

Unfortunately for some of us (forums) - ain't possible. It's easy to forget we're not all in the same segment (I'm guilty of that too).

As a site we have plenty of 'real world' exposure, but it amounts to only a tiny percentage of traffic. Forum traffic converts terribly (industry standard) - so we need a decent SE to exist.

If you (as a business) aren't in that category, then this advice is ALL you should be considering right now.

TL;DR; Your idea is spot on, if you have a site compatible with branding - DO IT YESTERDAY!

[roycerus]

Well said! And let me add that you need to get more and more people in your Google Plus circle (for your brand) or get +1's. I was at a meeting with two top guys (not the founders but head of departments) at Google and they asked me to add Google plus on our site - and I, like a fool, thought they were trying to push G+. One year later after constant downward trend I finally caved and now we are starting to see improvements.

G+ is a social layer on top of Google which helps people gather information from sources they and their friends/followers/circle trust. A +1 vote is like a link to your site and the effect is viral. So do this if you haven't done this yet. This is the future and you need real votes from real people to be a brand - and this cannot be faked very easily. I only wish those guys would've explained it to me like this on that fateful day.

Please also remember that GOOG stock has added a couple of hundred dollars to its price since these changes started - so they know what they are doing and the system will improve with time.

[bwnbwn]

atlrus I have been through them all. Florida was my wake up call, this is when I took note and began making changes in my approach to organic traffic. I don't and can't fault Google because the way I was ranking sites was and is considered BH. I just chose to move in another direction years ago. I will tell you and all those that read this it has paid off well. You have to Brand your domain. Those in ecommerce that use the same description to tell the public about the product your selling, well your 1 in 100k, why should you rank.

Move away from the norm if you can't well sorry the net has moved on, if you can continue to develop your Brand ,domain, and it will payoff.

Just remember this your in a war the ones that survive are the ones that adapt, the ones that die are the ones that didn't.

[netmeg]

Unfortunately for some of us (forums) - ain't possible. It's easy to forget we're not all in the same segment (I'm guilty of that too).

You keep saying that. I for one am a subscriber or member of at least five forums (including this one) where I have to PAY to access certain information, and I gladly do it. Some of them have public and private sections, and some are all private. Which means no Google. And yet they survive - even thrive. There *are* other ways to get traffic to forums (including branding them) If you believe there aren't, then the writing is on the wall.

[atlrus]

Oh, don't get me wrong bwnbwn, I am not arguing neither for nor against Brand, in your case.

I think it's a valuable approach, what I am saying is that Brand should be just a tool in a toolbox, IF you want to get SE traffic. If you are not concerned with SE traffic - Brand is the way to go all the way, bar none.

I still use Brand, as a matter of fact I've been building a Brand site for a while, alongside 10 BH websites, however. In my niches, Brand does not work for Google ranking. All ranking has been, is and will be occupied by BH websites. Yes, there are Brands, but sadly they don't rank on Google. In my niches, BH is the king - all the usual techniques still work just fine, including silly things like hidden links. Collateral damage is aplenty, but competitors account for it with sheer numbers.

What I have seen, by reading this forum, is that people with Brands are most likely to bash Google. People who do BH sites already know well the risks and are far from shocked when Google bans one of their websites after an update.

I guess my point in a nutshell is that going for Brand only and still relying on SE traffic (which I assume is the point, since this post is in the Google SEO section), is at least playing with fire and suicide in most cases.

[ken_b]

For just about as long as I've been a member here the story has been a long series of

["google likes "this"" followed by a mad rush to implement "this", followed shortly after by many who implemented "this" crying "Google killed my site for "this!"].

One "this" after another for over a decade, ...

... why would "build/become a brand" be any different?

.

[goodroi]

Building a brand isn't about doing one thing. It is more about a mentality, like not taking shortcuts and working on items that have long term returns to provide a superior experience. Making your customers happy with an exceptional experience turns them into your best promoters. Instead of promoting your site by yourself, you end up with an army of people promoting your business for you.

It is not easy and there are countless pitfalls that you need to carefully avoid but it is achievable.

[hitchhiker]

@netmeg - No that wouldn't work for us.....

We are a volunteer forum, we help people for free. For the last year we've been in the process of reinventing our self in a completely different light (not a forum). There isn't any writing on the wall. I fully agree with what's being said here. But thanks again.
.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 5:49 am (utc) on Jun 18, 2013]
[edit reason] removed off-topic remarks [/edit]

[turbocharged]

Well branding did not work for a client's company we sent six DMCA takedown notices for earlier this week. Blogspot must have one heck of a brand and be a member of a well known trade association, BBB rated A+, listed in their local chamber of commerce and operating under a similar registered trademark as our client is. That might explain why Blogspot spam ranks above our client.

[treeline]

I took Brett's original advice: go with a brandable domain, not a keyword domain. Back then both were available. For a while watching the ease of link text (and ranking) the keyword domains had smarted. Now they've slipped and I've had year over year growth for more than a decade.

My Google traffic is down some this year, since the beginning of December, but my total visits/pages/etc still grow because the brand is strong and not dependent on search engines. A lot of offline work also took place as bwnbwn suggested and the domain became synonymous with what it's about.

Long ago people used to stifle a laugh when I told them my domain name. Now it's part of the vocabulary of the niche and everyone uses the term.

[bwnbwn]

treeline congratulations as you see building a strong Brand actually enables you to become independent of the whim of the SE's. Think typing in a domain isn't important have it done so many times and The Se's will add it to the suggested list.

turbo if BlogSpot spam is outranking a quality domain there are serious problems with the domain, this just isn't the norm I see in the searches. I would seriously look at a possible filter applied to it.

[Whitey]

Instead of promoting your site by yourself, you end up with an army of people promoting your business for you.

We are a volunteer forum, we help people for free. For the last year we've been in the process of reinventing our self in a completely different light (not a forum). There isn't any writing on the wall. I fully agree with what's being said here. But thanks again.

@Hitchhiker - I'm not wanting to become too specific to forum promotion on this thread, but have you counselled some "buy-in" opinions from key members in your forums. What do they want more of, and what could you do better that would support branding improvements. What would they or someone connected to your forums be willing to pay for, directly or indirectly. I'm not asking the question, nor really singling you out as an example - more positioning the thinking of others around you/us. The threads on Webmasterworld need to be a catalyst for positive improvements, which is why we're all here. That in itself is a strong branding signal, and a demonstration of what can be achieved.

Google doesn't seem to be good at branding recognition itself. Never was actually. It seems to operate through signals, generated through user behaviour and/or Google editorial controls. So if you have the World's greatest interface, and the lowest prices, most unique and intelligent article or product/service, Google will not recognise this until people do.

So you can spend money on all the best UI and content and it's worth zip, without people talking via signals to Google. There's limited ability to [ old style SEO ] manipulate Google's keywords without that.

Do something basic, go back to the beginning if necessary. Satisfy a core of your keenest audience , customers or partner stakeholders, engage them and start doing things for "them". I frequently come across business' in transition and am always amazed how with a positive, engaging and generous attitude, creativity and solutions surface which leads those business' out of an apparent abyss. As I say, when good folks come together, great things can happen. No business, no team, no group can be beaten in it's focus with that attitude.

Do something special and get people's engagement. If you're an SEO, do something extra for your client, if you're a business do something extra for clients. Forget about Google -it will find you. Deal with people who speak about you or your organisation.

Then you'll rank.

You should also find your conversion rates go up 5 to 10 times, and sustainability foundations strengthening . That's a good business.

[bwnbwn]

This is what I think (well I know) the net has become a crowded place those that are able to rank a site (their buz) won't post it. Why should they there are 1000's of people that read this forum. I told myself long ago I wouldn't either but what I have posted works. Just like in 2000 anchor links, linking with specific terms worked, well guys and gals the net has moved on, many of the ranking factors we did have not. Were are you?

Whitey makes some very good points in his post 99% I +1 except Branding here we have a little issue.

Do something basic, go back to the beginning if necessary. Satisfy a core of your keenest audience , customers or partner stakeholders, engage them and start doing things for "them". I frequently come across business' in transition and am always amazed how with a positive, engaging and generous attitude, creativity and solutions surface which leads those business' out of an apparent abyss. As I say, when good folks come together, great things can happen. No business, no team, no group can be beaten in it's focus with that attitude.

This is the Branding 101 IMO (only)

Sure hope ya can make Vegas Whitey love to chat with ya.

[HuskyPup]

Brand has no authority with a screwed-up Google my global brand is 170 years old, Google couldn't give a monkeys ... don't believe the short-sighted BS that's being posted.

Quality brands do NOT happen overnight or even in a couple of years, it has to be worked at AND proven to customers, not just a few lines of BS sentences on a website!

[Whitey]

Quality brands do NOT happen overnight or even in a couple of years, it has to be worked at AND proven to customers, not just a few lines of BS sentences on a website!

Agreed - most marketers I speak with say the strength is built offline. But the technology is a great enabler. There's some great exceptions of course.

[bwnbwn]

Huskypup I never said it happened overnight fact is I said

I quit 5/10 years ago

I never said it was a quick way, don't play that kind of game. I am in this for the long haul.
Brand is when you look at the terms bringing in traffic and the #1 term is a domain type in.

most marketers I speak with say the strength is built offline.

Ding-Ding

I moved away from the traditional methods and went back to ole school.

This Whitney moves your business away from the dependence of the web to a more uniform approach to your business. If I had a dollar how many times it has either been said or posted

You need to find ways to move away from the dependence of the SE's

I be a friggin millionaire. This is and has been my objective.

[Diabolik]

I developed a Brand that was strong enough to beat any of these leaches, just like all the Brands you see in the serps today. I see so many poor me and Google bashing post here, but what these people failed to see or do was build their BRAND.

Of course most of us try and build a BRAND, it goes without saying. It's easy to say, but a lot harder in practice. That's not the point.

They continued to do what worked in the past. Well the past is over deal with the present and future. Look and listen to the Google employees (without having a chip on your shoulder) If you can't then the net is over for you, if you are open adapt to the new ranking, adapt your SEO/SEM, build a Brand presence because if you don't IMO your TOAST, done, over, find another deal, and forget about blaming Google that is BS.

The Google bashing is deserved, their serps are rubbish. And if they keep doing what they're doing they'll lose out to other search engines, just like the ones before them did.

[taberstruths]

Google bashing is a time waster.

Talking of how well you have done with branding without giving advice to others on how to do it is mere self aggrandizement.

If you don't know what aggrandizement means, just go to Google, click on the microphone, say the word and Google will tell you. :)

[treeline]

How to brand a domain? I'm not the authority, but here is what I did:

1. Found something there was a need for in a niche that no one else had done yet. This will start as a classic niche directory. It will evolve over time.

2. Following months of putting the site together, a week before launch someone in Europe published something extremely similar. Necessitates last minute change in tagline, long term devotion to doing it better. [after about 6 years, they gave up]

3. Asking lots of people what they wanted. Finding and adding more of it. Showing the site to lots of people, looking over their shoulder, making adjustments based on how they acted, not just what they said. Most people are too polite when reviewing a site. Some are just the opposite...

4. Chose a term I could own for the domain name instead of keywordwidget.com. This was a tough choice. For years it seemed like a mistake. It eventually paid off bigtime. A decade ago, this was Brett Tabke's advice on the subject:

B) Domain name:
Easily brandable. You want "google.com" and not "mykeyword.com". Keyword domains are out - branding and name recognition are in - big time in. The value of keywords in a domain name have never been less to se's. Learn the lesson of "goto.com" becomes "Overture.com" and why they did it. It's one of the most powerful gut check calls I've ever seen on the internet. That took serious resolve and nerve to blow away several years of branding. (that is a whole 'nother article, but learn the lesson as it applies to all of us).

from [webmasterworld.com ]

5. Every time someone emailed me about the site (who had a website), in my response I added a bit about would they consider linking to my site? Many did.

6. Had colorful business cards printed with the site logo and key features listed. Passed them out aggressively at events.

7. Watched email listserves and forums for what was going on in the industry, anything interesting I added something to the site about. Expanding completeness.

8. When someone asked where they could find something, was always quick to offer a link to one of my spot-on pages that answered the question. Made useful posts and announcements on listserves with the website in the signature. Bounce in visits followed.

9. Became a speaker for many industry seminars. At first got asked to speak on brutal subjects like legal requirements. Managed to make it interesting. More invites. Eventually the website reached the status I was asked to be a speaker about it at national events.

10. Active in my state association, then in leadership, then active in the national association, then president of it. The domain name goes everywhere, the business cards get in a lot of hands. You meet a ton of great people, they want to help you, or be associated with you, or just become aware of what you're doing.

11. Recognize a need for access to better data by average industry participants, and that it's now available online for free. The catch: very hard to use formats on government sites spread across way to many pages. Write a simple script that gathers all the info on one easy to read page, translates all the codes into plain English. Simple and easy to use. Huge success. Link bait? Perhaps. It's bookmarked on almost very computer, bookmarked on most smartphones. I'm harassed constantly to write an app. People love it.

12. Government manuals and legal guides start including references (and links) to the site as a result.

13. Asked to be a speaker at national conventions about how the website works, what's underneath the hood. [It's not complicated, an elance programmer could program it for a few grand.] [If they had the industry insight to realize what combination of data would work.]

14. Based on this success add two more tools that process data. More links, visitors.

15. Most importantly at this point, you're recognized as someone who actually makes things happen, so people bring you all their crazy ideas of what they really want. Be polite to all of them, say you'll think about it. Most actually are crazy, or wildly unrealistic. A few are going to be your next big hit.

16. I'm not really a programmer, just a dabbler. As a test project, hire an elance programmer for $1,000 to build the next visual data tool. Successful experience, another hit.

17. Started writing a monthly column on a different subject [same industry] that's more exciting for the national magazine. Did I mention I hate deadlines? The editor insists on using the domain name without the dotcom as the column title, wants a link to the website to show authority. You've become a brand....

18. Everything is designed so that I don't need to be involved day-to-day. It's automated. I have a day job and can't always check in. So forums haven't been an option.

19. Be nice to people. They will help you in unexpected ways. If you get as involved as I did, some people are going to hate you and others you are going to intensely dislike thanks to how rotten they can be. You don't have to tell them how you feel. They have friends too, who may help you if you haven't been a jerk.

20. I'm still aggressively handing those big-logo business cards out. People used to laugh at me, literally, when they saw what I chose for a domain name. Now they stop in their tracks. They didn't realize one person was behind that site. It's too much a part of the industry. At events when decisions have to be made, people ask "what does domainname say?" If I'm there they blame anything bad in the data on me, in good fun.

21. I've never done any paid advertising. It probably would have made things happen faster, but maybe I'd never have tried as hard as a result. Now it's not necessary.

22. Always kept users in mind with clean simple design, uncluttered, fast loading.

23. Used Brett's 26 steps (linked above) as a sort of spiritual guide. Sorted and rearranged the document into more of an action plan. Sure a bunch has changed at Google in the last eleven years, but the core concepts still hold power.

24. Take every opportunity to teach people how your site can help them.

Summary: Do something different, or better. Choose a memorable name. Be involved. Promote that name everywhere: online/offline/in person/at events. Meet lots of people, tell them what you're doing, ask for help, listen to what they want. Act on their ideas. Be involved.

[treeline]

If you read carefully bwnbwn shared many concepts:

quit posting on how to rank because it allows the SE's to counter it

3 years ago I changed everything

Recognized old SEO is now considered Black Hat, even if White Hat when done.

never used the disallow Google linking tool.

looked into Branding and how I could develop and implement a program that slowly built Brand awareness to our products.

moved away from the traditional methods and went back to ole school.

quit all linking

quit all anchor text linking

quit everything that worked 5/10 years ago and built our Brand.

Our Brand is our product our Brand is our domain, our Brand is our business.

This was developed through

traditional advertising,

trade shows,

blogs I host,

forums I post in,

advertising we do on and off the net,

and other marketing methods I might have left out.

There's lots of tips there.

[Whitey]

@treeline - +1 ; how did the results from your branding play out with the SERP's

Talking of how well you have done with branding without giving advice to others on how to do it is mere self aggrandizement

@taberstruths - like it, and learned a new word in the process

[edited by: Whitey at 12:47 am (utc) on Jun 19, 2013]

[bwnbwn]

Thanks treeline I really don't have the time to hold the hands of kids that might know some real nice words but are lost without momma holding their hand. That is the problem with the new bunch on the market today. They want it all laid out on a platter and are to arrogant or lazy to understand what the word WORK means. If you don't know what the work means, just go to Google, click on the microphone, say the word and Google will tell you. :)

[turbocharged]

The whole theory that being branded gives good ranks is false*. A properly branded company/website impacts user behavior. When Google throws a fit and tosses the site back to page 2+ for "widgets," users then search for "brand widgets." *IF* Google successfully interprets their user's search patterns, it's just a matter of time before the site rises back to the top. I see this in more competitive areas. Smaller companies, that do not have enough users to influence brand recognition in an algorithm, have a bigger challenge to face.

Branding is all about impacting user behavior, in my opinion. Regardless of where Google may rank the site for it's primary keywords, users are compelled to refine their queries to find that branded website. If a user knows the branded company's name, why would they even search for it instead of going directly to the site? Why do so many people go to Google and search for Google? This is the part of user behavior that interests me. It's not as if most of these users are adding "reviews," "ratings," etc. to the queries as if to make a pre-purchase decision. Properly branded sites all have one thing in common from the data I have seen - their most active search keyword is their company/website name.

Ever since the release of Panda, the normal signals of a brand have been devalued in my opinion. Many companies are proud to list their professional memberships on their website, ratings at BBB and Angies List, etc. and many other things in an effort to build trust. The first Penguin further devalued these types of branding/quality signals. Links from Fortune 500 companies were also devalued, while the occasional reference/link from local news outlets also saw diminished value (or no significant advantage). With these types of signals devalued, and domain name authority apparently dialed up, the door was opened for black hatters to steal and rank others content. This is why the free splog platforms are doing so well in my opinion - because of their domain authority. Few small businesses would have an "authoritative domain name" in what I have viewed.

Branded sites generally get to bypass all of the headaches noted in the paragraph above as users are actively seeking you out by name and will not settle for not finding you on page 1 or viewing content that was copied from the original site. These types of users will actually work to find the brand they seek, and it's the search engines that look like fools when such users need to perform multiple queries to find what they are looking for.

Because some industries are not very competitive, it is easy to confuse being branded with just good ranks. Reviewing user behavior is the key to determining whether good search engine ranks are because of branding or just an anomaly.

[Whitey]

@turbocharged +1 - great way of putting it.

It's probably been mentioned somewhere else on Webmasterworld, but something that continues to stun me is when I sit in front of a TV with my smartphone and listen to an interview with a previously fairly anonymous person. Then I get curious about that persons background and Google their first name and the first letter or two of their surname, or if I've forgotten I put in their first name and a clue.

Invariably up pops the name with Google Suggest. Names that could easily be lost in the myriad of other options. [ Google suggest simply uses probability to surface results ... but gee it's fast to recognize popularity, instantaneous at times].

When you sit in front of an audience, and the audience types in a phrase the opportunity to attribute this to your brand is phenomenal.

In the context of this, it's worth reflecting on this comment from a Googler recently:

Ryan Moulton, a software engineer at Google since 2006, who I think works on the Google search team, is defending SEO and the SEO business on Hacker News................

.........In which, Ryan Moulton, aka moultano on Hacker News said:

A large part of SEO is just making it obvious what your page is about. This helps both the user and the search engine. A lot of it is just usability, but usability specifically for a user who is coming from a search engine.

Well, he said that in response to a comment where someone said SEO is a "bad thing."

He explains why sites and business should rank on Google later on:

You should read this as shorthand for "build your business the traditional way and the users will come." Don't just count on ranking highly for a competitive query for your business to succeed. Build a brand and customers, and people will seek you out. You will have no difficulty ranking for [the name of your company] and this is where most good sites get most of their traffic from Google.

[news.ycombinator.com...]
[seroundtable.com...]

If you can provide some leadership to an audience that adds value to their experience some good results might follow. Support it by meeting their expectations online. Great UI, compelling stories and information, fantastic deals etc. etc. Attribute yourself or your organisation / business to that.

[taberstruths]

If you read carefully bwnbwn shared many concepts:
quit posting on how to rank because it allows the SE's to counter it
3 years ago I changed everything
Recognized old SEO is now considered Black Hat, even if White Hat when done.
never used the disallow Google linking tool.
looked into Branding and how I could develop and implement a program that slowly built Brand awareness to our products.
moved away from the traditional methods and went back to ole school.
quit all linking
quit all anchor text linking
quit everything that worked 5/10 years ago and built our Brand.
Our Brand is our product our Brand is our domain, our Brand is our business.
This was developed through
traditional advertising,
trade shows,
blogs I host,
forums I post in,
advertising we do on and off the net,
and other marketing methods I might have left out.

Quit posting on SE ranking helps branding how?
Changing everything helps branding how?
Knowing the difference between old white hat and new black hat helps branding how?
Use of the disavowal not disallow tool helps a person brand their site how?
Looking into branding but not giving one tip on what they learned helps a person brand a site how?
Last I heard traditional methods and old school is the same thing. This tidbit gives a real bit of advice how? It is not only written poorly but it is too generic.
quit all linking, quit all anchor text links. I thought one covered the other. Once again this is not a tip of what to do but what not to do. This builds your brand how?
So your brand is your product, domain and business. That does not tell us how you built the brand.
Forgive me for being ignorant but at one point you said you stopped building links and then you say you promote your site online with a personal blog network and forum links?

Let me quote your original post.

I looked into Branding and how I could develop and implement a program that slowly built Brand awareness to our products. I moved away from the traditional methods and went back to ole school. I quit all linking, I quit all anchor text linking, I quit everything that worked 5/10 years ago and built our Brand. Our Brand is our product our Brand is our domain, our Brand is our business. This was developed through traditional advertising, trade shows, blogs I host, forums I post in, advertising we do on and off the net, and other marketing methods I might have left out.

I have an never will use the disallow Google linking tool. This just tells Google I screwed up and got caught. I don't or can't worry about all the websites ripping our content. I developed a Brand that was strong enough to beat any of these leaches, just like all the Brands you see in the serps today.

I see so many poor me and Google bashing post here, but what these people failed to see or do was build their BRAND. They continued to do what worked in the past. Well the past is over deal with the present and future. Look and listen to the Google employees (without having a chip on your shoulder) If you can't then the net is over for you, if you are open adapt to the new ranking, adapt your SEO/SEM, build a Brand presence because if you don't IMO your TOAST, done, over, find another deal, and forget about blaming Google that is BS.

Moderator's note: Let's keep personal and emotionally charged comments out of this discussion, or we're simply not going to learn anything.

< taberstruths would like more "positive actionable advice". >
.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 6:35 am (utc) on Jun 19, 2013]

[taberstruths]

@ Treeline

Thanks for the actionable tips. Makes the thread worth reading.