Dealing with success and failure

Keeping an even keel

[pmac]

Since the Florida update it is clear that alot of webmasters are hurting. I thought It would be good if some of us could discuss how we deal with the whims of algos both in the good times and the bad. I would like to preface this post with the request that we leave all comments about how relying on free traffic is a failed business model. No sense rubbing salt in the wounds of people that are reeling from this latest twist. OK?

For me, keeping an even keel is critical. I remember the first time I got nuked and it wasn't pretty. I only had one site at the time and it was my only means of putting food on the table. For several days I was beside myself with a mixture of disbelief, anger and self righteousness. It took a few senior members to give me a good kick in the ass before I got back to work but it took me a long time to recover from that first calamity.

On the other hand, the first time I hit it big for a massive word I was trying for, it took a crew to peel me off the ceiling. I was on such a high that I got cocky and felt invincible. I got lazy and sloppy, and of course eventually went into the cycle that I talked about when I got nuked the first time.

I will never allow myself to get into that cycle again. I'm not one to keep dozens of domains on the go, but I do have several projects on the go at any given time so that if the wind blows one way, something will survive the fallout.

Now when a site gets nuked or it hits big for a keyword, my reaction is almost the same. I go out, have a few beers, take a couple days off and get come back with a fresh outlook.

I think DaveN said it best:

It's just an algo, study, learn, and adapt

[Bonusjump]

> I go out, have a few beers

Sounds a good enough solution to me. I'm not sure you'll get many better ideas than that.

[steve40]

this is a good forum to open

like many was hit with algo change , and have looked at how to change and adapt ,
this year
1 my investment was always seo ( light weight due to my skills )
2 PFI INK ASK AV etc.

so next year
1 invest greater percentage in site promotion ( up to 30% )
2 diversify
3 on reflection decided that next years budget will not be PFI ( check out forums Position tech / ink reasons and they do not insulate you from algo change ) also i suspect all se's will move to PPC context advertising ( they make more ) so PFI may be dropped sometime next year fine if late next year but bad if early
3 brand building / traffic generation with ppc adwords and overture and others hopefully to provide some insulation from se algos
4 HOPE THAT THE BIG PLAYERS DO NOT END UP DOMINATING PPC BY INFLATED PRICES TO DOMINATE THE MARKET
steve

[Nermin]

well i was the one of the lucky one where google kicked me right back in there 2 weeks after update. i am #9 instead of old #2 but i will take anything for now :)

i did some ppc and looked around for more directories but i dont think there is anything you can do yet. wait till next update and see where you gonna be. we might see old "good" google back on the next update since search provided now is the best. my keywrods website #2 is not even working and #4 and 5 position is doing hiddent text and links :(

so it's going to be one of those wait and see type of updates

nermin

[Chndru]

On the side, develop a deep interest in search as a technology or a tool. It gives you a unique perspective, not just as a SEO, but something more involved than just optimizing :)

just my 2c.

[richardb]

Hi guys

This one finally made my mind up, to quote Brett “Newbie”. He was right never again will we play it straight, hoping that good site with good content is the way forward. Have a clean here-to-stay site then multiple additional sites, with duplicate content, (altered/optimised in a minimal way). Multiple servers, across different continents, hiding behind private registrations.

Use fast drop sites, utilising all the techniques that the SE’s say they can spot “they can’t” and when EVENTUALLY those sites get nuked, so what it’s only cost a few bucks, ditch the domain and launch another, change the template duplicate the same content and away we go.

In the end there is sooooo much spam out there, it’s now become the only game in town, so let’s play the game.

Rich