Everyone knows how many businesses suffer anytime Google does a major update. However, this wouldn’t be the case if those business owners had done the right thing: A business should NOT depend on a single entity as its traffic source (No matter how cost-effective such a source is). Here are tips to help you build a business that can’t be destroyed by an update…
1. Make sure you do NOT depend on Google as your only traffic source.
Yes, we know that people who actively searched for keywords you targeted represent the one of the best kinds of visitors to your site. However, you just have to understand that it is dangerous to focus all your attention and resources on just one site (Even if it is Google). Google represents a very tiny fraction of the whole web. I know Google has done such a good job of promoting their brand that many people don’t realize that traffic from Google represents just a very tiny fraction of the web. But think about the following:
a. There are millions of sites that get thousands of visitors on a monthly basis. You can do media buys and drive as many visitors as you can afford to your business. Yes, there are challenges with this method but they are NOT more than what you’ll encounter if you attempt to rank for any competitive term on Google. Devote resources to media buying (You can hire a good firm to handle this for you).
b. Arrange ad swaps with webmasters in related but non-competing niches. You can also arrange ad swaps with webmasters within your own niche provided it would be mutually beneficial.
c. Think about doing joint ventures with webmasters who have a large audience. Along these lines, a solid affiliate program will help you get visitors in a risk-free manner.
d. You can get the attention of a new audience by submitting a guest post on a very popular blog. In fact, you will still do very well if you submit top quality posts on sites that are NOT so popular but are focused on quality content. The extra bonus here is that you’ll get powerful links that are generally immune to Google’s updates. This will help you hold down top rankings.
2. Find out where your ideal customer hangs out in real life.
Don’t forget that your potential website visitors are human beings. Therefore, advertise your products/services in offline venues and publications that attract your target prospect. People you reach this way will eventually talk about you on forums, Twitter, Facebook and other sites. This will help add another layer of protection to your business. Remember that the more diversified your link profile is, the more secured your website would be from updates from Google.
3. Word of mouth marketing will shield your business from the most brutal of updates.
Think about it: If people are raving about your products/services on different forums and social networks, Google will pick it up. Remember, you are NOT trying to game the system — These things are happening naturally because of the top quality service you deliver. People will link back to your site without your knowledge. People will defend your brand when people try to ruin your reputation. They will tell their followers and friends about it. Think about this seriously and you’ll see that it is a very effective way to protect your business from Google’s updates because it delivers just what Google wants.
So how do you achieve this? Make sure you always deliver top quality in every aspect of your business: Give them top quality content. Make sure your products over-deliver on your promise and make sure you have excellent support. Is that all? No, make sure you have a good SEO firm to help keep your business on the cutting edge – SEO-wise.
