Google is making a significant change to its core search engine today. This change will result in your Google search results being more customized than they’ve ever been before.

The basis for the change is Google+. Google now plans to serve up results based on your connections: stories your friends have recommended, pages you’ve written, files you’ve uploaded, etc.

Mostly static search results are a thing of the past. They will now be fluid. Pages will flow in and out like the tide, an ever-changing “seascape” of search results.

TechCrunch reports in their article “Google Fuses Google+ Into Search – And There Are Bigger Changes Afoot”:

The short version is that Google search results are going to be automatically personalized (to a greater degree than they were already) for each user, with signals drawn from your Google+ Circles being used to highlight things your friends — or you, yourself — have shared. Any of these personalized matches will appear alongside ‘normal’ search results.

As you can see, social media and search engine results are merging. This is the continuing fulfillment of the prediction I made a year ago: that online businesses would shift their focus toward optimizing for social media instead of search engines alone.

Google+ is no longer just a place to post updates or hang out with friends; it now determines who sees your web sites in Google’s search results.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• How Accurate Were My 2011 Business Predictions?
• Free Targeted Traffic with New Twitter Tool
• New Search Engine: Blekko
• Google’s Superbowl Commercial: Parisian Love
• Are You Lifting Your Kilt for Google?

It’s now been 4 years since I started the blog you’re reading right now. During that time, I’ve written more than 400 articles and received more than 5,000 comments. I’m not crushing any records, but I’m pleased with the results.

Obviously, I’ve discovered quite a few lessons about blogging during that time. With that in mind, here are 7 tips for maintaining and growing your blog:

• Write new posts on a regular basis, especially when you’re starting out. Now that I’ve got a large base of articles, I can skip a week or two without much consequence. But it’s important to publish at least weekly (preferably three times a week) during your first year or two of blogging.

• Don’t shy away from controversy or unpopular opinions. If your blog is filled with boring “me-too” articles that merely parrot what everyone else has already said, then chances are you’ll never get much traffic or attract any kind of loyal readership.

• Encourage conversation. I’ve noticed that some of the most loyal readers are also some of the most regular commenters.

• Over time, you’ll notice a handful of articles will generate the majority of your site’s traffic. Use Google Analytics or another tracking service to determine your top 10 most-visited pages. Optimize those pages so that they drive some sort of action that’s beneficial to your business.

• Always look for ways to improve your blog. Figure out ways to generate more email opt-ins. Look at how you can improve your blog’s design, site navigation, category structures, and more.

• Clean up old articles, comments, and dead links. I’ve noticed that strange characters and comment duplication will sometimes sneak in during WordPress upgrades and transitions between themes and commenting systems. Make sure those strange characters and duplicate comments are deleted. Use the Broken Link Checker plugin to find and “unlink” dead links.

• Market your blog regularly and consistently. Build backlinks for your core keyword phrases. Use article marketing and guest posting for long-term traffic benefits.

These are just a few tips I use to maintain and grow my blog. You may find them useful, too.

If you have any tips of your own, feel free to add them below.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Traffic Patterns – What Influences Traffic
• How to Generate Traffic from Blog Comments
• March Traffic Levels
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Some people blog to get good search engine rankings. But getting good rankings should not be an end in itself, but rather a means to an end.

That’s because a first page ranking, by itself, does you very little good.

Visitors search, they click, they read, they leave.

Search engine visitors rarely return. They find what they are looking for. Then they move on.

This is why it’s important to build an audience. Visitors are good; an audience is better.

So make sure your blog or web site is designed to capture visitors and turn them into loyal subscribers. Easier said than done, right?

Here are a few things I’ve done to build my audience:

• I’ve written about what I feel are important issues.
• I’ve been willing to embrace controversy when I felt it was necessary.
• I’ve offered some of my best ideas for free on this blog.
• I’ve written guest posts for other bloggers and business owners.
• I’ve encouraged visitors to subscribe to my mailing list.
• I’ve tried to be genuine and transparent in my writing and interactions.

And, over time, my audience has grown.

It’s grown slowly — in fact, far slower than most well-known blogger phenoms — but it has still grown.

Your blog is primarily a platform for spreading good ideas… for connecting with other people… and for building an audience.

Search engine rankings are just a way to achieve these things faster.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• How to Generate Traffic from Blog Comments
• New Search Engine: Blekko
• Paid Links Constitute “Black Hat SEO”? Hardly…
• The Fluidity of Google Search Results
• Bye-Bye Email Subscribe Button

I’ve been suspended from Google AdWords since early September 2010. First, I got a vague warning in late August. Less than a week later, I was suspended. Here’s proof:

I still don’t know exactly why I was suspended.

I know it had to do with something on this domain. From what I was able to figure out, my site was classified as a “make money” site, probably because I’m a freelance copywriter who helps clients make money.

In Google’s eyes, it’s apparently an “unforgivable sin” to talk about making money or help others to make money.

I wasn’t using AdWords very much at the time I was suspended, and I hadn’t made any changes that would have a triggered a review. I can only assume my account was flagged in some sort of sweeping review.

What Fueled the Growth of AdWords?

I began using AdWords shortly after the program launched — back when GoTo/Overture was the biggest pay-per-click game in town.

Because the AdWords auction gave lower cost-per-click to better advertisers, savvy direct marketers quickly embraced AdWords. Google returned the love by adding better tracking tools for advertisers to measure conversions and ROI.

Translation: Direct marketers fueled the rapid growth of AdWords. Big brands didn’t understand AdWords and were slow to embrace it.

Fast-forward to July 2011 and the landscape has changed dramatically. Big brands have finally jumped into the AdWords pool. Google has tweaked its ranking algorithm to favor big brands and similar “authority sites.”

Worst of all, Google has suspended the AdWords accounts of tens of thousands of direct marketers — without any kind of recourse.

They won’t tell you why they suspended you. And unless you happen to be especially lucky and/or persistent, you’ll NEVER be able to advertise on Google again.

Google Snubs Big Spenders, Too

If this seems unfair, that’s because it is.

I would gladly fix my site if Google were willing to tell me what I did wrong. Isn’t that how a business relationship works? Communication has to flow both ways. The merchant and customer need to work together for a fruitful relationship.

But Google doesn’t seem to want good business relationships.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re spending $500 a month or $30,000 a month — they’ll cut you off without notice if you so much as blink the wrong way.

I spent exactly $9,825.74 on AdWords before my account was suspended. A client of mine was spending $30,000 a month up until two weeks ago when he, too, was suspended without warning.

Who the hell snubs a customer who’s spending $30K a month and then won’t even give the customer the courtesy of an explanation?

If there was a problem, you’d expect a friendly phone call first. Or a polite request to change your web site to comply with Google’s advertising rules — and specific guidance about how to do it. Or something.

But Google has so much money — power — and control of the search market — they couldn’t care less. So they treat even their best customers like dirt.

Kiran Mehta, a Google AdWords Qualified Individual, had his AdWords account suspended in April 2011. In this LinkedIn discussion, he expresses what many others have thought and felt:

Google cannot give me an exact answer to what the problem is. They keep sending me back to links relating to their terms and condition, etc. It’s like going to see a doctor and he/she tells you that you are sick, gives you a book and says go and find what’s wrong with you and fix it.

Google: A House Divided Against Itself…

True story… I wanted to run some PPC advertising this past spring. And I wanted to do it on AdWords. I hired a guy to do the work because I was too busy, and he tried to get my AdWords account reinstated.

He ended up talking to an AdWords consultant whose job is to bring new advertisers in the door and help them set up a successful campaign.

When the consultant saw the site we wanted to advertise, she was thrilled. “This is just the kind of site Google is looking for!” she exclaimed.

We nailed it. Navigation, all the proper disclaimers, an advertorial style landing page that wasn’t too pushy — all the right stuff. So she said she was going to push for us to be able to advertise.

There was a caveat… they would build out the initial campaign with our input. This was one of the conditions because she wanted to make sure we were successful.

Remember, this gal is on Google’s business development side — the side that offers $75 and $100 AdWords credits to bring in new advertisers. So she’s trying to bring in new accounts that go on to achieve long-term success with AdWords.

We were encouraged at first. We thought this gal would be able to help us. But things quickly went downhill.

Because while she said she was going to reinstate my account, she was unable to do it. Apparently, another Google team (let’s call them the “AdWords Nazis”) refused to allow us to advertise.

Worse still, she submitted some of the WORST keyword lists and ads I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t believe how untargeted the keywords were… and how terrible the ad copy was. This was their idea of giving us a “good start” and a better chance of success.

This was her final effort. She implied she might be able to reinstate my account if I agreed to use MY money to run THEIR campaign.

I politely said “no” and that I would no longer be using AdWords. And that’s when I realized…

Google Has a Multiple Personality Disorder!

My firsthand experience with Google’s AdWords Team caused me to realize just how dysfunctional they are.

They’re spending gobs of money trying to get new advertisers in the door… while at the same time permanently banning old advertisers for minor infractions and then refusing to divulge any specific information about the reasons for the suspension.

They’ve got one team trying to bring in new advertisers… and another team that has been given a “license to suspend.” The latter has the authority to override the former — causing all kinds of internal conflict and confusion.

I strongly suspect there are some individuals on this “AdWords Suspension Team” who are power-tripping. These individuals probably know zilch about running a business. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re former TSA or IRS agents hired exclusively for their lack of empathy for fellow human beings.

As John Jonas wrote in his 2008 post about his personal experience of getting suspended from AdWords: “The people who ‘run’ AdWords are Nazis with no feeling for human beings. If you make a mistake, there is no warning system and no appeals process.”

And let’s not forget, the people they’ve put in charge of business development have probably NEVER spent their own money to advertise on AdWords, yet they’re the ones building out campaigns for new advertisers. (As I said, the campaign they built for me was the worst I’ve ever seen.)

Is It Time to Boycott Google Search?

It’s my personal opinion that Google has grown too big for its britches. It’s become a virtual monopoly and is now behaving like monopolies do: with complete disregard for the customers it allegedly serves. (Emphasis on “allegedly.”)

There are, of course, certain things I love about Google. For instance, Gmail and Google Docs are services I would be happy to pay for.

But the fact is, until a company like Bing or Facebook steals a big piece of Google’s market share, Google will continue to be unfair and impossible to work with.

It’s for this reason I’m no longer using Google as my primary search engine. I’m using Bing instead.

Furthermore, I’ve been advertising on Bing and promoting Bing as much as I can. I visit Bing daily to see the new picture of the day, then I click the “Like” button so it shows up on my Facebook page.

Over time, I hope this builds exposure, familiarity, and usage of Bing. And I hope it helps them steal more of Google’s share of the search market. Now, I realize I’m just one guy — but maybe I can make a difference. :-)

Google Is Not the Only Game in Town!

Thankfully, when it comes to pay-per-click advertising, Google is not the only game in town. Bing and Facebook are excellent alternatives. And while search volumes on Bing are far lower than Google’s, you can drive a TON of qualified traffic through Facebook — often more than you can get on Google, depending on your market.

With that in mind, here are a few options to explore…

• Bing Ads: At the moment, Bing is probably as close as you’ll get to a paid search experience with capabilities that are similar to AdWords.

• Facebook Ads: Advertising on Facebook is fun because you get to combine images with ad copy. Advertising on Facebook lets you target groups of people by interests and demographics.

• Amazon Pay-Per-Click: If you sell physical products, then you may want to advertise on Amazon. Right now, you can start advertising for as little as $0.10 a click.

• LinkedIn Ads: If you are in the B2B market, then consider advertising on LinkedIn. You may actually spend less to acquire sales and leads on LinkedIn given your ability to target exactly who you want to reach.

• Business.com PPC Ads: Another avenue for PPC advertising in the B2B market is Business.com.

• Infolinks In-Text Advertising: This company lets you place text links on a network of publishers’ web sites. When a reader rolls over your link, an ad pops up. This medium is similar to Google’s Content Network — but you get more than just text to get readers to click.

And I’ve only scratched the surface here. The more I investigate, the more I begin to see how many alternatives to AdWords are available.

Whether your AdWords account has been suspended or not… I strongly suggest you explore other advertising options and begin to divert a portion of your ad spend away from Google.

Because the way things are going at Google, it’s only a matter of time before your AdWords account is “permanently suspended.”

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. If you agree Google’s business practices are unfair and Draconian… and you’d like to do something about it… then please share this post with all the online business people you know. Thanks.Similar Posts:

• Free AdWords Grader
• Google’s Big Mistake
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• Are You Lifting Your Kilt for Google?
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Question for you…

Can I promote your affiliate program?

If you own or manage an affiliate program, and:

• You pay your affiliates on time
• You never skim affiliate commissions
• And you always honor your agreement with affiliates

…Then you qualify for inclusion in the Paid On Time Affiliate Program Directory.

I am actively driving traffic to the Paid On Time web site. I am actively promoting the affiliate program directory. And I will continue to actively promote the affiliate programs that are included in the directory.

And while traffic development is in its infant stages, I expect it will grow quickly. Here’s proof:

I currently have 4 web sites in 4 different markets that get more than 1,000 visits a month. Three of them get over 2,000 visits a month. Two of them get over 7,000 visits a month. And one gets more than 12,000 visits a month. (This last site is less than one year old.)

Once you are included in the Paid On Time affiliate program directory, you will benefit from the traffic I’m driving to the site.

Here’s My Slightly Crazy Offer…

For a limited time, you can sign up as a Paid On Time member for just $9.95 a month — 80% off the regular rate.

Want to save more? Get an annual membership for the almost-embarrassing price of $47 a year. That’s less than $4 a month — and 90% off the regular rate.

Why on earth would I do this?

Because to make PaidOnTime.net a big success, I need momentum. And to build that momentum, I need more affiliate programs featured in the directory.

I also need more members to display the Paid On Time trust seal on their affiliate sign-up pages.

Of course, to make all this happen, I’ve got to make you an irresistible offer.

That’s why, for just one payment of $47, I will promote your affiliate program in the directory for a full 12 months. I know this is a steal because one client pays me $75 a month for one text link on one of my sites.

For your annual payment of $47, you’ll get a complete directory listing with a link back to your site for a full 12 months. If you get just one new affiliate who refers sales to you, you’ve made your money back.

Now, if you’re on the fence about this, let me sweeten the deal even more…

Special Bonus for First 5 Annual Members

The first 5 people to sign up for an annual membership will get a special affiliate program write-up and will be featured on the Paid On Time Blog. This is in addition to your directory listing.

Very Important: This offer will be discontinued and the price will be raised as soon as I feel we’ve got enough momentum and there are a sufficient number of affiliate programs in the directory.

So if you’re interested, I strongly encourage you to sign up here now:

• http://paidontime.net/sign-up

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. If for some reason you don’t have an affiliate program, but would like to promote Paid On Time to your readers, you can sign up as an affiliate here.Similar Posts:

• Affiliates Are Still Being Ripped Off
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I just discovered the new search engine Blekko.

I haven’t used it much yet, but the video walk-through is intriguing because it explains some new twists on what we’ve come to expect from search.

For instance, Blekko offers multiple ways to sort search results. Plus, they’re giving open access to ranking data — which is basically unheard of among the major search engines.

This is one new search engine that actually might be worth paying attention to.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Paid Links Constitute “Black Hat SEO”? Hardly…
• The Fluidity of Google Search Results
• 3 Fascinating Business Predictions that Made Me Think
• Blog to Build an Audience
• Your Diminishing Privacy

Here’s more proof that you should never build a business on top of fickle social media.

• Twitter Suspends UberMedia, Creator of TweetDeck

Twitter holds all the cards in this “negotiation.”

If you build a business on top of Twitter (or any other social media company), you’re in an extremely vulnerable position.

With a snap of their fingers, they can make your business completely obsolete, worthless.

Why take the risk?

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• How to Commit Social Media Suicide
• The Right Way to Use Social Media
• Am I Encouraging Twitter Spam?
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This week, J.C. Penney was blasted for buying links to increase their search engine rankings.

The NY Times said buying links is a black hat SEO technique.

I thought that was a little strange. Paid links are hardly black hat. As Fred Black pointed out in his article about the J.C. Penney link buying scandal:

The article refers to link buying as “Black Hat”. That’s a joke. If anything, it’s little off-white or gray: nowhere, I repeat, nowhere near black. People that actually know and use black hat techniques would laugh at the whole article.

For proof of the “whiteness” of link buying, look no further than the services set up for buying links on other people’s domains. Text-link-ads.com comes to mind.

I feel bad for J.C. Penney getting so much heat from buying links. Some people seem genuinely upset that a company would dare to do such a thing.

It’s my humble opinion that ranking in the search engines is a game. The rules of the game are not always clear; they are not always applied consistently; they sometimes vary by market; and they most definitely vary from search engine to search engine.

Should we really be so surprised when a company decides to play the game to win and buys links in the process?

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• New Search Engine: Blekko
• The Fluidity of Google Search Results
• Blog to Build an Audience
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• Five on Friday

Last week, I tried an experiment.

Normally, I publish one or two or three blog posts a week. I hold back a lot of my ideas because I don’t want to email my list too much.

But last week I wrote and published a blog post whenever I felt like it. I didn’t hold back.

Now, I continued to email my list like normal — but no more than once a day. I picked the best post of the day and let them know about it.

I didn’t tell them about the other blog posts, but left it up to chance to see if they’d find them or not.

At least one person noticed. Stephen Dean said, “Ryan Healy was busting out blog posts this week like Lindsay Lohan on stimulants.”

While Stephen’s description made me laugh, the question is not, “How similar is Ryan Healy to Lindsay Lohan?” The question is, “Did more frequent blogging increase traffic to my blog?”

The answer is… yes. In fact, traffic to my blog increased quite a bit. Here’s a graph from Google Analytics:

Saturday is consistently my lowest traffic day every single week, so I have noted that above. Monday-Thursday are my highest traffic days.

Conclusion: More frequent blog posts generated more traffic to my blog even though I didn’t increase the frequency that I emailed my list.

You may find the same is true in your market. It’s something worth testing.

Explaining Alexa Traffic Spikes

While Alexa isn’t perfect, I do like to check Alexa to see how I rank against similar blogs. I also like to analyze the charts to see why I’ve gotten more or less traffic than normal.

Here’s a chart of my blog’s Alexa rankings compared to Terry Dean’s blog MyMarketingCoach.com.

As you can see, our sites have similar traffic levels. But I’ve had a couple recent traffic spikes that are explained on the chart.

Ray Edwards is a colleague of mine. He’s a freelance copywriter, as I am. And our blogs have similar traffic levels. But check out this Alexa chart:

As you can see, my Jeff Walker post and more frequent blogging both created noticeable traffic spikes.

But those spikes pale in comparison to an organized promotion where multiple friends and/or affiliates promote your product on the same day or within a narrow window of time.

Last week, Ray promoted his new book Writing Riches. I promoted Ray’s book, as did a number of other bloggers and marketers. This caused a massive spike in traffic to Ray’s blog.

3 Ways to Increase Traffic

If you’d like to increase traffic to your blog or web site, here are three proven ways to do it:

1. Be controversial.
2. Blog more frequently.
3. Get friends and affiliates to promote a product you sell.

As the charts above demonstrate, an organized promotion can generate far more traffic than either of the first two strategies.

This is because people are generally more motivated by money and obligation than the opportunity to share something new or controversial.

Have a great week.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Does Frequent Blogging Encourage Bad Writing?
• How to Generate Traffic from Blog Comments
• Simple Tips for Getting More Traffic
• 7 Tips for Maintaining and Growing Your Blog
• Stop Daily Emails: Get Updates Once Per Week

I love it when Google features my site next to Entrepreneur.com and About.com. I’m Type A like that.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

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