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Google Takes Care of Idiots Too
By Alexis Dawes (c) 2005

There's an old saying that goes, "God takes care of babies and
idiots."

Truly this statement applies to me, because when it comes to my
search engine optimization skills, I'm on the idiot side of the
scale. But that's okay because idiots are loved, and can easily
survive in the search engine game too.

Let me explain.

Although NONE of my 6 web sites rank in Google's top 10 (or top
20 and 30 for that matter), and I only advertise 2 of my sites
using AdWords, Google still helps me make a lot of money.

That's probably because I went into this search engine
optimization 'thingy' with a grain of salt. I don't keep any
secret arsenals of software tools that reverse engineer web
sites to figure out why they are ranking high. I haven't read
any of the latest must-have volumes on search engine
optimization. (Although they're on my to-do list when - and
IF - business ever slows down.)

And still my MVP Google does its best to make me happy. And I
do my best to give its searchers relevant content. But not in
the way that most SEO savvy webmasters would recognize.

--------------------------------
"It's actually very easy to get traffic from Google if you
think outside the box."
--------------------------------

My strategy for getting traffic from Google is quite simple.

You see I don't go out of my way looking for link partners. My
sites are basically 1-2 page sales letters, and nobody wants to
link to me, unless they're getting paid.

Nor do I put a tremendous amount of effort into on-page
optimization. I sprinkle my targeted keyphrase here and there,
and I'm done with it. I write for my paying customers.

What I do is follow this process:

1) I find other established sites that already have good
    PageRank and adequate incoming links.

2) I make sure these sites add new content every day. Sites
    with frequently added content get visited by the Googlebot
    often... sometimes every day.

3) I then place an advertisement on these sites, promoting my
    actual web site. When the Googlebot pays these sites a visit,
    the ad itself (NOT my web page) is ranked in Google for the
    keyphrase I've used. On many occasions my ads have reached
    the #1 position in Google for my targeted keyphrase, in as
    little as 48 hours.

--------------------------------
"Where can you readily find such sites?"
--------------------------------

Believe it or not, a handful (literally a handful) of classified
ad sites fit the description to a tee.

Backpage.com (http://www.backpage.com/) is one of them.

Backpage.com is a free classified ad service run by New Times, a
publisher of alternative news weeklies. They offer classified ad
listings for 14 US cities. However, even if you're not in one of
their specific cities, you may still place an ad.

Certain advertisements placed through Backpage.com have reached
top 10 positions in Google. The ads that get favorably indexed
in top 10 positions normally have less competitive keywords in
the title. My personal synopsis is that these are keywords that
receive fewer than 3,000 searches a month, according to the
Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool.

An example is 'mobile pc repair.'

This is a low-traffic, but extremely targeted keyphrase.

If you do a search on Google for 'mobile pc repair' you'll
notice an ad placed on Backpage.com is featured in the #5
position. Okay, so it's not the best advertisement in the world,
but that's irrelevant.

The point is--

* The ad got indexed in a top 10 position in Google.

* Backpage.com allows advertisers to include web site links
   in the advertisement. So even though this particular
   advertiser didn't include his/her URL, they very well could
   have. This would've generated traffic to their site.

--------------------------------
"My point?

This is a cure for getting targeted traffic while waiting
for your actual web site to get ranked."
--------------------------------

Early February 2005, webmaster forums around the world were
abuzz with groans, gripes and periodic fits of happiness.

Why?

Because Google was doing a major update (dubbed Allegra).

Sites that had ranked in the top 10 for years were being
mercilessly tossed around. Other sites that hadn't gotten any
decent rank in the past were beginning to see the light. And
still others didn't notice any changes.

As for me... well my actual sites still didn't rise much in the
ranks. I'm still hovering somewhere around #50+.

But that hasn't phased me one bit.

I look at the big picture and understand that getting traffic
from Google is much more than having my site reach the top 10.

If I have 50 advertisements (similar to the ones from
Backpage.com) that are in top 10 positions, and they're all
delivering traffic from targeted keyphrases, I haven't lost
anything. All those keyphrases delivering trickles of traffic
equal a flood of clicks and orders at the end of the day.

Not a bad deal for somebody who's SEO illiterate. I guess the
old saying is true... God really does take care of babies and
idiots.

================================================================
Alexis Dawes is the author of "Taking The Back Road To Get On
Google's First Page." This report offers details on several more
loopholes you can use to get a top Google ranking. You can find
more information at (http://www.Get-In-Google-Now.com).
================================================================

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