Blogs: The Hidden Ace Up Your Sleeve

If it wasn't for my blog, I wouldn't make any online sales at all.

It's true that I have a "regular" website, my so-called "main website," which I first set up to sell my goods, in this case, men's and women's health products. It's my workhorse, the source of most of my revenue. Most of my sales resulted from generic listings in the search engines, particually Google.

That is, until Google sandboxed me.

Some of you may have heard of the legendary Google sandbox, sometimes called, "The Goggle Sandbox Effect." What happens is that newly listed sites rank well for about two to three weeks, then suddenly drop off the radar screen. These new sites are placed in a type of probational sandbox, away from the "real" sites.

Why does this happen, you ask? There are almost as many theories as there are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts. Many believe that this probation period is not related to the sites themselves, but to their links. It is believed that back link (pure link popularity) credit is placed in a reserve for a period of time (2-4 months) before it is applied to ranking and has an effect. The theory behind this is to combat PR (Page Rank) purchasers from dominating PR from the beginning. It is meant to deter spam websites.

Others believe this alleged filter that is placed on new websites is an illusion. These skeptics argue that the phenomenon merely echoes already existing Google algorithm calculations.

Whatever the reason, I got sandboxed, the rug pulled out from underneath me; shiskobobbed. The high-ranking and sales that I was receiving from my site suddenly plummented.

I was devastated. What's a poor boy to do now?

Desperate, I wrote to a number of online SEO forums, seeking advice from the SEO gurus. Some thought it was amusing and laughed in my face. Others offered advice such as forgetting about Google for awhile and optimizing my site for the other search engines (not a bad idea). Others thought that I should continue adding content, since content is king as far as the search engines are concerned. Still others thought I should try to gain as many quality links as I should, and this would help pull me out of the sandbox (it felt more like quicksand to me.)

I committed to doing all these things, but in the meaintime, what about my website and the products that I was trying to sell, the money I was hoping to make?

I kept hearing about blogs, those personal websites that are published on the Web. As you probably know, blogs contain philosophical reflections, talk about social issues, and opinions about everything under the sun. They are usually presented in journal style with a new entry each day, or almost every day.

Some people have found out that blogs can also be used to sell products. In fact, an entire industry has evolved around commerical blogging and ways to market them. Some of these commerical blogs appear in the same journal style as the most popular blogs, while others do not look any different from a regular commerical website.

At any rate, I decided to check them out. The fact that a number of blog publishers allow you to build and post your comments for free, certainly didn't hurt either.

I studied many of the blogs that are out there on the Internet, particually the ones relating to my niche. The more I read, the more I liked. I was surprised to learn that some of the top websites in my niche were actually blogs. They ranked high on Google and all of the other search engines. And no doupt, they were making sales.

Soon, I had a pretty good idea about how I was going to build my blog. I didn't want to copy the others, I just needed to get an idea of how some enterprising webmasters were creating them.

Within minutes, I had created my blog, published it on the Web, and began posting and tweaking it. I inserted some HTML code to monitor my stats, and continued to work on making it a better blog. I also continued to work on my other websites, so that whenever I do climb out of Google's sandbox, my site will get a good rating.

Not long afterwards, I made my first blog sale!

Elated, I built other blogs. The more lines you have in the water, the better chance you'll catch a fish, right? Each was slightly different than the preceeding one, but I still hawked the same products. All have links back to my "main" website, and all have brought me sales.

I might have been down, but thanks to my new-found knowledge about blogs, I wasn't out.

So, while I'm waiting to climb out of Google's sandbox, I have an ace in the hole and another up my sleeve that is continuing to make sales for me - my blog. Unknowingly, I had stumbled upon one of the best ways to get my products out there before the buying public.

What I had thought was the worse thing to happen turned out to be the best thing. Had Google not sandboxed me, I probably never would have discovered the awesome marketing power of blogs!

Van Whitsett is the author of numerous articles, both online and in the print media. He has tried (and failed) with a number of Internet businesses. His latest endevour is a Wealth Building Program that is sweeping the Internet like wildfire.

---

RSS Feeds Explosion

Gain Massive Exposure For Your ServiceGet your web site listed... Read More

What Is A Blog? - A Beginners Guide to Understanding Blogs

A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a... Read More

Amazing Information About Blogging

A few months back, at the ITEA conference I saw... Read More

Blogs And Your Work From Home Internet Business

As a work from home internet business entrepreneur you have... Read More

24 Tips and Strategies on How Everyone Can Blog Right and Get Everybody to Read

By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as... Read More

Should Bloggers be Helping Google Fix Their PageRank System?

By now, most bloggers have heard the announcement that the... Read More

Blog Marketing: Guerrillas Stalk the Internet

Blogs, are often defined as frequent and ongoing publications of... Read More

Blog Reflection

I still consider myself to be a blog writing novice... Read More

Steps To Creating and Promoting RSS Feeds

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known,... Read More

Superbloggers Secrets

Blogs are extremely hot right now. Everyone is starting them,... Read More

Dear Web Diary!

Blogging is hot and getting hotter, with more and more... Read More

RSS: This Publishers Choice

RSS is the interactive communication tool being popularized by bloggers.... Read More

15 Top Blog Marketing Tips

1. Place all your feeds on the following website and... Read More

Blogs and Journalism

The world has seen the emergence of a new style... Read More

Find Out How Microsofts Plans Could Make Your Subscribers Beg You for RSS Content!

Microsoft recently announced that they will be releasing a new... Read More

RSS & How to Use It (part 1)

Have you ever read an article, intended to explain RSS... Read More

Why Journal Writing On The Web? Blogs Are Journals Giving Anyone An Identity, And An Awesome Forum

Journal writing used to be a private, personal experience done... Read More

Utilize The Power Of Blogs To Market Your Business On A Budget

Budget marketing with blogs is one of today's top methods... Read More

Displaying RSS Feeds on Websites

Displaying RSS RSS offers webmasters a unique opportunity to display... Read More

The Art of Business Blog Writing

"It is precisely minds of the first order that will... Read More

Marketing with Blogs and RSS Feeds

Perhaps you still don't realize or fully understand the power... Read More

The Right Blog Software Can Make A Blog Stand Out from the Crowd

Blogs are an easy way to get your voice out... Read More

The Holy Grail that Online Advertisers, Merchants, Publishers, and Shoppers have been Looking for!

For Online Publishers/RSS Feeds users - RSS (Real Simple Syndication)... Read More

Making Money with RSS Feeds

First it was banner ads, then Google AdSense and now,... Read More

Use These 7 Ideas and You Will Never Suffer From Blog Block Again Guaranteed!

Is this you? It has been 3 or 4 days... Read More

7 Tips for Successful Blogging

So, you have a blog! Do you have traffic? Do... Read More

Its A Blog, Not A Sales Letter

The recent spurt of interest in blogging has begun to... Read More

Business Blogging - 5 Tips to Help You Smashl Through Writers Block

It's inevitable. Everyone hits the wall. Whether you've been blogging... Read More

Prescription Blogs are Helping to Educate the Consumers on Prescription Consumption

Blogs are being used on a more consistent basis due... Read More

What is an RSS Aggregator or RSS Reader?

I keep hearing about RSS, XML and RSS feeds. I... Read More

Increase Traffic to Your Blog from Search Engines - The Top 5 Tips

Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be... Read More

RSS Works: Hard Metrics to Prove It

Marketers are constantly asking if RSS marketing works and if... Read More

Blogs for Kids

Flush out the writer in children. Blogging could draw out... Read More