To be, or not to be? Better to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Google.?
Since the very beginning of my coursework as a rookie almost 3 years ago at WA, I've been able to rank a reasonable number of my targeted keywords on P1 of Google and others. 80% of my product's names that I retail are still on Page 1, but many have lost ranking. Life was relatively good from a business standpoint, but relatively slow growth, so I was very concerned but had plans in place to improve traffic with push notifications/re-targeting and eMail Marketing expansion... until the Aug 1 Google algorithm change which has devastated 100's of thousands of successful sites (more likely millions if you consider pups like us) with 50% - 80% loss of traffic by Aug 5rd. Mine is down 66%.
Again, this proves to me that that you can be among the best in search one day, and with a wave of Google's wand, you can't even cover your monthly expenses. This has been my experience more than once... and it's now de rigueur. Even the biggies are under water now considering all the debt they carry.
It is said that affiliate marketers are willing to give away their most vital assets (opt-in email addresses) as well as optimal contol over their end users (customers) in exchange for commission $$.
I am not. That's why I chose to work on SEO and Content Marketing on a subject/product niche in which I am personally, 100% committed in every way, but I'm getting so irritated that it's starting to become more appealing every day because SEO and Content Marketing is a bee-atch even if you LOVE and are COMMITTED to your niche... and no longer attractive to Google bots.
This is all a crap shoot, so I must be willing to risk it all. Just my opinion of course. And it's almost a zero sum game these days as evidenced by the domination of our competitors who have avoided the Google slam (lucky you!).
But it now appears that you must have bigger money to throw at Site development, SEO, Content Marketing, and eMail Marketing than do your Top 20(?) competitors... and then maybe you stand a chance to be "in the money" part of the pie where 1% take 99% of the total customer spend.
I think the Wild West of Internet Marketing for amateurs and hobbyists not only done, it's over-cooked, and now served up in a painfully tasteless maner by a company who's power is not only priceless, it's omnipotent.
Google claims that their algorithm updates now deliver "the most popular" search results... so, that means Content Marketing with best quality content is no longer as important to Google's internal metrics on user "popularity" - whatever that means they won't be specific. And those "popular" sites are determined to "be" popular by Google and served up to us all in a hierarchy determined of course by Google itself.
It's a closed-loop-system now where you have to throw more money at advertising (with Google if you want the coverage optimization) in order to rank. Now more than ever you must drive ad traffic or any traffic like social media traffic in whatever way you can because SEO in the traditional sense is of less and less importance. And since my CBD products are not allowed advertising on Google or Facebook, it's even more challenging for the utold thousands of niches not allowed like mine.
But fear not, for you can, and must "pay your way"... which after all is The American Way. Nobody's come up with anything better, so yes, of course, "the rich get richer" until Google's monopoly is broken up like Standard Oil's was 100 years ago (May 15, 1911) when the Supreme Court ordered it's dissolution.
At the very least, one could say that the risk premium has gone up exponentially since I started with eCommerce on my own dime. I'm beginning to wonder if it's really worth the investment at my level. It takes some pretty long dollars to run an eCommerce site that has enough resources to compete in the traditional sense much less this new reality that I must accept.
Unless I'm missing something, it takes thousands of dollars per week to effectively drive reasonable traffic for your invested $$ (which by definition is continually required on a weekly basis - so that money is like inventory that never sells until you close your business doors).
So, I'm genuinely and seriously interested in hearing from any of you that currently net-net at least $10k/month (or close) from one site. I consider your perspectives vitally important at this time for me and my fellow WA's to hear and understand. Any takers?
The gutsy takers will suggest what ranges of Revenue are required for them to net-net $10K or more, as well as what they do to grow their (best) site's revenues successfully today. Bullet points are most welcomed!
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"Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?" - Love your post Ted, I am a Super Newbie here, and still getting to grips with it all. What comes to mind is "Dont put all your eggs in one basket, Have multiple income streams ? as best you can ? - and sometimes dodge the Sea of Troubles that Google surely is. Amongst other things I drop ship on Ebay for instance, and do OK,
Good luck to you too! My post is also about being realistic as opposed to all the profit $$ hype. I haven't met more than a few people who have made over $10K/monthly profit... and they are all about themselves. They DO NOT have any public visibility backing up their reputation.... "Shadow Marketers".
The reason for this of course is that they are con artists and hedonistic profiteers. And that's fine, but personally, I am fighting a losing battle from a $$ standpoint. I have a conscience and ethical limitations that severely impede my profit potential... and it's frustrating at times because Google and even most consumers could care less. And I find that interesting.