I wanted to write a post touting myself as this great Search Engine Optimizer. The truth is far less attractive than the first sentence implies. I have spent countless hours doing on page search engine optimization and doing it well with little to no results. I have come to understand that it’s very difficult to rank for some of my desired keyword phrases without a handsome budget to pay for links. Links seem to be harder and harder to come by these days as more and more people know their value. Even reciprocal link exchanges are becoming difficult to attract, keep and manage.
Search engine optimization is a challenge to manage when you have several sites, work a full time job and want to attempt to have a somewhat normal offline life. In December 2011 I purchased links for one of my sites in the form of blog posts or some of you may know them better as sponsored reviews. I didn’t buy from sponsored reviews dot com I bought from someone else. Those particular links didn’t seem to do a damn thing for my serp or my PR. Not even a flicker or bounce to the front page. The site I wanted to get on the first page was already in the top 15. It seems as though I would have gotten as good of a result by burning the money as I did buying the links. I monitor my stats daily using stat counter and I use Advanced Web Rankings to check my site’s serp about every ten days or so. If you’re a site owner like me then you know when your site increases or decreases in rank. You can just tell by the amount of organic traffic you get. The reality is that I am actually considering giving up. The cost in money and time can be daunting and I just don’t know if I want to continue making the investment for subpar results.
Let’s evaluate the costs involved. You have domain names, hosting, SEO, advertising, time invested in creating and modifying your site, time invested in keyword research and analysis of your competitors seo and advertising campaigns. It’s a whole lot to deal with. The good news is you don’t have to do it all yourself unless you don’t have money to invest by paying someone else to do it. We’re all fighting the same battles with our SEO. We all have keywords we want to rank well for but the reality is there’s only so many spots available on the first page and really if you’re not number 5 or higher then your site may as well not even be on the front page.
One of my biggest bitches is about exact match domains I own don’t seem to work on Google they way I think they should. I have always heard or been under the impression that exact match domains are a slam dunk in the way of ranking. Get a hold of one of these puppies and a few backlinks and it’s game over. You’re there on the front page. That’s not what my research or real world experience has shown me. There was a time when it was more common and seemed that easy but not anymore. I am getting to the point where I am about to just say “FUCK IT, I’M DONE!” If I do that then all the time and money I have invested has just been a big waste! Maybe someone like me shouldn’t be a website owner. I mean, I’m not a writer, I don’t just sit back and write a ton of content all day long. I know content is king but damn, come on. The shit you have to go through in order to rank your site. I really need to decide if I want to keep playing this game or not. It’s an expensive game to lose!
I’m probably just yammering. I am going to bitch and complain and keep doing what I have been doing, I am just going to make sure I do it better.
Later,
RB
