How I built this blog in to a Google ranked PR5 site, and how I lost it.

A PR5 ranking by Google is pretty good. I did it with very little effort and here’s how.

1. I started blogging. I went to WordPress and got myself a blog.
2. I had something to blog about. I started the blog to tell the story about my (now defunct) adventure with Shopster. I found that there were a lot of people who wanted information on what works and what doesn’t.
3. I built incoming links. Well I didn’t build them, they came to me. Others in Shopster had blogs and so we added each other to our blogrolls. The more I blogged them more incoming links I receive.
4. Squidoo. I built a Squidoo lens with a link to my blog.
5. I posted two or three times a day.
6. Tags and categories. Tags are what make a blog successful. By using the right tags you get found. I made sure to use Google in tags as much as possible. They really like reading about themselves.
7. I answered the comments to my posts. Even if it was only a thank you for commenting.
8. I helped others. If you’ll notice my blogroll you’ll see Shopster sites listed even though they are not blogs. By giving them a link from a PR5 site they were helped and in return they helped me by reading the blog and giving me a link.
9. I kept focused. I focused on ecommerce, Shopster, and ways to make an ecommerce site successful.Well

Well that’s about it. You know, once I closed my Shopster site I really didn’t think much about this blog. Then, months after my last post, I got a comment from someone who found the site. I came back, checked the stats, and to my amazement found that site was still receiving hits. So, I am once again blogging and trying to give information that people are looking for. I like doing it so it’s a win-win.

How I lost it…I quit posting!

Just a thought on trackbacks and links

I have noticed that there are a lot of bloggers (20 or so over the past few months) and website owners who use my posts on their site. I really don’t mind, it sort of strokes the ego. What I need to try and understand is just how this helps me. I know that I have received hits to this site from their sites and so that’s a plus. About a month after I started this blog I built it into a PR5 ranked site. Then, I quit blogging after I quit Shopster and it dropped to a current PR3. However, I have a PR3 ranked site without any updates. Could this be from the links? Probably. Anyway, anyone who wants to use my posts may do it. My next post will detail how I got a PR5 ranking.

Are you content with your content?

I have no problems with designing my site. I like to do it. I have no problem surfing the net and researching. I like to do it. I even like to write (hence this blog). However, I seem to have the hardest time coming up with original keyword specific content for my site. It’s hard to elaborate on a lamp! I recently added some more content to my home page at www.lampbargains.com that I think is a good start. We really need to concentrate on this because that’s how we improve our rankings. Any fresh ideas out there on how to write good, original, content for products? All comments welcome.

Indexed in Google!

Thanks Starfire for pointing out the fact that I am listed #2 on the first page in Google for the keywords “lamp bargains”. It’s a start anyway. Google crawled my site within three days. I think it’s because I had an ad on Yahoo Shopping and also at magazines.ivillage. I’ll take what I can get! My other BIG keywords will take some time. I’m just wondering what original content I can add to my site.

Free advertising on site with page rank of 6!

I’ve found a great place to advertise almost any item, absolutely free! Better yet, the page has a Google rank of 6! It counts as a great incoming link and you can post as many items as you want. Ever heard of Country Living magazine? Go to this site http://magazines.ivillage.com/, click on Country Living, and scroll to the bottom, click on flea market and start selling. You can even upload a picture.

The patience of Job in the job

This e-commerce thing is a lot of work. I’ve spent hours  and hours just learning how to do the simple things. I’ve learned this so far. You better be in it for the long haul if you’re gonna have any hope of success. For instance, my site www.LampBargains.com is indexed in google but if I do a search of my main keyword there are millions of result pages. I just went through the first 20 pages or so just to see if my site was listed, of course it wasn’t. Just to get indexed is a lot of work. To gain in page ranking is a whole different story. patience and persistence is gonna be the key.

Thinking Linking

Links, links, links. The secret to Google rankings? Some think it’s the only way to get noticed. I know this much. At least as far as the other search engines are concerned, if you’re linked from an indexed site then you’ll probably get indexed without much effort. Be very careful with your links though. Never pay for links. That’s a bad thing with Google. Be sure to download a Google toolbar for your browser and each time you visit a page you can see the page rank. Try to get linked from a site with a rank of at least 4 or 5. Now having said all of this, some sites that rank #1 in search engines for a specific keyword hardly have any links whatsoever. Go figure. Keep this in mind also, build your links slowly and methodically. Too many links too fast is bad. Make sure the sites that link to you at least have something to do with your business.  Go to the Google adwords pagehere and click on the site keywords tab. From here you can type in a web site address and see what keywords Google indexes for that site. Now you can do some searching, find sites like yours, and see if the keywords match. If they do, try to get a link from them. On another note, there is a two edged sword. If you’re indexed, you’ll get links. If you’re not indexed you’ll need links to get indexed. How do you win? Write quality content that no one else has. Be original and fresh and people will find you.

A word about ads

I have just recently bought some google ads. In two days I had over 4000 impressions (4000 people have had an opportunity to view my ad) and only 5 clicks. I’m experimenting with different wording and have just recently put the fact that I’m offering 10% off storewide. I’ll keep you informed on how well this is working.