Life After Google?

I still remember the day the beast turned nasty and boy was I nervous. You see I had made the classic mistake of relying too heavily on the Google monster, you've no doubt heard the phrase "all my eggs in one basket" well that was pretty much me, but now I was on the verge of my basket being filled with an omelette…

Before the worm turned I had managed good success, implementing strategies mastered by attending countless webinars and reading a ton of books. Less than $5 dollar leads a 15-20% conversion to sales ratio, my budget increasing exponentially, thus more sales. Then the first slap, closely followed by another and then the threat of a lifetime ban!? I turned everything off and, luckily, deleted all my campaigns, had I just paused them then the mother of all slaps and a lifetime ban would have become a reality…so if you are reading this and still have paused campaigns following a slap, DELETE them now.

So, I analysed the fallout, 2,000 leads a month became 200, sales dried up and here I was looking into the abyss, I needed new sources of traffic and I needed them fast. I soon realised with my success on Google, I had been neglecting what is the core of a sustained career online….me. I had not invested nearly enough time in "Me Inc." This had to change. So I devised a new strategy, it was not rocket science and soon started bearing results. The key components were as follows:

1. Invest more time in a simple blog. Not to blatantly pitch my opportunity but simply let people know who I was and how I could help them and offer value in exchange for their patronage.

2. Articles, articles, articles. I set a target of 7 new articles a week.

3. Implement a content distribution strategy, thus "buying" up more and more Internet real estate.

4. Combining article writing with video production offering value and trust, thus building a following that would listen when I offered solutions to their situations and giving them the opportunity to break free from their current torpor.

5. Social Media. Sure I had a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube account but had I really applied myself to get the most out of them…No! So a diligent and creative approach began and I was amazed at the results, which continues to this day. Follow me on www.twitter.com/JohnnyWallace

6. My list. Sitting there with thousands of prospects that I kept in contact with, but I didn't just want contact I wanted a relationship, a relationship that involved trust meaning, once again, if I were offering solutions people would sit up and listen.

7. List Builders. I left this till last as this was the biggest source of traffic and sales. I signed up to more than one and even had multiple accounts with the same provider. My copywriting skills improved ten-fold and I started generating top ticket sales earning $1000's in single commissions from a product that cost $400 for a years subscription to their top platinum membership. Leads, and quality leads at that, costing 50c each!!

I still use PPC at the moment solely Bing and I will be back on Google in the near future. But the purpose of this is to push the notion that it is possible to have a lucrative online business without relying heavily on Google, all of the above are low cost solutions and anyone new to this great industry should build their brand without exception. In the long run Google will be a much more stable and effective platform to market your business, no more conmen, scammers and charlatans, no more ridiculous income claims, the genuine opportunities will prevail and those life changing dreams will become reality.