PR Whore No More
Well, apparently the wait is over. Google had delivered it’s slaps and is now patting other folks on the back. Long term paid bloggers got bit in the butt, along with a bunch of A-listers who don’t take paid posts but are heavily networked. My thoughts are that the algorithm was changed to discount blogrolls and that all those who were dependent on those for the majority of their backlinks got zapped. Otherwise, why would Problogger or Copyblogger take a penalty? I thought that was what was happening a couple of months ago, when I noticed my backlinks disappearing over on the backlink checker. The sites I knew were heavily blogrolled dropped more proportionately than the ones that had been linked to in posts. So if you love me, forget the blogroll idea. Just give me a nod in a post and move on.
So what’s changed, really? If you look in your toolbar, at the time of this writing, it reflects the old, higher PR. And when I searched for some of my keywords, I still come up in the same spot in the SERPs. So nothing has changed really except what Google tells me my writing is worth. What Google tells me my writing is worth. Frankly, I don’t rely on Google to give me value. I know when I am doing a crappy job on this blog, and I know when I am doing a good one. This piece of internet real estate is mine, not theirs, and if you look over there at the manifesto I’ve had in place since not long after this blog began over on blogspot, you’ll see that.
So this is where my rubber meets the road. I can sigh and moan and gnash my teeth, or I can blog like nobody’s watching. I can blog for me, and by extension, for you, and Google can go “put that in their pipe and smoke it” as we say down here in the land of the rednecks. My value lies elsewhere.
However, I am going to take the opportunity to create a “Blog Action Plan” as my friend Ann calls it. I’ve known Ann for a number of years, and she is a remarkably level headed woman with more common sense than Encyclopedia Brittanica has knowledge. I also want to give a shout out to Brett for an early writing of what I had been thinking. These folks are just able to get their thoughts together in written form faster because they don’t live with 8 interruptions marvelous and delightful gifts. I love them dearly, but my people always need something, and that siren call always comes right before my thoughts reach that jello-state where you can try to pin them down. Then I have to start over. That’s my circle of life, hehehe.
Okay, my BAP, agenda, manifesto modification, plan.
1)I’m going to write. I’m going to write until my whole thought is written. If it’s good you’ll stick around to the end, and maybe leave a comment. If it isn’t any good, shorter isn’t likely to make it any better, and it’ll keep nagging at me and I’ll have to keep writing but not writing about it, and let’s just go ahead and do it and be done, however much that takes.
1a)In as much as possible, while still meeting contractual obligations, I”m only going to write when I have something to say. That means there may be days without a post. Now, I need the traffic of having you come by here every day, but if you need to subscribe to the feed instead, go ahead, and I’ll understand. If my nefarious scheme brilliant idea fair and reasonable plan works as I think it will, then the search engine traffic will pick up, and I can have the best of both worlds–long term friends and new readers, too. If not, then I suck as a blogger and I get what I deserve.
1b)I’m not going to post here more than three times a day. More than that floods those who are on feeds, and also, I’m not sure I can have more than three good ideas in one day, yk?
2)I’m gonna get back into the conversation of the blogosphere. I’ve been so busy trying to pump the posts and net the works that I have become a blog hermit. I’m not having fun over here by myself, and I want to come out and play, so that’s what I am going to do. Everybody seems to think 5 is a good number of blogs to visit, and maybe it is. And I do plan to start visiting old friends again and chatting them up a bit. But I also plan to visit and comment on one new blog per day.
In short, I am going to do what I said up there and blog like nobody’s watching. And I think that’s what we all ought to do, whether yesterday and today left us as Google’s pet or their ho.
That sounds like a wonderful BAP! My goodness! You write with such conviction! I would love to see what you write when your kids are grown. Good job, Cass!
Everybody’s BAP has to be tailored to fit themselves. This sounds like a great plan, Sis!
I read the whole thing. I have been trying to gather my thoughts about the updated realities of the Internet, but everyone is getting to it faster than I can. i think I will do what you did and write about MY new reality. Nobody else is writing about that.
I think you may be on to something with the correlation of the blogroll. I saw some paid sites go up that were not blogrolled and some that were go down. I had initially suspected sitewide disclosure, but suspect now that its probably the blogroll.
On a lighter note, I like Ann’s concept of a BAP Agenda. When I first read that I thought of my daughter’s manner of saying Grandpa -> “Ba PA”
So I guess a lot of us are going to be working BaPa over pretty good . . .
Well expressed.
Seems like everyone is talking about PR and blogging without thinking about Google’s needs. I bet they are shocked that so many are saying, (pick your unpleasant phrase). Frankly, I’m proud of that, because bloggers shouldn’t bend to anyone’s will – be it advertisers or anyone else.
[...] puking. One of my blogs has 183 back links, and dropped from 3 to 0 like a stone. But just like I said a couple weeks ago when Google started the foreplay that led to this rough-em-up, my blog is more [...]