Live by the Google, Die by the Google

MDC readers will probably note that I started posting for Pay Per Post a few months ago. I’ve done about 24 posts for them altogether and made over $80 last month and am expecting to paid another $100 or so. It has been great! This works out better than my affiliate ads and much better than Amazon and even my Amazon store. For the first time since I started blogging, the blog is actually paying for itself. But more importantly it has given me a way to earn some extra money to pay for things like Sam’s Algebra tutor, art lessons for the kids at the community center, even Sam’s antibiotic (our insurance doesn’t cover prescriptions) was paid for by my trusty PayPal card with funds on it that I earned from Pay per Post. For us this has been the best thing since eBay and way less time and effort!

But the thing about Pay Per Post is the opportunities available to each blogger depend on your Alexa Rank and your Google Page Rank. When I started a few months ago, my Alexa Rank was really bad, way over 2 million. It is on the 500,000 range which has been great. My Google Page Rank was a 4 and I was happy with that and hoping to get into the 5 and over range in the coming new year.

But yesterday, I noticed my Google Page Rank was a 3 and today it’s a 2. Here’s some idea of what happened.

Google Giveth, Google Taketh Away – The Google Channel – IT Channel News And Views by CRN and VARBusiness

Other articles I have read concur that it seems if you have paid advertising on your blog or site, Google severely punished for that. Over at the Pay Per Post forum there is much gnashing of teeth due to the severe cuts, although it looks from the PayPerPost Blog and the powers that be there, that the new Argus Tracking System may be the way they go in the future.

Interestingly it also seems that hosting my blog on Google’s own Blogger system hurts rank as well! When I checked around in my own unscientific study, it appears that blogs with their own domain or in other domains did better than Google’s own Blogger! I’m not sure what to make of that either. I’m not feeling the love for being on this blogging platform for almost four years and living through the beta switch. Where’s the love Google?

For now though, if advertisers are demanding a rank of 3 or more from bloggers to take their opportunity, I am literally going to be left out. Perhaps only $5.00 opportunities and even those might not be as plentiful.

So I’m feeling this morning a bit like the farmer’s wife who was taking her eggs to market and dreaming of all the stuff she would do with the money she would get from the sale of the eggs, only to trip and fall and end up with her eggs smashed all over the road. I had indeed set up a budget, goal and plan around Pay Per Post earnings and now I don’t know if that is going to be realistic.

Other links: (unpaid Google, I promise!!)
Google hammers Web Sites!
Google Coy on Page Rank Smackdown.
Google Roils Web World.
Official: Selling Paid Ads Can Hurt Your Page Rank.