Losing Page Rank & Not Being Listed in Search - No www

The goal of this blog is to help you earn income on your website or blog. You can't do this if your site has a poor Page Rank (PR) or doesn't show up in your searchs on Yahoo or Google. We have another website associated with this blog and it was launched in September of 2006. At first, it appeared 1st in both Yahoo & Google when searching for my sites keywords. After a month or so, it remained #1 on Yahoo, but fell to pages 10, 11, 12. Sometimes it was never listed, and other times it was #1 again. We attributed this fluxuation to it being a new site and ignored the problem.

But on Saturday, Nov 18th, we had a crisis. If the site could be found on Google, it worked. But, from Yahoo, it didn't allow users to log in. The site wasn't changed and we knew that the problem had to be centered in either Yahoo, Google, or our website host. After hours of searching, we realized that when the site was entered using www.dummyname.com, from Google, it worked. But Yahoo's link was only dummyname.com, without the www, and this didn't work. We added a Javascript onload function to redirect dummyname.com to www.dummyname.com, and this kept us going.

After that, the site dropped from #1 in Yahoo, to #11, and then it couldn't be found. Our crisis was back and this had to be resolved. After lots of searching, we found that this often happens because the two URL's are actually different! Two things needed to be done to resolve this:

1. Using Google's Webmaster Tools, we set the Preferred domain.
2. In our site's home directory on our host, we added a 301 permanant redirect.

The Google Webmaster Tools are very handy and useful. If you don't have this, it's a must. You need to have a Google account to use this tool. So, if you don't have these, get them ASAP. Once done, go into the "Diagnostic" tab in Webmaster Tools. There you will have 3 choices for your preferred domain: with a www; without a www; or no preference. Our site was set to "no preference" and thus the Google PR problem. We appeared twice in the search index, one with the www and one without. That's why our site appeared in different places. We fixed this problem by choosing option 1, with "www" and our results became more predictable. It takes about 2 weeks or so for this to take effect in all of Google's servers.

Next we addressed Yahoo. Because Yahoo listed us without the "www" and we wanted that to be our preferred site, we needed to redirect all non-www views to www views. This is done by creating a file called " .htaccess " (no file name, just a filetype) in your home directory on your website host. This directory is where your home or index page is located. Inside the .htaccess file, add the following:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^YourSitesName.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.YourSitesName.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Replace "YourSitesName" with yours, and do not have any blank lines.

Now, whenever your site is accessed, you will be permanently redirected to the "www" site if necessary. Because we used the .htaccess file implementation of this, every request to your site will do this. Thus, the change goes in immediately.

Since we only made these changes 2 days ago, we are still waiting for everything to take effect. However, we are now back on page 1 of Yahoo, and more often #1 on Google.

Hope this helps.

Before Advertising - Plan

Starting a site is a major responsibility. Because it is very easy to begin a site, many people have started all various types. Some are successful, and others I would label "Internet Clutter". Since you want to be successful, it is very important that you plan your site.

First, think of a topic that you wish to address. Look around the internet and blogs or similar sites. Some will have great content, and you will probably find many examples of Clutter. Ask yourself these questions:

• What will I offer?
• Who is my competition?
• Why am I better?
• What will make people want to keep visiting my site?
• What geographic area am I addressing?

Next, get a site. Blogger is a great place to start for Free. Create an account and a name. You will need to be flexible with your name because it may already be taken. However, make it interesting and something that can be remembered. It must also give your intended audience a sense of authority. Lastly, Pick out a template that you like and begin posting.

Before you think of earning money from this, get your site going. Remember, it must look good and be interesting. If so, people will notice. Post regularily, once a week or more frequently. If you are going away, tell your readers so that they will understand. Always consider your viewers. Manage their expectations.

Before trying to get advertisers to place ads on your site, you must have content and viewership. The content is important because advertisers can focus on your topic. Viewership is important because advertisers are looking for large audiences.

Don't rush into applying for advertising. You are a little fish and must build your trust and reputation. Once you turn-off an advertiser, you will have lost them forever.

Think in terms of months. Plan your strategy. Re-evaluate your concepts every two weeks. Add content. Compare yourself to others.

If you follow this advice, you will be ready to attract advertisers in one to three months. Think of this as a lifetime business and Plan, Plan, Plan.

You have a site, now what?

There is a lot more to owning a site or blog than just updating the content. If you are ambitious, you will want to earn money from it. You can begin by placing advertisements on your site. There are examples on this page. They are here for you to see what different options are available to you. The banner below is from Commission Junction, and the button at right is from Google. This is only a start. In time, I will explain what you need to do to get going.

Lets Begin by Adding Google Ads.

You can begin receiving income by displaying ads on your blog or website for Free.

The easiest way to do this is by joining the Google AdSense program. Click on the "Get targeted ads ... with Google Adsense" at right. This will bring you to the Google page. Then click on the "Click Here to Apply" button in the center of the page. Fill out the information on the Welcome to AdSense page, and then press "Submit". They will sent you mail when you are accepted. It's as easy as that!