Postcards from the Funny Farm

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The past 3 days and today (7/26/08) my Google Page Rank appears to be back. I tried playing aloof and I didn’t write a gushing post since I have been wrong before. Sometimes the toolbar malfunctions, this is something I have verified by many sites and blogs out there. More often than not though, it’s correct. The long story made short is that yes, indeed my PageRank has gone back to the PR4 it was when it got spanked months ago. In this post, I tell you in a few sentences exactly what I did to get it back (I’ve been keeping a careful journal on everything!)

Fearing I might be jumping the gun, I emailed one of my blog mentors and friend Derek Semmler yesterday and asked him to verify the PR4 change for me. He’s seen me go through the PR0 ordeal with this blog and even written a few really cool articles about PageRank hits on his blogs. He said that sadly my new rank wasn’t registering on his toolbar. (Thanks again for checkin’ Derek) So, I kind of gave up and forgot about it. That’s why today after seeing it still in my toolbar and verifying the change with some 3rd party sources, I was elated to see it was indeed a true PR4.

My understanding via Matt Cutts’ blog is that Google has “expired” some of the prior penalties. In addition to that, here is what I have done. It’s nothing mysterious but it takes some effort. My attitude toward success has always been that I don’t mind work when I know it’s worth something. Some of you may have seen my fave Woody Allen quote come up once in a while here, “80% of success is showing up.” If you are doing the right things by Google to get PageRank success, I’d even make that an 85 instead of an 80:

1) Guestblog monthly: Set a specific number as a goal. Ask higher ranked blogs if you can guestblog and link back to your index in the post (usually a signature looks the least pompous). I’ve been averaging 5 guestblogs a month in the last 6 months. All my guestblogs are represented by an intro here and you can read them through this link: Those backlinks affect PageRank. You can also invite bloggers to guestblog on yours. You usually get a link from their blog announcing their work. A classic example of this is Chelle’s recent PageRank post on mine:

2) Every sponsored post/link on your blog needs to have the attribute: rel=”nofollow” in its relative links. I won’t bother explaining, just do it. It took me 4 days in between work, wife, and screaming kids to change all mine to this. I pity anyone who has more than say 100. But if you make it a practice, you will never have a problem with this issue. I could say more on this, please ask questions if you have them. My assumption is that most people get this already. Obviously I recently learned it :)

3) Write quality posts to a niche audience (as much as possible) that people read, link to, and comment on. (Reading and inking to parts are way more important but comment have ripple effects for lnkage, traffic, etc.) I’ve written extensively on the value of a blog post but this subject is a bit subjective. I doubt any SEO writers will be subscribing as a result. However, if what you do is kind of like my writing, please check out the series, it was written with you in mind: V.A.L.U.E. of a Blog.

4) Show your indefinable magic as a blogger! How could I leave that one out. Don’t forget to be yourself. Remember that the dead splash page of Firefox, for example, is a 6/10! Who reads that? Blogs started out as WEBLOGS where interesting people shared their research, later their thoughts and quotes, and finally they are now a place where anyone can self-publish anything. Let your light shine.

Folks, it’s been a long rocky road since they spanked my PageRank (man that sounds bad doesn’t it ;). I am enjoying the smoothness now that it’s back. Like it or not, Google PageRank is an issue of economics and you should have it. So I am officially not a hater of Google PageRank, they have done right by me. It seems like there are as many ranks out there as there are acne treatments, but Google has the most clout.

If you want to know more regarding this topic, just ask. I think I’m done for now. This is meant to be in fact a psychology niche blog most the time. Maybe you can persuade me to write some other stuff I’ve done to improve my blog’s rank. Now go jump in the pool (that’s where I’m headed). I’ve also reignited my other two blogs and it’s time to rev some speed. You might say I’ve had 3 car covers on in my blog garage and now they are coming off. Thanks for being a part of this ride.

After writing part II of a series I’m doing called “Love Homework: Mirroring” over at at It Might be Love I got a really inspiring email from the author that included a guest post from she herself. (So cool!) She’s part of a select few that answers my open plea to write here occasionally. It allows the oxygen to once again enter my bloodstream as I take a rest from posting at the Funny Farm :) FYI, I interviewed Chelle a few months ago here. It’s a wonderful interview for bloggers and/or lovers to read :) The niche of my blog here is psychology on the offbeat side and her post, below, is about as “in the pocket” with that as you can get. I hope you enjoy Chelle’s post about the worth of ones work.

For the past few weeks, as we’ve been reading here at Postcards From the Funny Farm, we’ve been listening to Damien go on and on about Google Pagerank and rating systems based on numbers. And as usual it got me thinking about the “deeper side of things” which inspired me to write this post.

There are 2 important things to remember in life: 1. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks of you, you’re still who you are and 2. Why I Failed Physics Class (I know the second one seems pretty strange, but keep reading and you’ll see what I mean.)

It’s so important to realize it really doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks of you. I applaud Damien for coming up with his own CAN Self Blog Rating System. Your self rating system should be all you rely on and all that matters. There are billions of people out there, each with their own thoughts and opinions. Sooner or later you’re bound to collide with someone or something that doesn’t agree. If you set your mind to it you can do anything. Take for example the man who recently made a life scale car out of matchsticks. Do you think the neighbors held back on “rating” that idea?

But think about it: If someone thinks you’re weird or silly or mean, does that make it true? Of course not! What do they know? Just because they might have some “system” or outdated values to judge you it doesn’t mean they KNOW AND UNDERSTAND YOU. And since they don’t know and understand you, what they think just simply doesn’t matter. In the end, it’s what you know and understand and what you believe that is true.

So now that I’ve explained why it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, let’s move onto why I failed physics class.

Our physics teacher often gave us test questions like these: “A guy is riding on a motorcycle at 60 mph. Up ahead is a 36 degree jump over a cliff with a distance of 50 feet to the other side. Will he make it to the other side?”

Sure, there’s a mathematical equation to finding the solution to this problem, but I personally refused to answer it. How can we REALLY know he will or will not make it to the other side? What if a big gust of wind suddenly comes and makes him turn his wheel? What if he gets dust in his eyes? What if by some miracle a huge eagle comes swooping down and lifts him by his shirt collar to the other side?

Sure, those things probably won’t happen. But there is A LOT more to life than just numbers and math formulas. Life is full of variables. Just because numbers say something will or will not happen, doesn’t mean it can’t. It’s an old cliché, but there’s an exception to every rule.

Needless to say, my physics teacher didn’t like me too much. After about 9 weeks of the class we both mutually decided it be best I become the first person in my high school’s history to be allowed to drop Honors Physics. But I refused to believe that everything in life can be generalized, predicted, and relied on as being true just because that’s what the numbers said.

We can hope that Damien and other fellow bloggers’ pagerank woes will soon be solved. But until then, it’s always good to remember the important stuff in life isn’t ranked by numbers. And even if your blog does manage to bring you and other people a lot of money, ultimately it is only the standards that you set for yourself that should determine your success.

This has been a guest post by Chelle, blog author of It Might be Love. Pack your virtual luggage and go read a few posts of hers why don’t you.

This post is another (I hope the last) rant about Google so feel free to jump ship before you go one. I don’t usually like to whine about stuff, I like to change things or shut up generally. After this post I plan to pretty much shut up about Google PageRank but I will respond to comments of course ;)

I’ve been setting goals for my blog and recording them here since December of 2007. It has been gratifying in almost every respect but I still am not where I’d like to be in other ranking systems such as Google and Technorati. Instead of getting frustrated or trying to game the system, I’ve decided to make my own ranking system based on the things that I value in my blog. I’m calling it the CAN. system My hope is that you, the regular reader, and anyone else who wants to will follow my progress and learn that serious writers can make legitimate money on their blogs without PageRank. My goal since December of 2006 has been to create, innovate, and intergrate quality content. I haven’t lost this goal, I’ve simply defined it more clearly and added “money” as a goal element. This blog does NOT deserve to have a zero PageRank.

Google seems to be highly puritanical when it comes to paid-links on a blog. It’s actually worse than “highly puritanical ” it’s near obscenely puritanical … it makes no rational sense. Who are they serving really? Do you care if a helpful blog post was paid or not? I know I don’t.

I have examined Google’s criteria for PageRank and frankly, I don’t think they even know what they are doing with it. Nonetheless, we have to suck it up as bloggers. It’s the industry guideline that advertisers and publishers use when hiring and taking blogs seriously. Thank goodness many influential bloggers are starting to come out against Google. IZEA is leading an effort against PageRank “.... As for me, watch for my first CAN. update in August. You can see my goals for July here. Maybe it will give you something you’ll find engaging to read by your espresso machines.

One thing, I will give away right now as I close: To make my logo and button for the CAN, Rank System was to use a tutorial for Photoshop. If you’d like to try something similar, it’s a lot of fun. The Google logo itself contains a font that costs $99. But this tutorial shows you how to make it with Ti.... It is cool. There are also tutorials there for companies like Hooters and O’Reilly … a lot more fun stuff. Enjoy and remember in whatever it is you blog about you CAN.

There’s been a lot of buzz about Google PageRank on the internet lately. Many people have had their “currency” (I say that tongue in cheek but that IS what it is for those who seek advertisers favor for a living) taken from a 5 or 6 sometimes (or more) to a 0 overnight. I wrote about how my page rank was set from 4 to 0 and it was a real bummer let me tell you. I was angry.

Then some time passed. I was once the wild horse on this subject that Google has finally broken. I want my pagerank back if I can swing it.

I decided that it is possible Google is trying to do something right (I didn’t say probable). I can’t question their motives. So I started searching the web for examples of bloggers who had restored their Page Rank and the stuff I found wasn’t too promising. The first 3 that came up in a Google search with the search terms: “How I Got my PageRank back,” had some good advice, but when I by chance checked their pageranks, they were ALL STILL ZERO! My experience was that there were two waves in Google smackdown: 1) An initial and then a restoration of many and then a more resolute “spank” as IZEA calls it. (see button up top.)

Then I found a promising one. You can read it here. It’s where I got all the ideas I have engaged to try and get my page rank back. First, I went through and for every sponsored post link and/or commercial paid link, I added this inside: rel=”nofollow”

It took me a long time because I had two pages of PayPerPost links and quite a few PayU2Blog links I had to put rel=”nofollow” in. the rel=”nofollow” keeps the search engines from crawling links you add it to. This process took me 4 days to complete. I can’t imagine how hard this would be for someone who made their living at sponsored posts. You’d almost be better off just starting new. As for me, I’ve only done them for several months.

Next, as indicated in the article, I requested reconsideration from Google. (see below) Now I just wait. Google says it “may take a while.”

Hello. This is my second request for reconsideration to have my Page Rank restored. I believe the reason it was removed was because I did not identify paid links with a rel=”nofollow” tag. I took some out altogether and then requested reconsideration but I didn’t understand how to insert the rel=”nofollow” until recently.

I have spent the better part of 4 days going through all my posts and adding rel=”nofollow” to any commercial or paid links. I feel 100% confident that my site is worthy of page rank and that it will not follow paid or commercial links ever again in the future. I also know that now it does not have any paid links that are not kept from the search engine crawler by rel=”nofollow”

I average 80 visitors a day and I value the Google Pagr Rank system in letting readers know my content is trustworthy. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

To close I just want it to go on record with my readers that I still think Google is purposely sabotaging people who use paid links. I find their way in this to be at best anal-retentive and at worst crooked but I can’t deny the power pagerank has over advertisers. I am hopeful it will change but for now, I’m takin’ what their givin’ … well, you know the rest. To Google I say this: “My hands are held up high.”

So I’ve started this series and I will keep you posted what I have done and what result there is good or bad. I hope it helps out those in my shoes: Content-filled bloggers that are being penalized by Google for making money with their work.

I’m published today in a post at the official FuelMyBlog Blog. The topic there is one you might do well to check out. It could be the cornerstone issue in the future of blogging. Here are some responses to that post on defining blog value over at the the FuelMyBlog Blog:

sylvied said: “You are totally right here we can rate our own blogs and add value to it.”

KevinD said: “I think a new wave of blogger is coming, the realists …”

Claire said: “I find this intriguing as my site visitor stats are actually quite low although feed subscribers stats are 6 times as high. As most of the requests are for text tag links, I’m assuming the attraction is ‘google juice’ rather than reaching my subscribers or readers …”

belinha said about my quote: “To define your own value is to declare independence from parent companies like Google that thrive by assigning value as they see it.”
Very good point!

If you get enough money through blogging, you can take amazing vacations (among other luxuries)  wouldn’t learning about those be more valuable than “bearing your soull” in a diary no one reads?  I am already looking into my favorite vacation fantasies:

The myrtle beach vacation packages are cheap and almost as good as san diego vacation packages. Still they are not the vacation packages that get sold the most. The most selling ones are the cancun vacation packages and the caribbean vacation packages.

These are great comments. Some really smart people hang out over there. Maybe one day we can all take one of these vacations together, sort of a blogfest!  I have a method that includes money tracking that seems to be improving my ability to buy things.  If you want to know about this self-made method for testing a blog’s value, check out my post (series of posts) called V.A.L.U.E.
It’s not perfect but it’s a start.

Now for your take on all this: Google thinks they know the value of a blog, and the world listens. Knowing how to measure your blog’s value can mean the difference between a shack and one of those Hilton Head rentals. What do you have to say about defining blog value?

I made more money in March than I have made blogging to-date. In this post I show how. So, without any further ado, lets get to my March 2008 goals and results.

In February’s post, I broke down my March goals into three categories. This worked so well that I will be doing the same for April. You may recall the three categories are:

1. Traffic Goals,
2. My Web Publishing Goals, and
3. Monetization Goals.

First, let’s look at last month’s stats:

March 2008

1. Traffic Goals:
   3,532 Visits: Goal exceeded! (was 3500)
   114 Visit/Day avg.: Goal of 100 visits/day exceeded!
2. My Web Publishing Goals:
   Just to reiterate: One of my main goals with my blog is to establish more of a name and an online presence through multiple online locations. These also help with backlinks, Google PageRank and Technorati authority. I went on a publishing field-day to put it mildly! I hope to do even more next month.
   
3. Monetization Goals:
   Feeling a little jaded after Google smacked my page rank from a PR4 to a PR2 because I used IZEA, I decided to set my PayPerPost goal low in March at $30. I exceeded that goal with an income of $65 from PayPerPost in March. Also, I was able to make $20 from Loud Launch and an incredible first month of $70 with PayU2Blog. The PayPal payment just went into my bank account an hour ago. Can you say Sarah and I go to Chili’s for lunch today??? ;) Oh, one more money item: I gained 2 125×125 paying advertisers this month. It is a pleasure having them and I plan to do all I can to keep them happy.

Okay, now it is time to list my future goals for April:

1. Traffic:
   3750 Visits.
   175 Visits/Day (I know it is almost doubling last month’s goal, but I am networking through 9Rules and BlogCatalog much more as well as some sources I’m choosing to wait to mention in case they don’t work).
2. My Web Publishing Goals (10 published articles in April): Publish on …
   BlogCritics (2)
   Associated Content (1)
   FuelmyBlog (2)
   GuestBlogging as the coveted offers come in. I would anticipate a minimum of 5 offers, but we’ll see. If I don’t get that many, I may approach YOU! ;)
3. Monetization Goals: I’m making a goal to make $100 minmum on PayPerPost and PayU2Blog. We’ll see what the ads bring in as well but I am not setting an ads goal at this time.

Think I can pull it off? I am confident I can. You might consider subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss an update! This month should be an exciting month of meeting these new goals. Oh, and if you are interested in getting traffic from this blog, I would like to do a guestblog or interview for you on your blog. Let’s talk! Thanks for reading Postcards from the Funny Farm.

Despite the title and picture, this post has nothing to do with off road vehicles. Instead it is meant to give 4 sections with 4 items each discussing writing and inspiration. I just couldn’t help finding a 4×4 grinding a wall for my post. The prompt comes from Confident Writing. Joanna has an excellent site there offering inspiration in writing and in life. Why not try the 4×4 challenge on your blog?

I’ve been writing seriously since my last year as an undergraduate, 1995. I recall that because I actually starting sending things out in the mail that year. Nothing came of it financially but I can say honestly that those rejections were helpful in every publishing I’ve had since then. I haven’t had a huge number but enough to pay for some fun family stuff and to take my wife out once in a while.

As someone who struggles daily to be a better writer with inspiration, I think I’m certainly qualified to take part in this challenge. This is not really the stage of inspiration but it precipitates that. If these things are done, your best writing will follow. Maybe you will use some of these, maybe you’ll find them all ridiculous but I’ve searched my heart and soul and listed them here. Hop in my 4×4 and check out how this dude fosters inspiration for his writing:

1. Physical Well Being and Rest

When you are stressed or sick or just unkempt, it inhibits inspiration.

1. Take a Multi-vitamin before you write with a natural juice (not the sugared kinds).
2. When you know you are headed into a writing situation, make sure you have nice clean comfortable clothes hanging up in the bathroom next to the shower ready for you that day.
3. Breathe deeply after you get all dressed and showered.
4. Make a practice of imagining possibilities before you turn on your computer, or pick up your yellow pad.

2. Harmony and Peace in Your Home

That hillbilly country song “If mamma aint happy, aint nobody happy” is truth like a flood light for writers, especially if you’re a mamma I am sure! ;) Make sure your wife, kids, dog, salesman at the door etc. are all happy and satisfied before you sit down to attempt to write.

1. Play with your kids.
2. Sit next to your spouse and turn off your computer.
3. Talk.
4. Laugh and sing as you do the dishes (some of my best ideas have come doing the dishes).

3. Read Biographies

I will simply mention names … these people’s lives have transformed my life and inspired me as they continue to. I’ve written an article on each of these greats which you’ll find linked in their names.

1. Walt Disney
2. Ray Kroc
3. Rod Serling
4. Dr. Seuss

4. Earn Money at the Craft

As you write and hone your craft, seek out ways to make money. You ought to be paid for the contributions you make. Not always, but at least put your stuff out there. Below are 4 linked articles that show you some ways, for example, how to do this. In all, there are myriads more out there, the only limitation is in your mind:

1. PayPerPost
2. Summary of Many
3. Another Slick List of Blog for Pay Companies
4. Yes, Bloggers Can Make Money Without PageRank

If any of these touched you, I’d love to hear about it.

For at least 2 months now my blog was reduced to a PR0 from a PR4. I don’t know the reason why exactly but I did petition for them to reconsider a while back. I have sponsored posts on my blog and disclose that publicly here. I also have some duplicate content out there, not much but some.

Anyway, after pretty much giving up on Google, it appears they have given my blog a new chance and started me at a PR2 this morning. I am glad they did this it shows they can listen to some reason though I have no idea why I am not at my old PR4 or higher. My backlinks and stats are considerably higher than then.

I guess I will take what I can get from the almighty Google.

I am glad it happened though because as I tried to boycott all things Google over the past two months, I learned that Yahoo! Mail is much better as are many services offered by other companies. One I couldn’t break away from unfortunately was Google Analytics. Based on what I have seen out there, there is nothing as helpful as that. So I still use it. Besides that I no longer use Google Reader and a variety of Google services I used to think were the best, or the “holy of holies.” I think sometimes you need to get pissed off to get out there and see how great the competition is. I have my Technorati rank along with my Feedburner feed stats in my header to indicate to my readers how popular this blog is. I find that more accurate than PageRank anyway. If my PageRank gets back up to its previous 4 maybe I’ll put a badge up for it as well, but for now I’m “once bitten, twice shy” with Google. I’ll be curious to see if my PR grows, stays static or disappears again. Oh and I fully plan on continuing to use PayPerPost and IZEA services in case anyone was wondering.

It was a great week for blogs. In addition to reading some truly great stuff, I guestblogged at two sites and had an article published on BlogCritics. Check out the links below I ran across on my Safari.

Cat People Scare Me
Hilarious pictures of cats in actual cat wigs.

Bad Moon Rising
Great trivia on superstitions surrounding the moon.

My Love Affair with Writing
Thanks to Joanna at Confident Writing for offering this group writing project to her readers.

Chiaroscuro
Amazing light and contrast pictures from amypalko, one of my favorite photobloggers.

10 Reasons Being A Dad Rocks
Heart-warming pictures of dads and their kids along with some really true reasons why being a dad is an amazing thing.

Yes, People CAN Make Money Online Without a Pager...
The title says it all! I am doing it.

Why We Love Dexter
Why are we so enamored of this prime time serial killer?

Linking To Differing Opinion
Andy Beard makes a great suggestion to link your opponents in your opinion articles.

Bill Gates at University of Waterloo
Jon Lee had the opportunity to see and hear the infamous Bill Gates speak. He has pictures and a synopsis of the event.

Social Bookmarking as a Speedlinking Tool
Del.icio.us and Stumbleupon are great services that can be used by the blogger in many many ways. This is one example of how a blogger uses both of them in unison to make a weekly speedlinking post, a great way to build traffic. This is a guest blog I wrote.

Charles Schultz, Cartoons, and Goals
Charles Schultz is an amazing example of how a simply cartoon of a dog like Snoopy can start a brand and make billions of dollars. This is a guest blog I wrote.

This blogger is very excited about his RealRank badge (see right sidebar top). As I have written in the past, RealRank is based on concrete data that makes it easier to make an improvement plan and to know truly how you rank as a blogger. You will not hear about PageRank here much anymore, even if Google decides to generously “bestow” it upon me again. You can get your RealRank badge by clicking on mine. Remember that in some ways Google rules the world but in many other ways, life goes on outside its motherly skirt. RealRank and Izea is one of those places. I also have an animated Mickey Mouse link to Disney.com on my site. You’ll have to wait until a future post to find out what that’s about ;) Most my die-hard readers know that Walt Disney is one of my heroes, so it really isn’t too hard to figure out. Don’t think about it too much now, you’ll get a headache.

Now go out and get your RealRank!

What do you think of a ranking system to rival PageRank?