I have been doing SEO now for over 10 years. That doesn’t seem like a long time, and at the same time in this industry, it really is! The internet is by far the most dynamic and ever-changing industry on the planet.
I was in the yacht business for a most of my life, and then in 2006, I started building websites and monetizing them to make extra money and to learn about search engine optimization. To be honest, I found it to be fairly easy at the time, the only thing it was definitely time-consuming.
Is SEO Really That Much Harder Than 10 Years Ago?
The easy answer is no! SEO isn’t really that much harder, it just takes 100 times longer than before. There was a time where you could make a change to your website and see results an hour later. Yeah, the good old days!
- Google Penguin Update
- Google Panda Update
Google made sure to fix this problem with changes to their algorithms and with cute names like Penguin and Panda updates to ensure that you couldn’t trick the system anymore. Which for many individuals out there, pretty much destroyed their rankings in some cases blackballed their domains.
The One Factor That Has Never Changed With Google, Content!
I am sure you have heard it before, but it is way more important now than ever before, CONTENT is KING. If you just put out unique quality content and a regular basis, post it to the proper channels, you will start ranking for whatever you are targeting.
Maybe not in a month or two, but eventually you will gain ground and beat out your competition. To be honest, we haven’t spent any time or money link building for our website, we just keep providing Google with good content and people link to us, not us to them.
To Pay For Link Building or Not Pay For Links, That Is The Question
If you own a website, I am sure you get 20 emails a week from someone trying to sell blog post links or posts on major websites like Forbes or the Washington Post. If you get a link from one of these authority sites it could help your rankings, but $1,000 for a link???
Like I said before, I have been doing this since 2006, I have NEVER paid for a link and I get dozens of emails a week from companies trying to pay me for a link from my website. I could earn some extra money, I guess. Thanks, but no thanks, I will just keep doing what I am doing for now!
It’s Better to Plan For The Future
The best way to develop an authority website is to start now. Launch a website targeting the niche or business that you want to target next year or five years from now. Yes, you will have to create content and do a blog post and work on it for an hour each week.
That might sound crazy, I have many sites out there that are for a later time. I want to retire in 7 years and one of the places is Bocas Del Toro Panama. I have already started a website for real estate in Bocas Del Toro, and I am not sure if I will even retire there. If I don’t, I can sell ad space, lease the website, or sell the website.
So What’s the Take-Away
Paying for links is a complete waste of money. Good content will get you to where you want to be and gain links naturally will boost your rankings and make your website an authority site for whatever your niche is in good time. Just be patient and enjoy the ride!
