Google takes Blogger to an Australian domain

Notice how Blogger or Blogspot now redirects to the Australian domain name equivalent?
While I am all for all the other cool changes that have been pushed through such as new layout, location in posts, scheduling posts and more great stuff I haven't yet found.
One thing I am disappointed in is my pagerank is gone :(
I know it will eventually come back, but you would think that Google in their wisdom would be able to pass on this pagerank? Especially to the people who have supported their products.
While I am still listed in Google as the coolest guy on Google (under the old URL), will this be updated and have a negative affect? Most likely yes.
I will be watching this closely.
Unfortunately, I have had few Google related issues of late. Issues with Adwords in particular.
Pretty disappointed with their lack of human support. It feels that Google has got too big, they no longer have the time for us anymore. If you make a mistake in Adwords you get a warning pointing you to around 22 policies. I made dozens of changes but kept getting the same response until they suspended my Adwords.
The annoying thing was that I was mainly setting up ads to train up for the Adwords certification.
Well that's one product of Google's I will no longer recommend.
Recently I have even had a site removed from Google search due to a quality issue I am having trouble understanding. Spent my whole weekend cleaning up the site and removing user submitted spam etc. just to get another rejection a few weeks later.

It is a shame that my experience with a couple of divisions of Google have soured my once strong support for Google. Maybe when Google Drive is introduced this week my faith will be restored?

Time will tell.

the NEW Coolest guy in Australia (Me!)

Setting myself a mini challenge. Not content with holding positions one, two and three for the natural search term "Coolest guy on Google". I now am setting myself a two week challenge to become the "Coolest guy in Australia".

I really feel that your old pal Jezhug can achieve this. How? Well Google already knows I am the coolest, but I forgot to tell the number one search engine that I am also Australian. Therefore by default I should be crowned the coolest guy in Australia also.

I am just going to rely on three techniques and allow two weeks to see if I am successful.

1. Use of Blogspot labels, e.g. Coolest, guy, Google ..... Oh and of course Jezhug!
2. 10 of the best "Coolest guy in Australia" backlinks I can find.
3. A cool picture of the flag for Australia with good use of IMG ALT tags with the keywords ..... well you get the gist!

The Coolest Guy in the World

I just found this video at ColledgeHumor from a Google search and thought ..... I have to get a post up about this vid. This guy isn't just a great skater, he seems to be the coolest at every trick in the book.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I decided to run a test. The results may surprise you.

The below graph is a screenshot in Alexa of the top two results for the natural Google search term of "Coolest Guy in the World". Number one is my arch-nemesis "Brad Fallon" (nah, not really, he is a really cool guy and well deserved of that number one spot). The second was the CollegeHumor website with the awesome video.

While Brads site generates high traffic it is barely a blip on the radar (that slight bump between Oct 12 and Oct 19) in comparison to CollegeHumor.

It just goes to show, you don't need massive traffic to be the number one on Google for your given search terms. You just need grab a good SEO book and build up a growing list of backlinks. Relevance will beat high traffic any day.

I know it's a bit like comparing apples from oranges as most of the traffic from CollegeHumor comes from many different sources. e.g. coming from a completely unrelated link and finding the video from the site.

But what would be more beneficial to your site? Higher rankings in the search engines or more actual traffic? For example, what if I was to leave a comment under the Coolest guy in the World video saying "That was awesome! Kind of reminds me of this video ** insert obvious link to my own site with embedded YouTube clip here **".

That comment could potentially send thousands of new visitors from a high traffic site to your own.

All is fair in love and Search Engine Optimization, so find that balance of getting to the top of Google (plus the other search engines) AND getting the traffic to your site from other sources.

Remember, you may be number one on Google today but you may not be there tomorrow ;)

Creating Quality backlinks

It has been almost a month since my last post. In the last day or so Google has completely flicked me from the top of the list for the natural search term "Coolest Guy on Google".

So, who is the coolest guy on Google?

Still me! Two of my back links set up to get greater rankings have taken first and second place. One is a hubpage article explaining my bizarre journey to become the "Coolest Guy on Google" and the other one is a Facebook fan club I set up for the "Coolest Guy on Google".

The only reason I set them up was to get quality back links leading to my site. Now, the number one listing I had was the http://jezhug.blogspot.com/ address not the http://coolestguyongoogle.com/ domain name, which currently is just forwarding though Godaddy to the blogspot blog.

I have no doubt that when I finally finish my free content and get my new site up I will be straight to the top of the list with the large quality of backlinks I have set up.

So how do you find good quality back links? I have a secret that I want to let you in on.

Hubpages is an excellent source for awesome back links regardless of your sites content. Allow me to demonstrate...
I do a Google search and put in my keywords, e.g. "coolest guy on google" followed by "site:hubpages.com". This brings up the best Google ranked hubpages on your keywords.

I am a hubpage member, but for this exercise you don't need to be, in fact make sure you are logged out if you are a member.

Scroll down to the bottom and put in the link you wish to promote, then some flattering comment, as below.
After posting you should be able to refresh the page and see your comment. Your name will be hyper linked with the back link to your site. Some Hubbers set their comments to be moderated for approval first, so I find nice comments are your best option rather than slagging off their article! The end result ...
There you go. It has two major benefits, it makes someone feel great about the article they have worked hard to create and has given you one very high quality back link. Google loves Hubpages! How else would it have it taken my number one position (temporarily!).

I usually repeat this for the first couple of Google result pages to get the maximum amount of free quality back links. And I did it all without having to request for them or have one of those ugly link exchange banners at the bottom of my site.

Oh, I know it says under the part where you submit your comment not to use it to promote sites, but I promise not to tell if you don't. ;)

Yeah! I am the Coolest Guy on Google!

Wow. Today I hit the number one spot for the the search term "Coolest Guy on Google".

Now that I am here, where to next? Will Google still think I am the coolest guy tomorrow, once this post is updated? Do I continue to be cool? Or just fade away from obscurity?

Well I am starting to like the more sociable me. I have tons of new twitter and facebook friends and I didn't even have to leave the house! ;)

No, its time to up the anti. I am now targeting the words "Coolest Guy" and am looking to position myself on the top.

I have the domain name "http://coolestguyongoogle.com" currently pointing to this blog. But in the next few days I hope to build another site linking to the blog.

Why? Blogspot, while easy to use, has its limitations. And now that I am making some progress, why not set up another site and achieve number one and number two rankings for "coolest guy on Google"? More results in the search engines, more visitors, right?

Overlooking the obvious

All my work on building profiles and I forget the most obvious profile of all!

Google.

It wouldn't be fair of me to be the Coolest Guy on Google and not have a Google profile now, would it?

http://www.google.com/profiles/jezhug

With Google profiles, you can add as many of your websites as you want!

What does this mean? Back links! Beautiful, beautiful, back links, leading back to your website.

Now, because it is a Google profile, I feel it will be included in Google's search engine in no time at all.

Time will tell though. Will keep you posted.

Coolest new wave websites you need to know about!

Now that I am making some progress on my social media websites, I plan to move in on the new wave of social/educational web 2.0 sites. I have three sites for you to try. About a month ago I never knew these sites existed! But now I am hooked. You can re-spin some content from your existing blog or website and link it back to your site for more information on the subject.

Why use these sites? Three good reasons:

1. You can pass on your valuable knowledge and get your name noticed by a huge number of readers.
2. You can link the information back to your website and turn the reader into a potential customer or subscriber.
3. You can gain revenue from ads on these articles!

Revenue? I hear you say! Yes. You can put your own Google Adsense code in and sell items from Amazon related to your subject!

These are the sites:

http://hubpages.com/profile/Jezhug
http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Jezhug
http://www.redgage.com/Jezhug

Redgage is a nice one for getting visitors to your Hubpage Hubs or Squidoo Lenses!

Well, that's enough for me today. I will be far too busy filling these sites with my content. Hope to see you there!

Coolest Guy on Google update

Now that I have a semi-cool picture I have started to work on my social network profiles.

I have done a quick Google today and have hit the number 3 spot for "coolest guy on google", minus the quotes.

Also, my feedage site feed came in at number 5!

This is not bad considering that I am not a full-time internet marketer. I have a full time job and plenty of hobbies, plus my extremely busy social life!.....OK, so the social life is a small stretch of the truth, but I am proof that you don't need a fancy marketing degree or have years of search engine optimization training to hit it with Google. All you need is a couple of hours here and there and follow a few simple rules and you will get there every time.

Today, I have been playing around with MySpace, which now has a new interface which seems pretty cool! I have ignored MySpace in the past, but not anymore. I have my new pic up and will be slowly adding new content to saturate the search engines with.

The more links to your site you can get online, the more you can build your brand. I liken this to a dog marking his territory!

This cute dog here will demonstrate my point ;)
He is off on his daily 40 minute walk stopping at about 28 trees to leave his scent on! Now, as soon as he gets home and is curled up asleep in front of an open fire, another dog, say a German Shepperd walks along the same track. The German Shepperd (your competitor), smells the scent then tries to conceal it with it's own.

This does not phase the little dog. Why? Because he is consistent!

The little dog will do the same walk he looks forward to every day and claim what is rightfully his tomorrow!

Moral of the story: You don't need to spend all day pissing on trees.....

.....No, wrong moral. Consistency is the key! If you consistently build your online profile, brand or website, you will reap the rewards.

Getting cooler with social networking

I will just briefly go over my social networking sites and add more as time goes on. I still have plenty of work ahead of me, I need a cool picture! I cant just claim to be the coolest guy on Google and have such a lame picture of myself now, can I?

These are the sites I will use to increase my cool! Feel free to add me to your network.
www.twitter.com/Jezhug
www.facebook.com/Jezhug
www.friendfeed.com/Jezhug
www.myspace.com/Jezhug

Remember: By adding me, you will be cool by association! ;)

I will dedicate a few future posts out of getting the most out of the above sites. These types of sites can be a fantastic way to generate traffic! In this day and age, it's not just about having good positioning in the search engines that sell products. Sure it helps, but if you ignore social networking sites, you will be missing out on a huuuuuuuuge amount of traffic! I am not over exaggerating.

I often base my purchase decisions on recommendations from friends and family. Opinions from real people matter and that is why I swear by social networking sites. They are the cheapest (free!!!) and easiest form of marketing you will ever find.

If you have never used any social networking sites before, why not start today. If you want to get in touch with old friends try Facebook. Or if you want to make some new friends from all around the world, give Twitter a go.

Right! I have some real work ahead of myself working on these profiles! I will update you all with the transformations, including how you too can create awesome profile pages that will attract visitors.

Jezhug's cool new venture!

Here is my plan. I have decided that anyone can be cool on the internet, regardless of your background. I am going to take steps to prove this point. What gave a relatively sane person like me this idea? Well I have to admit this is not a new concept. The current "coolest guy" is a top bloke named Brad Fallon.

I first heard about Brad when I attended the Ultimate Marketing seminar in Melbourne this year. At the Ultimate Marketing seminar I learned the importance of social networking and how it can be used as a valuable tool to promote products.

When I got home, I set up my twitter account and re-vamped my facebook account. I decided I wanted to add like minded people, people driven to succeed. So I did that....and added a couple hundred more interesting people! I was surprised that when I added Brad Fallon, he added me back! I got this intriguing message straight back!

The link brought up a Google search for the natural search term of "coolest guy". Two of Brad's web site links were firmly set on top.

Now, the other main thing I learned at the Ultimate marketing seminar, was the importance of having your own information products. Something I was quite keen to try.

But I asked myself, who would want my products? Would I buy my own products? If I was as cool as Brad, yeah, no question. So in a snap decision, I decided to be cool!

This blog will track my journey to become the coolest guy on Google. An ordinary person with a dream! My story will hopefully inspire others build on their web site success.

Now I don't expect it to happen overnight, this will be a long-term project. Maybe for now I should set my sites lower and just try to grab the title of the "second coolest guy" on Google?

Anyway, Game on Brad Fallon!