Promoting Your Blog Without Search Engines

by Vishal Sanjay on October 23, 2009

make money online

This is a guest post by Vishal Sanjay of  DumbLittleBlogger.

I guess all of you were there at the time when the internet had no search engines, I was also there at that time, but too small to use the web. I still remember my mother having a list of excel sheets which were filled with web pages filed under particular categories, she would get those sheets from her friends and give it to some other of her friends.

One sheet would have up to 200 web pages and within a year a good quality directory would make it to 1000′s of netizens and the 200 web pages there would get some good targeted traffic for free. Well, that was back then when no one ever thought of a search engine, today search engines have revolutionized the web and we cant imagine a day with Google or Yahoo.

That is for a normal netizen, but what about we bloggers? I guess almost 35-45% of your traffic comes from Google and if some day Google just goes down or something happens to it’s algorithms, it could mean huge loses to all bloggers and internet marketers. Search engines are a great source of traffic and revenue, but today due to the intense competition, penetrating through its barriers could take months and sometimes even years.

None of my sites ever rank well on search engines, I never block search engines but I never optimize sites for it, but still my site gets good targeted traffic and also generates some sales. I never optimize my sites for search engines, I optimize it for users.

In the past few years search engine rankings have become the biggest assets for bloggers, but let me make it clear that users are your biggest assets, currently there are about 3 billion netizens, 120 million blogs (active blogs) and 200 well running search engines, so this makes it clear that your users are your assets. So, I would advise you to design your blog for your users and create user friendly content.
Without search engines people usually do the traditional and the best working way, that is ‘the word of mouth‘. Great sites like Facebook, Youtube started of with the word of mouth. First from their creators and then from their users and don’t forget there were hardly any search engines when Google started off.

There are many sites and social communities which can generate huge amount of traffic. These sites can generate such high traffic due to low competition. I would say go to places where large number of people gather, not large amount of bloggers. Always note one thing that if something is famous before you get there, then you don’t stand a chance. Recently, I heard about the high traffic potential of StumbleUpon, I tried it and things were great, but my traffic slowly declined as StumbleUpon popularity rose. Similarly, Twitter also have a great traffic potential, but it died out before I started to use due to it’s superb success, but I did succeed in gaining some followers, which many are struggling to do these days using proper ways.

The users from these sites see a lot more than your title, keywords, meta-description, link popularity and page rank. They see you, your contributions and your history. They spread your content to a new group of users and thus, increasing your reader base.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve already got a great source of search traffic, all I wanted to tell you is to create as many alternative sources of traffic as possible.

Just promote your blog thinking that search engines never existed.


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Article Written By Vishal Sanjay

Hi, I'm Vishal Sanjay, a 14 year blogger and inetrnet marketer looking to make a fortune online. I am also an SEO expert and I have given service to many websites. I run 3 blogs and write on hubpages and squidoo. Check My Blog for more such tips. You can also Follow me on Twitter @dumbblogger

Vishal Sanjay has written 4 superb article(s) on this blog


{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }

Marg Elmendorf October 24, 2009 at 12:12 am

Great post. I just need to get more people to read my blog and become users. Where do you go to get readers????
.-= Marg Elmendorf´s last blog ..Yikes we all had to have surgery yesterday =-.

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Vishal Sanjay October 25, 2009 at 3:37 pm

I never told you how or how not to promote your blog, all i meant was to generate content for users rather than search engines. If you lack readers, then i’d advise you to use forums and social bookmarking sites.

Vishal Sanjay,
http://www.dumblittleblogger.blogspot.com

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Biodun from Webmaster Forum UK October 24, 2009 at 12:45 am

Intelligent post, success of a blog with search engine will quite be tough, however offline promote can still be done, with social sites and getting the words of the blog out through getting more links and providing unique content can always play a role.
Without the search engine the search for sites that contain the terms being searched for would almost be impossible to locate in a world of millions of websites.
.-= Biodun @ Webmaster Forum UK´s last blog ..Bing Goes Real Time with Twitter =-.

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Vishal Sanjay October 25, 2009 at 3:47 pm

Exactly Biodun, that is what i meant, even if you have good content , it is at times difficult to gain search engine traffic, but if you give good content to your readers, i’m sure its gonna spread, through social sites as well as from the word of mouth.

Thanks for commenting
Vishal Sanjay,
http://www.dumblittleblogger.blogspot.com

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S.Pradeep Kumar October 24, 2009 at 10:00 am

I write my articles considering search engines don’t exist… ;)

Nice article Vishal Sanjay ! …
.-= S.Pradeep Kumar´s last blog ..Movies Based On Robotics And Machines =-.

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sbunting108 from photo blog October 24, 2009 at 6:37 pm

Great post I had never thought of it like that. Thanks I too like Kumar write my posts considering search engines don’t exist.
.-= sbunting108@photo blog´s last blog ..Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall =-.

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Vishal Sanjay October 24, 2009 at 9:24 pm

Hey Sushant, thanks a lot for accepting my guest post, posting on your blog has given me good exposure. I am looking forward to continue posting on your blog. Any how thanks once again.

Regards,
Vishal Sanjay

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King Sidharth October 25, 2009 at 1:33 pm

I cannot agree more. Look at Leo Babuta from Zen Habits. He never ever did anything for SEO and his articles still top the Search Engines coz he writes for his readers, who link him freely from their sites, facebook, twitter etc. coz they love what he has written. And Search Engines love what people love. :)
.-= King Sidharth´s last blog ..Bringing Meditation Online =-.

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Vishal Sanjay October 26, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Exactly what i meant, search engines are optimized to rank those web pages well, which are made for users. I truly dont believe in using templates, article submitters and plugins for seo.

Thanks for commenting
Vishal Sanjay
http://www.dumblittleblogger.blogspot.com
.-= Vishal Sanjay´s last blog ..WP-Robot : A powerful automation plugin for wordpress =-.

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Clare October 25, 2009 at 3:00 pm

You made some very good points here. Sometimes we spend too long optimizing our posts for the spiders when we really should be thinking about the people who will read them!
.-= Clare@Top Christmas Toys´s last blog ..Hasbro Playskool Busy Ball Popper =-.

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Vishal Sanjay December 4, 2009 at 9:49 pm

Yes my friend you have got my point. Thanks for commenting
.-= Vishal Sanjay´s last blog ..PR 0 to PR 4 in just 2 months =-.

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EarningStep October 26, 2009 at 9:32 am

i have to agree with you buddy , twitter and other social networking is great at this time . it will bring tons of great quality traffic if we know how to deal with it
.-= EarningStep´s last blog ..What is the best ad format for adsense vs where is the best place for adsense ad =-.

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Ajith Edassery October 26, 2009 at 12:18 pm

Nice post Vishal. In my opinion though, as long as web users trust big time on search engines – be it Google or the next big thing – the main traffic driver will be SEs only. I would say ideally 50-70% traffic has to be organic in nature for any blog/website to be successful. Rest is from book marking, RSS feeds, directories, social networks, email newsletters, word of mouth, printed ads etc.

If you are already an established blogger with thousands of people visiting you regularly, chances are you can survive without search engines. However, the current model gives a lot of stress to SEs and we have to live with that while preparing for a world with Google ;)
.-= Ajith Edassery´s last blog ..Make Money from Referrals: How to sell more? =-.

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Vishal Sanjay October 26, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Really, i truly believe in the policy be human with humans, you have caught the message of this post well.

Thanks for commenting
Vishal Sanjay
http://www.dumblittleblogger.blogspot.com
.-= Vishal Sanjay´s last blog ..WP-Robot : A powerful automation plugin for wordpress =-.

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Deepika December 9, 2009 at 5:18 pm

very informative post vishal… i liked your point “I never optimize my sites for search engines, I optimize it for users.” readers are the main part in blogging we should have a good content and responsible reply to the commentators. This makes them to visit the site regularly
.-= Deepika´s last blog ..Tips To Become A Unique Blogger =-.

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Ajith Edassery October 27, 2009 at 7:08 am

Sorry for the spam… I actually meant, ‘preparing for a world without Google’ :)
.-= Ajith Edassery´s last blog ..Make Money from Referrals: How to sell more? =-.

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ANSH from hire seo expert October 26, 2009 at 5:11 pm

This is really a nice post that promotion of the blog with out search engines. There are lot of ways where you can get the good traffic for your blog. Your post was very informative.

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Een Rockstar October 27, 2009 at 6:37 pm

Very informative post and meaningful post..Of course we will loss some traffic without search engine but our blog or sites never die without search engine. :)

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Jim from Forex signals October 29, 2009 at 4:13 pm

very much right on this :- we cant just imagine a day without Google or Yahoo.

But i would agree to optimize our blogs by keeping visitors frdly in mind and not optimized highly for search engines.
very good Post Vishal, will be visiting your blog as well for more such stuff

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Alan from Basin Glass Co. October 30, 2009 at 9:55 am

Totally agree with you. People are so preoccupied with SEO that they don’t bother producing any useful content. The whole point of a blog is to share ideas and express your self and generate interest; if you can make money at it, great! However, trying to post garbage and have it move up the search engines is not sustainable – give people something pf value and they’ll keep coming back.
.-= Alan @ Basin Glass Co.´s last blog ..“Just another Brand of Beer” =-.

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Ricky from blogging tips November 1, 2009 at 2:22 pm

I know that one must write for humans not search engine. But we must also understand that the search engine only sends the human to our blog. It is known that word of mouth can really bring some good traffic but it can not flood you blog with traffic like a search engine.
.-= Ricky @blogging tips´s last blog ..New Wordpress Theme-Right Sidebar With 3 Column Footer =-.

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KreCi November 9, 2009 at 12:51 am

You are so right… but it is really hard to get any other traffic nowadays. Most of mine are search engines that with time slowly changes to bookmarkers. I have some social media traffic as well but really not too much. I am still searching more sources of traffic… but have not found anything better yet.
.-= KreCi´s last blog ..Be warned: Wordpress update crash (2.8.4 to 2.8.5) =-.

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Deepika December 14, 2009 at 7:05 pm

@KreCi

you can try social bookmarking sites like twitter, facebook, reddit, friendfeed and stumbleupon. You can also promote through blogengage.
.-= Deepika´s last blog ..My Favourtie Posts@Which I Have Read =-.

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akira07 December 15, 2009 at 7:48 am

Yes, social bookmarking is good way, don’t forget about microblogging and social networking also. If we can listing it, maybe there is a hundred of social network/bookmarking site. The question is, can you afford to promote in all? I advice to choose the popular one such digg, SU, reddit
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.

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Deepika December 15, 2009 at 4:52 pm

@akira07

definitely we have to choose the best social bookmarking sites like twitter, friendfeed, digg, SU, reddit, facebook, blogengage, blogcatalog, mybloglog
.-= Deepika´s last blog ..My Favourtie Posts@Which I Have Read =-.

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akira07 December 15, 2009 at 7:43 am

I ever hear about a people get 2000 visitor only using stumbleupon. It’s a prove that, without seach engine, social bookmarking is effective way to get traffic.
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.

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chandan from work at home November 10, 2009 at 5:57 pm

I somehow disagree with your point that you say traffic from SU. I also busy on SU when my blog was not popular at search engine. Bouncing rate is high when traffic comes from SU. Because people come from SU by stumbling and if they do not like the webpage they click on STUMBLE button at once.

So I do not think that traffic from SU can help you.
.-= chandan@work at home´s last blog ..Ultimate link building tips that should be follow [Digg] =-.

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scheng1 November 15, 2009 at 11:55 am

There are readers behind the search engines. The key is to optimize not for the search engine itself, but the readers using the search engines.
.-= scheng1´s last blog ..Gambling and Gambling Addiction =-.

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Alex December 8, 2009 at 9:39 pm

There are different ways to promote a blog and one of the good ways is using entrecard.com

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Deepika December 9, 2009 at 11:16 pm

actually i am new to entrecard… some are saying its not effective.. what is your opinion about it? is it useful in blog promotion?
.-= Deepika´s last blog ..Contest @ teenius.com:Win Prizes worth over $800 =-.

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akira07 December 15, 2009 at 7:38 am

I’m also think entrecard is not effective, the prove is that not too many people use it. I find, the user of entrecard is only blogger which have daily-life related blog.
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.

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Deepika December 15, 2009 at 4:53 pm

@akira07

are you using entrecard? are anyother things similar to that?
.-= Deepika´s last blog ..My Favourtie Posts@Which I Have Read =-.

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akira07 December 15, 2009 at 7:40 am

Yes, a lot of promoting ways such contest, direct ads, etc….
Anyway, have you experienced with entrecard?
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.

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ZXT December 9, 2009 at 1:57 pm

I am not sure but I think you can always search on Yahoo even before…back in 1996 I guess….that was the time when we had our internet.
.-= ZXT´s last blog ..What’s Hot on YouTube =-.

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akira07 December 15, 2009 at 7:36 am

On that time, even yahoo already launched, there is no robot technology yet. Maybe yahoo do indexing manually? So, it’s still hard to get listed on search engine.
.-= akira07´s last blog ..Quick report – My Smartbloggerz Commenting Idol 2 Participation =-.

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akira07 December 15, 2009 at 7:33 am

I’m start my internet life on 2003-2004, so i never feel how if there is no SE since on that time, it’s already excist. Well, i’m agree that word of mouth, it’s effective and sometime the traffic is more worth than the one who comes from search engine. Beside word of mouth, there is many technique to do promoting our blog without search engine, for example is all offline marketing technique.

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Leah Dizon January 20, 2010 at 9:58 pm

nice…but it is still good if you can promote blog thru search engine…especially adsense publisher…google prefer organic traffic

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