Download - Stop Being a Control Freak with your Internet Marketing

Stop Being a Control Freak

We’re used to being in control or at least thinking that we’re in control.

But it can be counter-productive in internet marketing because so many things are outside our control.

You can do everything “right” on your website but whether or not it shows up near the top of the search results depends on a lot of factors that you have zero influence over.


If you’re in a competitive niche, chances are that all your competitors will also be doing everything right on their sites:

● SEO for page titles, images, content● Lots of unique content● Mostly good quality backlinks (or in some industries, link-

laundered backlinks)

It then comes down to nuances in the search engine algorithms.


Those can include:

● The age of your site● Where your site is hosted – if you’re targeting a local area that

can be an extra trust signal● The company you keep – if you’re sharing a server with spammy

sites it can be a case of guilt by association● What the searcher has previously searched for and clicked on● Whether the search is being made on a computer or a phone or

tablet and whether the algorithm thinks (correctly or otherwise) that your location affects the search

● And many more factors


Lots of those factors are partially or totally outside your control.

They also mean that you can’t just go off and check where you show in the search results on your own machine (or even a different machine or device in the same building) because different factors come into play.

Yet lots of people spend their time – and sometimes money – checking those kind of things.


Whilst it can be kind-of reassuring to run checks, they don’t usually reveal anything you can actually influence.

You could run a few on your competitors to figure out at least some of what they’re doing to beat you in at least some of the search results.

That can be useful – mostly in competitive niches where you need to do at least everything in your power to show in the results.


But it could equally mean that you’ve chosen a niche that’s too competitive for where you are at the moment.

Most overnight successes take a long time to happen.

Wikipedia started in 2001 but didn’t make it to the top 10 websites until 2007.

And whilst it can often seem that it’s always in the search results, changes in Google’s algorithm have contributed to a big drop in page views for the site.


You’ll probably have noticed that a lot of easily explainable questions have a box at the top of the search results with the answer.

Whether that answer is correct is another matter – a search for how old Wikipedia is doesn’t give the correct age.

But for lots of results, you get the answer you wanted without leaving the search results.


Unless you work high up in Google, that’s completely out of your control.

And if they find that it’s not helping user experience (and therefore ad revenues) it will change again.

And they won’t consult you about the change – you can’t control what happens, it just will happen when the search engines think the time is right.


Instead of being a control freak for things you can’t control, concentrate on the things you can control or at least influence.

Most of the time, that means the content on your own site or on your page or channel on sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Unless you fall foul of an algorithm, that works reasonably well.

Personally – despite this not being on my own site – I still prefer to keep most of my content on my own site.


The whims of computer algorithms are far too unpredictable to completely rely on outside sites.

Too many sites have vanished or changed the rules or changed direction for me to think otherwise.

Change is necessary.

Some sites grandfather in existing content.


EzineArticles has done that – my early articles that don’t meet their latest standards. But if I want to edit any of them, they need to meet the latest word count, keyword density and author bio policies.

That’s a good compromise in my view.

In contrast, when HubPages bought out Squidoo they operated a honeymoon period and then applied their rules to the pages that had been transferred.


For me – and I suspect a lot of other Squidoo authors – that meant the pages got de-indexed or otherwise removed.

That happened with no input from me or anyone else affected.

It was just a by-product of different ways of thinking about how the sites should operate and was bound to be a culture clash between the relatively laissez-faire attitude of Squidoo and a more controlling outlook at HubPages.


Other sites I’ve used have closed their doors completely. Usually with a bit of notice so the content can be moved.

That happens quite a lot because sites are created first, monetised second. When the money doesn’t arrive fast enough (or at all) or when the site doesn’t take off as expected, things change or the site closes.

Closure is unlikely to happen to really big sites.


But they’re still not immune to changing trends.

MySpace used to be the dominant social networking site but it’s now a shadow of its former self.

Google+ would love to take over social networking but they’ve not found a way yet despite several attempts.

Hangouts has been merged with YouTube.


All things you can’t hope to control.

So stop trying to control them!

Going back to concentrating on what you can control...


Concentrate on the trends that are happening:

● Longer content generally outperforms shorter content & that’s unlikely to change

● Spammy links are more dangerous than ever, so stop looking for short-cuts and build your site for the long term

● Videos are popular & that’s unlikely to change● Adverts are often blending in things and sponsored content is

getting more difficult to spot


Then work out how you can use those to your advantage.

● Longer content: write more! It really is that basic.● Videos: pick a style and go with it. Longer videos seem to be

preferred, much like longer written content.● Paid reviews or free samples seem to follow successful bloggers

but building up a following takes time and patience.● Social media fits with our modern short attention span. Used

wisely, it can send traffic and gain followers.


Do your best to avoid the latest shiny pennies that marketers would love you to purchase.

That could mean unsubscribing from some of the lists you’re on – if they’re always trying to sell you this week’s “must have” replacement then those are a good place to click the unsubscribe link.

Chances are the new autoresponder or membership or webinar plugin they’re pushing pays well but may not be supported as well, if at all.


That’s especially the case if you’re going to be using something on an ongoing basis.

It costs money to run an autoresponder or webinar service.

It costs money to keep software updated and still working.

So a one-time payment might seem attractive and might seem to put you in control (especially of your wallet) but won’t necessarily help you in the long run.


So take control of your inbox.

Instead of pressing delete every time you get an unwanted message, if that happens too often then take the time to permanently remove it by clicking unsubscribe.

You probably won’t hurt anyone’s feelings – they may not even get told you’re no longer a subscriber.

But you will take back a bit of control over the time you spend in your inbox.


Do the same on social media.

If there are Tweets or posts on your feed that you always scroll past, get rid of them.

It may only save a few seconds here and there but those mount up.


And take a bit of time to chill out a bit more.

Lots of things happen.

Most of them we can’t control (ever tried to make it sunny or stop the vehicles using your road?)

Then concentrate on the things you can control or at least influence.


You’ll become more productive and probably happier because you’re not fretting over all those other things.

And if you’d like more help with your internet marketing, click this link and join my list.

I promise I won’t bombard you with emails about all the latest “must have” stuff that you probably don’t need.

Instead, you’ll get useful info. So click this link now!

http://trevordumbleton.com/real-world-internet-marketing-squeeze-page/

http://trevordumbleton.com/real-world-internet-marketing-squeeze-page/

Download - Stop Being a Control Freak with your Internet Marketing

Top Related