Case Study: Achieving Google Page Rank

Once you get serious about blogging, there is nothing more frustrating than feeling like you are shouting in an empty room or driving alone down a long empty road.

Hello? Anyone out there?

I have been blogging now for a bit over a year. My first blog was on Blogger.com and I slowly built up my traffic and "readership". I started with an Alexa ranking of 10,349,299. I worked that down to 725,294.

Found A Better Blogging Platform

Then I discovered Wordpress – a much better blogging platform that gave me options, easier editing, plugins and a way to really track where my traffic was coming from. (See below for more info)

So I moved.

Lost a bunch of my readers and a lot of traffic as a result. Ouch.

Time To Rebuild.

Spent the next several months building up my traffic, again. And this despite leaving a redirect page in my wake so people that landed on my old blogger blog would be redirected to follow me. Several pain months later, my Alexa ranking was down to 385,250, but still no Google Page Rank.

Had one really frustrating time trying to get "pretty links". See, I didn’t know at the time that Wordpress does better on a Linux hosting plan. Ouch. Had to move again.

Fast Forward To Today

Here we are today. Linux hosting, Wordpress 2.5, plugins that really help. Life is good.

Except for the rankings. I have managed to whittle my Alexa ranking back down to 987,533. But is a Google Page Rank even on the radar?

So, I decided to try something new. I thought you might like to follow along.

An Idea Was Born

I am creating a Case Study of one technique designed for the sole purpose of gaining a Google Page Rank. I suppose there are better things I could be doing with my spare time, but I really want a Google Page Rank. Perhaps it’s because not everyone has one. Or maybe is the fact that they haven’t rated me yet. I don’t know, but it galls me and I want one.

So, for the next 30 days, I will be conducting a case study in "Commenting" and publishing my results. I will post about my activity (comments posted, blog rankings, ranking of the blogs I comment to, etc) and we can all see exactly how effective this technique is.

I want traffic. I want a busy superhighway with an off-ramp at my door.

I have heard it said that inbound links, especially from ranked pages, really help. They bleed some of their page rank all over your blog. I want to put that to the test.

You up for that?

Rules And Description Of Experiment

Okay, rules. There have to be rules, right?

No expensive software

No paid back linking, no begged links

Everyone must be able to duplicate my results

Techniques used have to be fully defined. No hidden steps.

That’s enough rules.

This is my case study, but I welcome your comments, suggestions and feedback. I want this to succeed because I want the Google page rank, but I want it to succeed so YOU can have a Google page rank as well. All you have to do it follow along.

Ready? Set. Go!

Special Note: If you are just starting out with your blogging, please make a note of hardships and troubles with starting with the wrong blogging platform for your goals. Decide up front what your goals are, your needs to meet those goals and your budget, and choose a blogging platform that matches.

My Current Setup:

• I own the domain ($10 at GoDaddy )
• I self-host on my own IX Web Hosting account ($4.85/mo)
• I run WordPress 2.5 (free, visit WordPress )
• I have installed these plugins

FireStats Traffic Statistics plugin for WordPress (so I know who is coming and where they came from)

All in One SEO Pack Out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog (so I can help Google like my blog)

Dagon Design Sitemap Generator Generates a fully customizable sitemap (so my readers know what’s here and can find it easily)

Google Analytics This plugin makes it simple to add Google Analytics to your blog (so I can track in my Google account the analytics of my traffic)

Google XML Sitemaps This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO. (so the search engines don’t have to think about it, I can just tell them what’s here)

MaxBlogPress DealDotCom Widget Show the latest deal of the day from DealDotCom in your blog and earn lifetime commission from the sale (so I can help fund my hosting costs)

Psychic Search Secretly discover what your visitors want to read on your blog (so I know what to post next)

Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form This powerful yet easy-to-install contact form features exceptional accessibility and usability while still providing extensive anti-spam and anti-exploit security features. A marriage of communication and peace-of-mind. (so my readers can contact me with questions, suggestions or problems found on the site)

I told you, full disclosure. Now you know what I have and why I have it. Well, okay, one exception to the exposure. I want to keep my “source blogs” private until after the experiment. I will refer to them as Blog 1, Blog 2, etc. I will note their current Alexa and Google Page Rank though.

Day 1

Alexa Ranking: 987,533
Google Page Rank: A big fat ZERO

Day’s Activity:

Googled “blog traffic techniques” to find blogs worth commenting on

Blog 1: PR 5/10 Alexa 400328 – added one comment

Blog 2: PR 5/10 Alexa 638219 – added two comments (two different posts)

Blog 3: PR 3/10 Alexa 1712797 – added one comment

Please note a couple of the blogs specifically stated that posting “just for links” will get your comment deleted. I knew that I was gonna have to add value with my comments so this wasn’t a surprise, but you should take note. Your comments MUST add something to the post. That’s the only way people will want to click on your link!

Commenting on blogs is a great way to get incoming links, but I also want visitors so I have to have something they want. (Knowledge/Content). Make sense?