Day 30: Achieving Google Page Rank

Wow, 30 days is really really short sometimes.

It’s been an enlightening experience trying to build up a traffic flow using just comments, but one that was definitely worth the time and trouble. I have made some great new friends, read a lot of excellent information (and some not so great) and learned more about Google and how they rank blogs.

A couple of notes before I publish the final results.

• Commenting is a strategy that can start some movement, but takes dedication and a willingness to read what other people are doing and add something to the conversation.
• Google Page Rank status is more than 3 months behind at any given moment.
• Connecting with other bloggers in your niche is a great way to find people to challenge you, force you to extend yourself (there’s a peer-review kinda thing going on)
• Don’t give up.

This experiment started as a result of moving from one blog to another (http://www.CenayNailor.com to http://www.BehindTheCurtain.byCenay.com), but I was hasty and moving for the wrong reasons. Well, okay, they were the right reasons to me, but I should have looked at other options first!

In my "absence" from the first blog, something amazing happened. That blog achieved a Google Page Rank of 1/10. No, it’s not enough to "retire" on, but it sure does feel good.

As I mentioned before, the sad thing is that the ranking are so far behind, I had gotten there BEFORE I moved, and just didn’t know it. So, 4 months of inactivity will catch up with me shortly, which will probably drop the hard won ranking.

But, now I know it can be done.

I am exploring new ways to improve my site, my ranking and my value to you, my loyal readers. But for now, here’s how the rest of the case study shaped up. I don’t know how you, but these number speak volumes to me.

Days 21 – 30

Actually, since posting nothing but the case study would be boring, I gathered the final week+ activities into one list (below). And please note, that this was so much fun, that even though the experiment is over, I will continue commenting on the excellent blogs I have found.
Day 21 — May 26th, 2008 Alexa: 632,058

• Blog 1: Alexa: 920,054 Google PR: 3/10 – added one comment
• Blog 2: Alexa: 3,428,239 Google PR: 2/10 – added one comment
• Blog 3: Alexa: 876,760 Goole PR: 2/10 – added one comment (deep link)
• Blog 4: Alexa: 2,029,278 Google PR: 3/10 – added three comments (2 blog + 2 deep link to another blog)

Day 22 — May 27th, 2008 Alexa: 631,992

• Blog 5: Alexa: 876,760 Goole PR: 2/10 – added one comment (deep link)
• Blog 6: Alexa: 2,029,278 Google PR: 3/10 – added one comment (deep link)
• Blog 7: Alexa: 241,563 Google PR: 4/10 – added two comments (both deep links)

Day 24 — May 29th, 2008 Alexa: 602,773

• 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

Day 30 — June 4th, 2008 Alexa: 585,933

• Blog 1: Alexa: 128,335 Google: 4/10 – added one comment
• Blog 2: Alexa: 2,449,059 Google PR: 0/10 – added one comment (affiliate link)
• Blog 3: Alexa: 3,004,776 Google PR: 0/10 – added one comment
• Blog 4: Alexa: 20,991,548 Google PR: 0/10 – added one comment

Today’s Alexa score: 545,945
Google Page Rank: 0/10 (up from "unranked")

Just to recap, I started with an Alexa ranking of 987,533 on May 6th, 2008 . After thirty days (more or less) of commenting on blogs in my Niche, my Alexa ranking is 545,945 . That’s a drop of 441,588 . I can live with that.

I just did a "count" of the total number of comments… only 46 (plus or minus a few I might not have recorded). As I mentioned throughout this study, real life often intruded, and since "commenting" isn’t what you would call a "money activity", client work frequently came first. Imagine if I commented on 10 blogs every single day!

Give it a try. I promise it is a really revealing and rewarding process.