subject: Responding To The Google Slap With Personal Branding [print this page] I have a loaded question for you: When's the last time you were slapped? Didn't feel good, did it? Ever been Google slapped? I would bet that a professional internet marketer would much rather be slapped for saying something stupid than to get Google slapped. Over the Summer months of 2009, the FCC has really cracked down on internet marketing by business opportunities and affiliate programs that have replicated web pages filled with images of $100 bills, mansions and sports cars (and let's not forget the exorbitant income claims).
The FCC came down hard on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing, and all the mega advertisers to clean up their act. Now, even top 6-figure monthly earners I know are waking up in the morning, logging into their Google AdWords account, and finding all their ad campaigns dead in the water. And they are sounding the alarm. Have you heard it?
Worse than that, the real pain behind being Google slapped, is that your domain is dead, so you have to create a new domain before starting your Adwords campaign again. Beware, simply replace your old domain with a new one without making any changes to your campaigns, keywords, and sales funnel content, will get you slapped again, and each time, the pain is worse. As repeat offenders have reported to me and my team, not only have their domain names been banned, but their entire Google AdWords account has been completely shut down. And if you want to start up a new one, you need to sign in from a different IP address (like a public library) and even use a different credit card for your new Google AdWords account. Ouch.
So, want to avoid the Google slap? I can give you some specific advice, but since Google is changing their algorithms by the minute these days it seems, I'm going to limit this discussion to the biggest change that will definitely help you according to Google themselves. And that is Personal Branding.
That's the first thing you need to do ... brand yourself and not your product, service, or business opportunity. Focus on you as an entrepreneur, leader, and authority. You can even focus further by sticking to a niche market. For instance, my niche market includes new and seasoned entrepreneurs needing a coach to get their business off the ground or would like to become a coach themselves to better support their clients and downline.
Time to put the big boy pants on and start marketing yourself. Put yourself out there. You cannot hide if you want to be a leader. Google rewards unique content, and there is nothing more unique than YOU, marketed properly.
Next, you need a hub, some location where "You, Inc." can flourish. It is where all your Google AdWords, Twitter, Facebook, articles, and videos point to. 9 times out of 10, that is a custom blog. CUSTOM BLOG. Remember, Google wants to see uniqueness, which also means web site design as well. Get a domain like YourName.com or MeetYourName.com then set it up as a Wordpress blog by going to Wordpress.org and following their installation and setup directions.
Some domain hosts like mine, StartLogic, has a convenient push button Wordpress installation and setup to any folder in your domain right from their control panel. Take the time to set this up and get it out there. It doesn't have to be perfect.
A video to your product, service, or business opportunity can easily be embedded directly in your hub page with a lead capture form, or links to a purchase page for a product. However, I do not like embedding YouTube videos into my pages. YouTube embed code turns my video into a big link back to my YouTube account, and I don't want anyone interested in my content clicking away from my web page. This is one of the reasons why I use Traffic Geyser. They provide a custom player for both normal and high definition aspect ratios. It looks more professional and contains no link-backs to anything. Nice.
Now you want to fill your hub page with articles and videos, content that shows you using your product or discussing benefits of a service, or general tips for entrepreneurs like goal setting, mindset, and marketing strategies. Remember, people buy from those they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. Marketing your personally branded hub page is the key to keeping your Google AdWords account running smoothly day in and day out, attracting prospects to your story, your message.
One more thing, there is not a single top earner on the internet NOT heavily involved in personal branding. Google is changing. Internet marketing is evolving. Be impervious to this change by effective branding. Happy marketing.
