In today’s relentless digital world, even a short pause can feel like a setback …especially when shifting algorithms affect our visibility and income.
But sometimes, forced downtime brings a hidden benefit…
A chance to step back, recharge, and gain fresh perspectives.
When faced with a sudden downtime, I found that a fresh mindset can bring clarity and even spark new ideas.
Instead of feeling defeated by a business’ drops in online visibility, you can use these breaks to reassess and realign your goals.
The Unplanned Break That Led to New Insights
There I was, neck-deep in analytics, watching rankings slip and wondering if I’d ever catch up.
But then, a break that I didn’t plan on taking forced me to step back… and that pause ended up being the reset I never knew I needed.
After all, the reason I started my personal blog was strictly for personal reasons.
At first, this website provided me with a means of keeping old and new recipes more easily accessed.
Some of these recipes I had either been given by my mother years ago… or those that I discovered and found to be winners.
It was only over time that sharing these with friends and family, became a ‘thing’.
Heck even solutions to computer issues became easier to keep on hand when kept here… those that I knew I would need to consult again that is.
And then there was the information that was sent to me in emails, such as the dangers of process white sugar.
These sorts of post had to have links added, for more details, and I was certain these would be helpful to friends and family when sent as a link to my post(s) rather than a lengthily email.
One that recipients could read at their own perusal, should they wish to.
The health tips that I received, I wanted to link back to the source, so I asked permission of sender if he would allow me to post the information received.
The sender turned out to be a vendor, and he insisted that I if I want to share his details on my personal blog that he wanted me to first, sign up to be an affiliate of his… which I did, in order to share his helpful information my friends and family.
At this point in time, I could have cared less if Google or any other search engine ever paid attention to my personal blog …or whether my content ever got ranked high or not.
Then the magic happened…
In fact, this unexpected success led me to write a post on Wealthy Affiliate years ago, sharing the amusing story of how I made my first affiliate earnings by accident.
You see, by sharing the helpful information about real health issues (four posts in total!) that were emailed to me by Mike Geary, I actually got issued a cheque in my mailbox… not once but TWICE!
So, Google MUST have started to rank at least some of my posts high enough… which sparked my interest in affiliate marketing.
That’s when I decide it was time to learn more about affiliate marketing.
After all affiliate marketing is still online marketing… and it may even provide me with yet another means of helping my website clients with their online presence too.
Re-evaluating Goals During Google’s Constant Changes
As Google’s algorithms evolved, they had a real impact on my personal blog rankings, along with countless other well-established blogs.
There were days when it seemed senseless to bother keeping my personal blog up to date anymore, given the declining attention Google was now giving this website.
Whether it was to simply bury honest bad reviews to products that searchers SHOULD be made aware of or to established itself as a personalized ad agency that Google seems to want to ‘play’ a part in now, their intention remains unproven.
This was back when many of us noticed they started prioritizing larger, affiliate-heavy sites with budgets to match, making it harder for independent bloggers to stay visible.
And, this was my turning point, prompting me to focus on helping local businesses thrive in their niches.
For some bloggers, it seems that affiliate marketing may now be oversaturated.
Though, reading through the Clickbank post, there appears only to be massive changes happening.
The Power of the Long Game
Whether in affiliate marketing or local business, success isn’t instant. It takes constant work to keep ahead of the changes in online marketing that are happening on a regular basis.
For small business owners facing fierce online competition, the path to visibility requires:
- up-to-date websites,
- regular blog posts, and
- consistent strategy.
My own pivot from focusing on affiliate marketing has made it possible for others to gain a real advantage in their niche by focusing on content strategies.
For those ready to elevate their online presence, explore the strategic approach we’ve developed at eZeroAdSpend.com.
