You're Not Making Any Money Online without Authority

Made you wonder, didn't I?? If you read my post from a couple of days ago you saw that I assigned you to do some research by typing in an example keyword phrase 'How to Make Money Online'. If you did what I asked you, you probably wondered what you should really be looking for that defines their site's success in the search engines. I bet you felt that slight pang of jealousy that your website isn't in that top 10 list (heck, I know I did).

Many of you have probably dropped some real dollars on some ebooks and read a thing or two about search engine optimization to guess that these sites have high quality backlinks from other sites that also rank well in the search engines. And, as we all know TRAFFIC = MONEY - so, everyone's goal is to get traffic. However, (and this is a BIG however) that is not necessarily the answer to getting top rankings in Google or Yahoo (and most recently - Bing). Bada Bing! Read that last line again.

Ok, hold all of your preconceptions about SEO because you're probably submitting articles, adding entries to link directories, creating profiles in social sites, etc. etc. - i.e. - wasting valuable time! There is one secret I'm going to spill - and that is your site's authority!

By authority I mean that the content you've provided in your site or blog has relevant meaning and important to human eyes based on your key topic. Guess what? Google is trying to view your site the same way with human glasses - and, guess what - they're not rose colored.

What you might be thinking is that Google is judging your site based on the number and popularity of sites linking back to you. True, somewhat - but, there are a boatload of PhDs at Google trying to make it read your site like a human - yes, a human. That means reading from top to bottom, left to right, scanning and determining if the content has relevance (remember that term - it is important) and authority to the topic at hand - that is, your web page.

So what does that really mean? If you think about this it is about the perception the search engines have of your content demonstrating that you have the appropriate knowledge of the topic or niche. That is why you'll see sites with a significant amount of detailed content focused on specific keywords ranking high.

Recently, however, I have discovered sites that rank in page 1 of Google that do not have many backlinks, and, those backlinks are not highly ranked. I was literally floored when I found this. Why would these sites get high rank for the search term?

In one example I found a site ranked #4 of 1.4M results that had 6 pages with 717, 755, 519, 211, 373 and 12 words in each page respectively. The pages spoke directly to the main topic (page 1) and associated topics in pages 2-5 with page 6 being a contact page. It had 28 backlinks with all being simple web directories, whois and alexa rank. Pretty simple - but, it was authoritative. It reads well, has the main topic as the page title and subtopics / subheadings with content.

What this demonstrates is that getting ranked high in Google may not be as hard as you think - just as long as you build your pages in a human readable, authoritative manner. Want a great example? Just take a look at how Wikipedia is structured and you'll get a clue on what you need to do (more on this later). There's no telling how long it will take Google to get you to a high position - be patient - you should be able to build niche sites that capitalize on this and make money easier than before.

Do you Really Want to Learn How to Make Money Online?

Well, an interesting start to this blog entry, huh? How to make money online? Yes, yes - everyone is out there pitching money making ideas. But, I have to start this with my noticeable absence from blogging - why no posts - what's happening in this year?

The real secret here is that I've gone deep into research and education . What do I mean by that? Over the last 8 months I made a pact with myself - walk away, dust off all of those internet marketing ebooks I've purchased over the last 4 years, go heads down and hunt for every possible tip I can find - add to that some serious online research specifically on successful SEO and Email list techniques.

Well, I can honestly say that I've picked up even more from the online research of successful sites than the library of ebooks (most have the same information) that I now own (at my current count, 27)- but, both have convinced me of some certain rules of success. Frankly, the basic rules of online success are easier than you think.

But the first rule I want to stress to you, the reader, is that making money online comes down to your mindset - yes, you! One of the biggest scams out there today is the mass of top marketers selling products to beginner marketers over and over until they walk away with millions. You say 'Hey! I want to do that!'. Well, I've got news for you - they've got a huge advantage - they've got money to repackage and sell you again using top copywriters and product packaging. Not to mention they have your psychology in mind - the hungry beginner; ready to conquer the world of online marketing and make millions!

Where they have the advantage is that only a very small percentage of the population will buy something, and, an even smaller percentage will have the ongoing motivation to keep doing it. So, back to that first rule - you have to change yourself first! You have to prove that you can do the day to day work (yes, I'm going to say it is work!) to succeed. Writing little tweets on Twitter is easy, creating a Blog is a bit harder, building a decent website is even more work, and writing a successful ebook or valuable, deep content is very hard!

So, I ask you - 'do you really want to make money online?' Or, from the seasoned internet marketer's viewpoint - 'do you really want to invest yourself into an industry that takes hard work, dedication, education and long term commitment?' Notice that the marketers don't ask you this question - because most of you will run to the hills!

Look, I don't want to scare you - but to be truthful. My best success online has come for daily commitment - that's where I've earned big dollars. My worst examples online have been quick-hit profits that promised immediate gratification and success.

Don't stop reading! Here's my motivational side - what's really missing is that anyone can do this! Yes, even the most inexperience newbie can be successful. Patience and daily work is the key - it is going to take some time. But, if you stay motivated, stay focused, set long term goals (say, over the next 12 months), establish your business ( Internet Marketing 101: Business Before Web ), you will start to see some dollars coming in.

With that said, I have an assignment for you. I want you to type this phrase into Google - "How to Make Money Online" (192M results without quotes and 2.1M with quotes) and specifically look at the top 10 results. If you haven't noticed - about 2 or 3 of the results are blogs. Go to those blogs and look at their archive history - how long have they been blogging? Take a look at their content - what is unique? Note down why you think they're successful -based on content, keywords, dialog, even subtle psychology. I guarantee this will be a better education for you than any ebook.