I Won’t Say Goodbye to DoFollow (For Now)
December 8th, 2007This isn’t the topic I was planning to write about today. But it has come to my attention that some people have been deactivating dofollow plugins on their blogs. Among those there are some bloggers I admire and respect, such as Terry and Monika. There’s also a sort of alert post written by Grizzly, another great blogger.
Terry’s, Monika’s and Grizzly’s blogs are much more succesful than mine. And they make much more money than I do. Will I follow their steps?
No way.
You must be thinking I should, right? After all, if they are more successful and make more money, the wisest thing to do would be to apply their techniques to my own blogs.
Still, there’s this stubborn inner voice that tells me not to deactivate Lucia’s Linky Love (which is the dofollow plugin I use on my blogs).
Why?
Because I’m a very idealistic person. I believe that instead of immediately saying “amen” to everything Google (supposedly) wants from us, we may try to do things our way — and still earn an honest living online.
I’m also very curious. I really want to know where this dofollow issue will take me to. If the consequences are negative, then I’ll have to bear them and change my tactics.
As you can see, I know this decision of mine may be risky. But one has to take some (perhaps many) risks if she wants to do what she believes to be “the right thing.” And for me the right thing is to avoid becoming a slave to Google. Especially when there hasn’t been any official announcements regarding their views on dofollow stuff. And most especially when that search engine doesn’t send me any noticeable traffic (I can’t remember the last time my sites have gotten a single hit from Google). I’m always ready to change my opinions and behaviour though.
Let me make one thing very clear: this post isn’t meant to criticise the bloggers who’ve left the dofollow movement. They all have their (good and valid) reasons for doing that. Although I disagree with them and I think their acts are a bit exaggerated — after all, no one can tell for sure whether Google is really willing to “kill” the dofollow movement or not –, I sincerely respect their points of view. If I didn’t, how could I expect them to respect mine? 
December 8th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Hi,
Your points are valid and a month ago, when my site was PR0 like yours and had nothing to lose, I would have told Google to go bite me too.
But things have changed.
Three of my older blogs got PR3 and I started writing paid reviews to make some money.
Don’t be fooled into thinking we all make a bundle of money online. I personally still have to work a day job to pay the bills, so being able to write paid reviews was for me a great possibility to get more independent online.
Then no sooner had I popped the champagne cork than Google started slapping down blogs for selling links.
That included writing paid reviews.
One of my blogs has now been slapped back down to PR0 and is useless as a money maker once again. How do you think I feel about that?
The other two blogs? Well, it’s a matter of time before they come under the Google Radar and get slapped down too. Please come over and read some of my posts on the subject across all three blogs so you’ll have a better idea of what I’m talking about.
So I deactivated do-follow after the scare because I might be able to salvage at least one of those blogs by showing Google that I’m not deliberately waving my middle finger at them.
I worked hard on those blogs over many months, so I deserve the PR I got and don’t deserve to lose it because those at Google don’t know how to handle this situation properly and go after the guys that are BUYING the links - not the ones selling them!
It’s fine to be brave and wave your ass at Google when you have no page rank to lose. It’s a whole different ball game when you have got some, because only you know how much hard work it took to get it in the first place by doing things right and NOT buying links and all that other crap to boost it up.
There - now you have my honest response!
Terry
December 8th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Terry, from your comment’s overall tone I think you got somewhat angry at my post (at least, this is the strong impression your words gave me). So let me emphasise it: this post isn’t meant to criticise the bloggers who’ve left the dofollow movement.
I’m not “waving my ass at Google,” nor have I “told Google to go bite me” and nor am I “waving my middle finger at them” (in fact, none of these expressions are part of my vocabulary; I find them a bit aggressive). And above all, my views on the whole subject have nothing to do with this blog’s current PR (which is 2, according to Google Toolbar).
I just don’t rely on Google PR to make money. Better said, I don’t rely on Google to make money online. Those who do are right when they take all measures they can to follow Google’s guidelines. But I’m not among them. I may be in the future if I start believing that would be advantageous for me. But this isn’t what I believe in for the moment.
“Don’t be fooled into thinking we all make a bundle of money online.”
What I meant is that when compared to me you make much more money indeed, even when you still have day jobs.
“One of my blogs has now been slapped back down to PR0 and is useless as a money maker once again. How do you think I feel about that?”
Very bad, of course. But are you absolutely sure you can’t make money from it in any other way? Is the selling of PR the only way to monetise it? If I were in your place I’d be frustrated. But your case just gave me yet one more reason to avoid relying on Google to make money online.
I’m glad that you’ve taken the time to post your response here; after all, your post was among the ones that inspired me to write mine.
I only hope that you aren’t mad at me, because that really wasn’t my intention.
December 9th, 2007 at 2:06 am
Hi Karen,
I totally see where Terry is coming from in regards to loosing PR. From my own perspective I can only say that I made a decision about 1 month ago when all this paid link debate surfaced to stop writing paid reviews and salvage my blog.
I’ve actually gone and deleted them all!
Why? It’s not that I’m considered a slave to Google, but I think it is clear that in order to make any decent money online either with niche marketing, affiliate marketing, direct advertising sales (with no follow) etc. we do need Google.
There is no two ways around it! I don’t monetize my blog at this stage as I strongly believe it is better to wait until I built some sort of credibility first.
Once I have a brand name strong enough I can do this because people have come to respect me for what I am. But do I risk my PR in the meantime?
Certainly not, as a matter of fact this wold be silly on my behalf since I do plan to monetize the blog later on. And not to mention the hard work I put into it just like Terry.
And we already established that I need PR to do this. Does this mean I’m right and you are wrong?
No, it is simply what I personally believe from what I have learned so far. And that is the route I intend to travel just like you do yours.
And on the note of do follow vs no follow in comments. Have you checked lately that some or most of the heavier trafficked blogs never used do follow?
So why should we?
I’m all for giving the link love like you Karen and you know this, as I’m doing it in many of my posts and since this situation has arisen now I will find other way to say thank you to my proficient commenter’s.
In fact I have several ideas already. Anyway, I respect your decision and this is not a personal attack against your point of view but simply a statement of why I chose to act like I did.
Monika @ The Writers Manifesto’s last blog post..My Do Follow Has Died!
December 9th, 2007 at 2:27 am
“Have you checked lately that some or most of the heavier trafficked blogs never used do follow?
So why should we?”
Maybe because we are not one of them. Those blogs are so different from ours that comparisons may not apply.
“I respect your decision and this is not a personal attack against your point of view but simply a statement of why I chose to act like I did.”
I didn’t see your comment as a personal attack, Monika. Your overall tone was totally different from Terry’s one. You just came here and made use of your right to disagree — in a polite and friendly manner –, which is perfectly fine.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Hi Karen,
I fear that Terry might had to let of some steam here and I’m sure he didn’t mean it personally. I know Terry well and he would not attack people simply from stating their own opinion like you did.
But after visiting his blog and seeing his misfortune with Squidoo I think he can be forgiven by acting a little upset. But that’s only how I see it, I might be wrong.
As for comparing the top blogs in regards to no follow in comments, I actually disagree since most of us are in the meta blogging industry in some way or another and all though I can’t compare myself with a Pro-Blogger (yet) I can with others and the only thing that separates us as individuals is experience, time spent online and PR.
Anyway, I’m sure this is interesting enough a topic to go around the merry go round a while.
It is always good to see an opposing view because it helps us to stretch our minds and it differs from all the “yes” sayers out there.
Monika @ The Writers Manifesto’s last blog post..My Do Follow Has Died!