Haha elgoog, google threw me in the google hell pit for two years.
I survived on reputation, word of mouth, 80% repeat visitors, and relying on yahoo and MSN for new blood.
I just recently was released. I had the 50 penalty – every page ranked exactly 50 spots lower than before. Whenever a page would break the 50 barrier and climb, google would hit it with a sledge hammer and push it back down to 70. Then it would start climbing etc etc etc for two years.
In a way it was refreshing to see that there is a life without google. But I think it is because of the size of the site and the loyalty of it’s visitors that it survived at all.
Gooner, if I listed dodgy places I would ruin what I have going – a good reputation among casino players. By having such a large pool of places I can easily weed out any one of them at any time and I will hardly feel it. Part of why I decided to go this way is because I wanted to brand the site and build a reputation, and I did. Listing any dodgy places would kill me.
But, because of the wide spread of revenues, I never make too much with any one place. That’s good and bad – I am beholden to no one, that’s a good thing all around. But – I am vulnerable to quotas from places that have been on the site for a very long time, and I also rarely get into top revenue tiers.
The pushy AMs can be a real pain, yes. I don’t answer my business phone – ever. Got the ringer turned off and don’t even listen to messages. There are plenty of ways to contact me online without interrupting my work day.
Keeping things fresh is a must with so many repeat visitors, and I contract some housewives or older pensioned ladies to click links and verify current bonuses and proper linking. It’s great for them, they can use the extra income, and it’s great for me.
I also employ no one, it gets too complicated. I contract a good number of people to work on projects. Some have been with me for over 5 years. They all work from their homes.