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It is that time again. The forums and blogs are all abuzz. Google is updating pagerank, and bloggers and webmasters everywhere are rejoicing… or groaning. I guess I should be in the second category. The pagerank of this blog has not changed, it was PR0 before and it is PR0 now. But my other blog, My CFO on the Go was a PR1 and now is a PR0. What changed? My page views went from 200 to over 4,000 per month. Backlinks from 3 to almost 1000. Alexa rank has gone from a 3 month average of 850,000 to 213,000. Yesterday’s Alexa was 82,000. So except for Google PageRank, every statistic for MyCFOontheGo shows dramatic improvement. Still the drop in PageRank isn’t really a surprise for me. You see, I made a few changes last month, and I knew that Big Daddy Google wouldn’t approve.

I began accepting paid posts, (which is fully disclosed) and I removed all the nofollow tags and made my blogs do-follow blogs. I am very happy with the changes. I am earning a little money, and the people that comment on my blog get a link back to their blog. It seems only fair.

But this does put me in a bit of a predicament. The advertisers who pay for posts are looking for high PR blogs. Page Rank is easy for them to check, and it is supposed to give an idea of how popular a web page is. If I had gotten my expected PR3 (according to the Iwebtool.com PR predictor) I would have plenty of advertisers wanting me to post for them. With a PR0, not so many. It becomes a catch 22. High pagerank causes more advertisers… which lowers page rank… which lowers advertisers… which raises pagerank. Do see the problem?

I have given it some thought and there are a few things I could do. I could remove all the paid posts, make all the links on my site no-follow, and then I could grovel back to Google and ask them to reconsider if I promise never to do it again. But I didn’t create my blogs for Google. They are for me, for my readers, and for my advertisers. I don’t want Google telling me what I can or cannot do on my blog. Plus, from my own experience, PageRank is not that great an indicator of readership. (See the chart later in the post) My other choice is to keep doing things the way I do now. Accept paid posts, while making sure they provide value to my readers as well as to my advertisers. Keep my links do-follow links, so when someone is takes the time to make a thoughtful comment on my blog I can be nice enough to give them a link.

I have a number of different blogs, and the funny thing is, the blog with the highest pagerank, actually has the lowest page views, and the lowest number of backlinks.

Which is why I believe that maybe Google PageRank isn’t the best indicator of how much traffic (quality or otherwise) a website gets.

Which leads into my experiment. From now, until the next pagerank update I am going to keep KatalinaMau.com(PR0) and MyCFOontheGo.com(PR0) the way they are. The way I want them to be. But for NinjaSuccess.com(PR2) and GetRichGeek.com(PR3) I am going to comply with Google’s requirements. No paid posts and nofollow links. It will be interesting to see what happens and I’ll report back to you after the next PR update.

Do you have a blog or a website and you think your PR isn’t what it should be? I am planning on putting together a directory of quality sites with traffic, and low or no pagerank. If that sounds like your site, leave a comment with your stats. If it all checks out I’ll add you to the directory as time permits.

* Almost a trillion plastic bags are produced world wide each year! The US goes through a billion of them. (Wall Street Journal)
* If Americans gave up their disposable plastic grocery bags we could save 12 million barrels of oil every year!
* Disposing of plastic bags is a problem. Plastic bags can take 1000 years to disintegrate. And because they are light weight and extremely aerodynamic, even properly disposed of plastic bags can float away and become a blight on the landscape.
* Some studies suggest that up to 100,000 marine animals are killed by ingesting, or becoming trapped in plastic bags.

The problem seems huge, yet the solution is quite simple. Say no to plastic shopping bags. And while you are at it, say no to paper bags as well. (That is another post!) Make it a habit to bring your own reusable bags. And reusable bags are not just for the grocery store. Try bringing your own bags or containers for your other shopping as well. At the very least, try to reuse your plastic shopping bags, and make sure to dispose of them properly.

So now the question of the day is, which wolf are you feeding?

Today it was easy for me to feed the angry wolf. I had to drive to the airport and it seemed that everyone was against me. People were diving in front of me and driving stupid. Then I got stuck in traffic. Note to self:Pounding on steering wheel and yelling at other drivers does not make traffic go faster! I finally get home, decide to relax a bit and turn on the TV. I find politicians bickering, the news is just depressing, the movies are violent and angry. Even on the reality shows everyone is fighting with everyone else.

I think our society is spending too much time feeding the wrong wolf. To quote a few cliches,

“I know I can’t change the world, but I can try to change myself.”

“I can’t control what happens to me, but I can control my reaction to what happens to me.”

With those in mind I vow to try and change my reactions.

What would happen, if when I got stuck in traffic, instead of getting angry and pounding the steering wheel, I listened to one of my self-help CDs and enjoyed the extra time I had to myself? What if, when someone cut me off, I responded with humor, and gave them a friendly wave and a great big grin? What if I only watched TV shows that were uplifting and positive? What if I just removed all the negativity that I allow in my life?

And then, what if I took it a step further, and tried to actively feed the good wolf? What if, in the grocery store, I gave the mom with the screaming baby a friendly smile, and offered to push her cart for her? What if, when friends are gossiping, I change the subject by saying something nice? What if I turn off the TV and go for a walk?

What if everyone tried to feed the good wolf?

A  week of nasty weather has kept me at home.  The power has been out and I have had lots of time to think about the year we’ve just finished. And the year to come.

2007 was my year to learn about blogging.  I’ve gone from having no blogs to having 4. (I think, maybe a few forgotten ones scattered here and there). I have learned about themes and coding and how easy it is to pass the day “searching the web” for material for your blog.  I have learned the web is full of contradictory advice about blogging, and that adsense is not the path to instant wealth!  In the past year my writing has gotten better, although there is still plenty of room for improvement!

For 2008 I hope to become a solid blogger. I want my blogs to have focus. Right now they all ramble here and there, wherever my interest of the day is.  I want my blogs to provide solid, valuble infromation that is up to date and relevant. I want to have readers who visit regularly and leave comments that challenge my thoughts. I want to become a better writer.

With that in mind I am planning on changing the focus of this blog…to blogging.  There will still be posts on food and health, but I’ll try to keep that to an occasional off-topic post.

And in 2009, hopefully I’ll be able to look back at this post and say Yes.  I have become a better blogger AND a better writer!

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to Everyone!

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