I’ve written about it before and I think it deserves to be written about again. Diversify, diversify, diversify. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

Recently Google did something behind the scenes which affected many webmasters and websites. I don’t know what it is that they did, but what I do know is that my Google traffic for one of my websites all but disappeared for a few days.

This has happened to that site before so I’m no longer alarmed (just annoyed). The first time it happened I almost had a heart attack. I was only earning money from the one site and when the Google hits dropped so did my income.

What Did I Do?

Immediately I thought that I had done something wrong. I looked through my code, I looked at my design, I looked at my articles, I combed the internet to see if someone could tell me what I did wrong. Come to find out that it wasn’t anything that I had done. Google made a change and for a period of time my site was in the dumpster. What an awful position to be in.

Ad: Grandma's Little Black Book: How to Make Money Freelance Writing for Textbroker is a must have for folks looking to make extra money writing. Grandma earned over $2,000 in one month with Textbroker and shares how she did it in her book. If she can do it, you can too.

When my hits and income came back I was thrilled, but I realized how tenuous my internet earning potential had become. I needed to branch out and find alternatives.

Since then I have created a few more sites and a couple of blogs. Now when Google disowns one of my sites, the others still seem to hold steady. Of course the new sites have nowhere as much traffic as my older more established site does, but over time things will work out.

Lesson Learned

If you’re just starting out, learn from my mistake. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because your AdSense income is increasing. One algorithm change can send your income down the tubes. Generate traffic from sources other than Google and don’t bank on vehicle to take you to financial freedom.

If you enjoyed this post, why not subscibe to NJFM via RSS feed or by Email. Better yet, sign up for the NJFM Newsletter.