I think the hand-coding is an overlooked “mistake” since content management systems (whether it’s a “real” CMS or wordpress) have several internal SEO-improvers, that a hand-coded sight might not have, like automatically interlinked pages based on topic, category, etc.

#7 seems to be the one that’s confusing you, right AJ?

The low page rank from Google is Google’s way of saying “You are not an authority on any topic” basically because of A- the wide range of topics and keywords (since they weren’t a priority, they’re like, nonexistent) and B- because there are no incoming links.

You could improve the rank by making sure the redirects are a permanent http301 redirect – OORRR- split the content into 4 (is that how many domains you had?) separate sites and rebuild them with a CMS so each site has a different set of focus.

Set up the new content to be added on a timer- every 3-7 days (or alternate with entirely new content- which could really just be aggregated links to your work on Suite101 or eHow or Examiner) and set up the RSS feed to automatically tweet and set a facebook status update.

Have each new site link to the OLD original unchanged tidbitsandstuff.com

Nothing is ever a lost cause in this business. I think if you’re making $300-$500 on the site, there’s no reason not to overhaul its SERP rankings.

Also- use your search queries to write Suite101 content
and have you checked the Alexa statistics?
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Julie Ms last blog post..Writing in the Age of Technology

I think websites are different than blogs. Blogs develop a following because of the interactivity. I think you have more freedom to leave the niche path for a quick tangent. I don’t use keywords and SEO tricks here at NJFM, but it seems that the readership does grow.

My Tidbits site on the other hand, was doing extremely well until Google pulled the plug. Then they plugged it back in and then pulled it again, and so on and so on. I’m not so sure that every site goes through what Tidbits is going through.

You probably would want to pose your question to a more successful blogger like Daren Rowse at ProBlogger.net. I’m sure someone there has more experience with successful niche blogs than I do. I tend to use my blogs as a public brain dump.

When you do find the answer, please let us know.

I am in the middle of trying to spruce up my blog including getting a custom domain name. The other thing that concerns me is not having a specific niche. While I do not go too far off track, I still want the ability to write about things that just come to me. What do you think? Is it not possible to have a successful Tidbits and Stuff if the stuff is closely related to tidbits? My latest blog discusses this. Thanks!!

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Who knows, maybe one day Google will feel magnanimous and give me my page rank back. In the meanwhile, there are other fish to fry.