A Few Things I Just Learned while On Vacation

31 December 2008 12 Comments So Far, Join In!

Happy New Year to everyone! I am still sitting in sunny Florida, but we took a short break from running today, and between a beer or twelve, I decided to sit and tell you all the 5 things I learned when I decided to check email and just basic happenings on the web! I AM having a great time, but also looking forward to getting home next week and getting 2009 off to a kickin start!

1 – Google PageRank Sucks!

Within the first 2 minutes of connecting to the wireless network here in the house, I saw in my feed reader that Matt Cutts announced the final PageRank update of 2008 is underway! Within the next 1 minute… I saw that more than half of my sites LOST PR, and very few actually a substantial amount! Several sites I had worked extra hard on the content and actually have “many” high quality inbounds… did not fare as I would have expected, which tells me PageRank, as a measure of a sites authority… Sucks!

2 – Four Days is my Limit without Reading Email!

Lets see… we left Saturday morning and I made it through until Weds afternoon. I went 4 full days without reading an email, and my cell phone is still packed away! I reached the limit and HAD to get in here to see what I was missing!

3 – Properly built Affiliate Sites Still make Bank when you are Away!

After looking at my sites PR update, I went right over to see how the last week was going for earnings. On most jobs, when you walk away… your earnings stop along with the level of attention you pay to it. As I expected, the sites I spent the most time preparing for autopilot… are doing rather well. The others, which I did not prewrite posts for…. well, they are just stagnant. (Not growing or declining)

4 – NEVER Travel on a Holiday Weekend AGAIN!

We live exactly 540 miles from the house we rented in Florida. Under normal circumstances, that should be about an 8 hour drive… on the first Saturday after Christmas, it took us 12 hours of the lamest stop and go BS I have ever experienced… for more than 200 miles of it! We will NEVER travel on the weekend after Christmas again!

Along with hundreds of little caveats we learned about the 12 children we felt possessed to take along with us, we found MANY new niche markets to focus some efforts on when we get back! From a specific type of cheap shoe that everyone is wearing, to some unique things we have only seen in Florida – 2009 has already started taking shape for us!

Happy New Year everyone!

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About the Author, Mark Hansen

Mark Hansen has written 468 article(s) at the Niche Store Builder site.

I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.

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12 Comments »

JeffLeft said:

Dude… i would almost drive 12 hours to get the &%*$ away from these 50 mph winds in the foothills of NC today!

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# 31 December 2008 at 7:21 pm

John M said:

I was out there “driving” with you on the 26th, and we have the great state of Georgia to thank for that mess. It is, in fact, a mess that I first encountered in 2002, and it isn’t fixed yet!

OK, I know they are widening a big patch of the Interstate, but for SIX YEARS??

I do have one advantage over you, Mark; I LIVE in Florida after spending most of my life in PA and VA. You could always do what I did – MOVE!

Oh, you’ll – I mean – y’all will miss the snowflakes and a breath of fresh, cold air now and then, but, believe me, the feeling goes away fast!

;-)

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# 31 December 2008 at 7:35 pm

Bill G said:

Yup PR has been the last thing I have worried about for months.
As I have been traveling as The Rich Ski Bum since October my BANS and other sites have supported me fully durring my 6 month vacation. This can be done from anywhere.
Traffic sucks on holidays and living most of the time on the south shore of New England thats all summer

Happy New Year Mark and Family

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# 31 December 2008 at 9:04 pm

Sean said:

We left for Florida (Cocoa Beach) the weekend before Christmas. Just missed the Blizzard as it rolled into the midwest behind us as we were leaving. Now it’s time to head back to Michigan. I haven’t done much as web development for the past 3 months. All my sites have been working for me. But, I’ve got my gears ready to start cranking once I get back home.

Cheers to a prosperous 2009.

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# 1 January 2009 at 12:37 am

Rochelle Kirby said:

Google decided to take away the PR for my best site. My traffic has slowed tremendously, but I’m still making money with it because Yahoo and MSN have been kind enough to send people my way. I’ve decided to do absolutely nothing for Google as I build and maintain my sites.

Enjoy this beautiful weather we are having in Florida (though it sounds a bit windy this morning).

After we were flooded, I got to find out just how long I could go without checking my email. Seems to me it was just under a week, though it may have been less…

Looking forward to your return and your big announcement. Until then, you, Kim, and all the kids have fun.

Rochelle

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# 1 January 2009 at 9:12 am

Paull Hamilton said:

How frustrating when people have worked hard to improve their PR only to find it has all been taken away.
I can understand how people would be miffed with Google, and thank goodness for the likes of Yahoo and MSN to bolster failing ratings.
http://www.paullhamilton.com

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# 2 January 2009 at 11:41 am

Elijah said:

I’ve been on vacation for the last four months – not having to go to work in a cubicle everyday is a vacation and a half!

To be perfectly honest, I’ve NEVER, and I mean never payed any attention to Page Rank – and you know what? My sites keep on performing better and better. Yes, I do the required actions and steps that one would take to increase page rank, but I’ve never actually checked to see what any of my sites were ranked at.

Call me old fashion, but I feel I don’t need some rank to justify whether my sites are performing or not – right?

I think you should drop your PR check entirely and keep on kicking ass and taking names – because that is what brings the money in!

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# 7 January 2009 at 7:29 pm