From Zero to Over $1,000 Navigating Google’s Core Update as a Blogger in 2024

The March Google Core update decimated my blog in 2024.

This was the year that Google started to really start pushing out A. I content at the top of Google’s search engine on each page even if it was loading pages of things that didn’t make any sense for user experience.

My blog was climbing the ranks to 10,000 pageviews in my niche area until Google rolled out its core update claiming that it was going to get rid of websites that were a danger to Google and get rid of spammy websites, when really I think they were really just trying to get rid of A. I blogs or people who used A. I generators such as ChatGPT to grow their blogs.

However, I’m not going to lie because I used it to speed up the production of my blogging website because I would write my content, and other times I would outsource my blog articles for other writers to write for me that I found on Fivver and out of a VA (virtual assistant) for hire Facebook group that also has some amazing writers in there as well.

Strategies that saved me during Google’s Core Spam Update!

Okay so what saved my traffic? and How did I start to bounce back from Google’s deadly core update?

I DIVERSIFIED MY TRAFFIC!! that’s it! that’s the golden ticket that saved me from completely crashing into Google web of core updates.

STOP Relying on Google to get you traffic and rely on other sources to bring traffic to your site.

So I’m going to list to you the different strategies, and other platforms that I used to increase revenue and what I’m focusing on now tp continue growing my blog.

1. Utilize Bing

In the blogging community a lot of people just rely on Google to bring them traffic when in reality I was looking for Google to do the same thing when in actuality Bing was the number source of brining me traffic followed by Google.

How did I get traffic from Bing? I’m thinking it’s because I’m always linking to .Gov or .Edu websites and getting a lot of backlinks along with local SEO that also promotes my business.

2. You Should Really Be on Reddit!

I don’t know how many times I have to say this but you really should be on Reddit!! So many people sleep on Reddit meaning that they don’t think that it won’t bring any traffic to their blog or website.

In this video below I talk about how Reddit used to be my main source when brining in traffic to my blog in the past and how I continue to utilize the platform to build my own community and bring others to my community without asking them to subscribe to my community.

3. Pinterest has always been it!

I use to be on Pinterest in the past but if you look at my account and when I first started you can see how ugly my pins were compared to how they look now which is the reason why I hired a Pinterest manager to get thousands of traffic to my blog.

After hiring a Pinterest Manager this year my impressions and outbound clicks have been through the roof since pinning new and fresh looking pins compared to when I struggled to try pinning them myself.

However, if you can’t afford a Pinterest manager check out this video of another strategy that I first used when using Pinterest that brings traffic to my website and Youtube channel that still works today.

4. NICHE Facebook Groups

A lot of bloggers are part of a Facebook blogging group and believe me there are blogging groups for just about every niche.

I’m in at least 8 Facebook blogging groups online which ask for our blogging post and social media IDs to help each other out, and share our blogs to other groups on Facebook and off the platform.

Another thing I’m trying out again are Facebook ADS which in the past I really didn’t do good at but willing to try and experiment again with selling my digital products.

5. Selling my own Digital Products

I really shouldn’t have to tell you this but the quickest way to make money from your blog is selling your own products and setting your own price.

I started selling my products on ETSY even though they’re having trouble in the stock market right now since the pandemic. Although I have sold some products on there and made some money.

There is nothing like selling products on your own blogging website without paying for platform fees on platforms such as ESTY and other platforms where you have to pay a small fee just to sell your digital products.

Now I’m thinking about removing all of my products on ESTY and transferring them all to my website and closing out my store for good.

6. YouTube is a LARGE SEARCH ENGINE!!

Why are you not on YouTube? Are you scared of showing your face? Don’t have the time to start a channel?

How you thought about starting a faceless channel which is very easy because if you’re introverted like me and don’t want to be seen then this is the route to go.

Starting a YouTube channel back way then and still getting over thousands of clicks to my videos that I did back in the pandemic and the years before that is still getting hits which is forever green content.

Try making a series of a topics like I did in this video and watch your traffic to continue to grow steadily.

7. Offer your Services

What also brought traffic to my site was by offering my services which is the bulk of my income as of right now behind Affiliate Marketing and then Ads.

Whatever you’re good at you should be offering your services whether that is consulting, coaching, or whatever.

I offer services about 10-20 hours a week for a high price which has been bringing me a decent income in addition to my job income as of right now.

8. Affiliate Marketing 

We will know that affiliate marketing is something that has been around for years and will never go away anytime soon. This is how people back them made MILLIONS of dollars and use to be a HUGE SECRET will not anymore!

People are finding out that they don’t need to work a full time job to get paid and can get paid by seating on the couch or sleeping in their beds and make money through affiliate marketing when done with an effective strategy.

9. Ad Revenue

No I’m not into Mediavine yet!

But with Pinterest taking off the way it has during this Google core Spam update I’m well on my way to being on there by the end of this year if not sooner.

The ad agency I’m using right now is called NEWor Media which is an ad agency that’s not that old but works really well for me. I’ve been on Ezoic which horribly crashed my site and made it extremely slow.

I’ve also used SHEmedia which was also great but not enough money for me to consider keeping it when compared to Ezoic RPMs.

Check NEWor Media calculator and see how much money you could earn if you’re considering this option, or you can do what I do and wait until you get into Mediavine.

10. Emails, and NO NOT email marketing!!

Email marketing and growing an email list was something all the bloggers kept telling me to do, and to this very day. I’ve been blogging going on 4 years on and off now and I have NEVER used an email list or done email marketing to grow my traffic.

I just didn’t want to keep up with all of that stuff honestly and don’t care about it either. But how did I drive traffic to my blog with emails in general you may ask?

All I did was insert into my signature on all of my personal emails my blog’s website link and BOOM everyone comes clicking through to my site because they want to know who I am and what I do.

11. LinkedIn

Not something I use to be a fan of in the past because it reminded me of the older ADULT version of Facebook if you know what I mean, but this is a great platform for getting big hitters from big companies to notice you and may even ask you for a sponsored post.

I posted in various groups on there without being penalized when compared to Reddit and got some major traffic from the group and people sharing my blog articles to their personal page and in other groups on the platform as well.

My strategy for this platform is to make A LOT OF NOISE meaning I get a hooker headline and get people in an uproar which I consider controversial marketing and post about things that people are too scared to talk about which in return then gives me a bunch of clicks to my website.

12. More Seasonal and Informational Posts!

Now that I’m into year 4 blogging and seriously taking this blogging journey seriously. I’ve been able this year to put together the perfect team so far to write me more seasonal post and informational posts for now and leave the trans-actual post alone for right now.

Sometimes we can lose sight of what’s important! which is not wanting the money first but wanting to serve and help others in the beginning right?

Which makes you an expert in the field of what you’re writing about, well at least that’s what I hope anyway.

So, what’s NEXT??

I hope to update this blog post article real soon by August of this year which is 2 months from now explaining to you how I got into Mediavine, and if I haven’t updated the post by then because you can tell by my dates that I haven’t quite made it into Mediavine yet lol.

Moving forward after getting this site into Mediavine, I plan to start my second site followed by my third site which I already have a name for it.