Getting ranked in Google’s directory is pretty sexy isn’t it? To hear guberus write and talk about it, the only worthwhile traffic is that which comes from Google. We all optimize for Google. We hang on every word that comes dripping out of Matt Cutt’s mouth for any little morsel or hint of getting better rankings. We’ll dissect every single word in some patent document describing Google’s algorithm changes. I find it all so stupid.

Yes I want to be ranked top 10 in Google for every single keyword on every single page on every single blog I own. But I don’t try as hard to get there as I used to. Why? Too hard. I don’t want to have to submit an article every week to 5 different directories, trade links with 50 PR 5 websites and update my content daily to be a qualified participant in their sweepstakes.

No, I prefer to work around Google. I prefer to find other means of traffic. I’m not going to write an article solely to get some kind of S1Q4WT5 Google algorithm point. I’m going to write an article to drive traffic to my blog. If this pleases Google then fantastic. But I want the article, and where I submit it, to bring a handful of visitors to the site. It can be done. The right article does bring in traffic from your little bio link. I only submit to EzineArticles and GoArticles and wind up with a nice batch of traffic. And I only submit when I have something worth writing. The days of me re-writing and submitting crap simply for the pleasure of Google is done. Eff that.

Technorati how I love thee. I use the hell out of Technorati and get quite a bit of traffic. I personally love using tags to search with. And it appears that others across the Blogosphere agree with me. I have “claimed” all my blogs under various userID’s at Technorati. I also use Ultimate Tag Warrior to tag all my posts. I am very liberal in using tags to describe my blog posts. I go to nichebot and do a quick keyword search and find both popular and not so popular phrases to describe my post. Then use those phrases as tags.

Why? On a site with “Technorati Tags” under the posts, click one of the tags. Heck click the tag for yesterdays post on Wordpress Affiliate Pro. You will be taken to Technorati. You have essentially initiated a search on all claimed blogs for Wordpress Affiliate Pro. My site comes up. At least as I write this post. I have tags that have been listed in top 3 positions for months. Does that mean anything?

Maybe. I use tags that will have me listed for a few minutes to some that will have me listed for months. If I’m listed up there for more than a few days then the tag is probably not searched for much. But at least my site is listed. Maybe the SE spiders take notice. I dunno. I know that I like to be listed. And I know that Google Analytics is telling me I am getting a butt load of traffic from Technorati.

Something else that I am using for traffic generation is the blog directories like BlogCatalog, TopBlogArea and Blogtoplist. They have rankings for your blog. Your blog rises as you bring in more traffic or your blog gets a vote. It’s self perpetuating. The more traffic you get the higher your ranking. The higher your ranking the more traffic you get. The catch? Link trade.

I know that people say that two-way links aren’t liked by Google’s arrogance. To that I say, who cares? I am getting traffic to my blogs from these directories. Plus the higher my blogs go in those listings the more even Google will have to notice. I mean a top 50 ranking on BlogTopList in your category gives you a PR5 linking to your site. I think that’s worth a link trade.

Seems as though everybody has forgotten Yahoo as well. I get a lot of easy traffic from them. I get a lot of weird traffic from them. If I’m not ranking well for a decent search term in Google, you can bet I might be in Yahoo. Go figure.

I wrote before about Social Media Daily. I’m using all kinds of Web 2.0 sites to bring traffic to my site. The by-product is getting Google to notice my site because of it. I submit to all these Web 2.0 sites to drive traffic to my site. I don’t utilize these sites in the hope that the effort will curry me favor with the Google lords.

You know how everyone says that you should be mining the niches in your quest for content glory? Well I am mining the traffic niches. There is enough traffic spewing from sources other than big G.