In a post at the HubSpot blog, Prashant Kaw says his small education-oriented Web site has achieved remarkable Google rankings in a category loaded with heavyweight competitors. His dependence on the search engine, though, gives him cause for concern. "While marveling at my site's ability to outrank large .edu behemoths such as Petersons [sic], Princeton Review and the College Board," he says, "I often ask myself the question, 'What if there were no Google?' In one fell swoop I would lose the majority of my site's traffic."

As with his stock portfolio, Kaw wants to diversify, and he points to HubSpot's inbound mix as an example of evenly distributed risk. Using a pie chart, Kaw illustrates how Google accounted for less than 11 percent of HubSpot's online traffic over one 30-day period. Alternate sources—for instance, a variety of email campaigns, the company blog, Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and a substantial "other" category—generated most of the Web site's traffic.

Here's how Kaw plans to emulate the HubSpot model:

• Building a network of websites that link back to the main site.
• Making full use of social networking opportunities.
• Creating permission-based email campaigns that invite subscribers to the site.
• Sharing content at outlets like YouTube and iTunes.
• Continuing SEO efforts at Google and other search engines.

The Po!nt: "If you invest in generating traffic from a variety of sources there is less likelihood of your business being in peril due to the loss of a single traffic source," says Kaw.

Source: HubSpot. Click here for the full post.

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