7 Land Mines Under Google Red Carpet?

Editors note: this is the second in a series of three articles about becoming a Google News Publisher via information products like Google Red Carpet.

Google Red Carpet is blowing up. But not always in the way its owners or promoters intended. That’s because there are hidden risks that could blow up in your face. (As proof of exactly that happening check out the comment made by “Idratherkeepmyidentityprivate” to my first article about Google News Publishing.

What could blow up in your face? Well, not being approved as a Google News Publisher. Or what if you are accepted, only to be delisted later and forced to go through acceptance/approval all over again? These are just some of the risks I’ve discovered once I fully examined Google Red Carpet’s pitch. (Disclosure: I don’t have the $497 program, but did evaluate the ebook that spawned it.)

If you missed “The Hook Vs. The Reality: Google News Publisher Pitch Exposed. [Part I], you can access it here. I’d appreciate you spreading the word. (An informed buyer is anyone’s best customer.)

That first article really just laid the foundation and overall value proposition. Some feedback I received proved this was exactly the right approach. Because lots of folks had never heard of becoming a Google News Publisher, E. Brian Rose or Google Red Carpet for that matter.

Now that everyone’s up to speed, here’s where things get very interesting. Because after examining the facts, I’m more convinced then ever that there is A LOT more here than meets the eye than the promoters of Google Red Carpet are telling you.

Land Mine #1: Value Proposition

You build a Google News Site to get accepted as an official Google News Publisher. That, according to E. Brian Rose, is your  “VIP Pass to the first page of Google.” This implies you can easily and quickly get articles on your Google News Site to show on the first page of Google for high priced and competitive keywords.

E. Brian Rose demonstrates this ability via video demos. The time frame is anywhere from 2 minutes to 22 minutes.  I won’t quibble about the difference in time because that’s still impressive.

On one of his optin pages E. Brian Rose says “…how I get to the front page of Google again and again in a few minutes.”

Reality check:

1. To get those “instant rankings” you (or your outsource team) or both need to invest a massive amount of time creating fresh content. See Land Mine #4 for how much time.
2. News rankings change VERY quickly. One of the video demonstrations (May 28^th, 2010) was done at 3 am, a slow news period. This means less competition, and it’s much easier to rank higher faster.
3. What’s the fallback position if you don’t get accepted as a Google News Publisher? What kind of traffic and rankings can you expect? That’s not really addressed in the two webinars I attended on 9.21.10 and 9.24.10 promoting Google Red Carpet.
4. Here is what two experts on Search and News have to say: This except is from Top Rank Blogwhere Lee Odden had Jiyan Wei of Vocus/PR web talk about news and blended search.
   

   What an SEO and a PR expert say about news listings on the first page of Google.

5. There was a mention about other news sites and other traffic sources but there was no evidence, either in print or video form presented from those other sources as far as I know. After all, the product is called “Google Red Carpet” not Yahoo or Bing Red Carpet.

Land Mine #2: News Listings on Google’s First Page

Ever hear the phrase “blended search results?” When Google begin adding news listings, images and video, that’s when people started talking about blended search.

According to E. Brian Rose’s own video demonstrations, here is what you can expect:

Expectation #1: News listings rank high on Google’s first page

Examples: video demonstrations for “mortgage loan modification” and “Outsource Force” at 00:23:43 and 00:57:05 of the webinar on 09.21.10.

Expectation #2: News listings FOR YOUR KEYWORD(S) will appear on Google’s first page

Examples: video demonstrations for “mortgage loan modification” and “Outsource Force” indicated in Expectation #1.

Reality Check:

E. Brian Rose said that if no listings appear for news items, you could force a news item to appear on Google page one. He didn’t show any proof of that. He also said even if there are no news items for a particular keyword phrase when you do a search, it doesn’t mean there won’t be news items at a later day or time. That last comment is true in my experience. But it does suggest there is a “hit or miss” component that isn’t discussed in promoting Google Red Carpet.

Now it’s my turn for a video demonstration. The video below utilizes software from Jack Duncan called NewsRanker 2.0. I highly recommend it. The software is less than $70 and will “pre-qualify” your keywords to see if they show up in the news listings and blending search results on the first page of Google.

(Disclosure: the Newsranker link is an affiliate link of which I will receive a small commission if you purchase the software.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGZrShv08Vw[/youtube]

While I STRONGLY encourage you to view the video, here are the highlights:

• Many keywords have NO Google News listings on Google’s first page
• Google news listings that do make it on the first page of Google often appear MUCH lower, definitely “below the fold” and sometimes at the very bottom of the page
• For highly competitive keywords there are often hundreds of news listings of which Google will only show the first one, two or three listings
• The software I’m using can tell you immediately if your keyword is a Google news item and what listing position it currently holds

Land Mine #3: Google Approval Time Frame

Since E. Brian Rose started promoting the idea of being a Google News Publisher, the time frame for getting approved has grown longer and longer.

Example #1: “Days”

Source: cover of E. Brian Rose’s GnewsNow.com ebook

At the time this ebook was released it only took "days" to become a Google News Publisher.

Example #2: “Two weeks for approval/indexing of articles”

Source: Warrior Forum post on May 6, 2010

Example #3: “Average time: 2 weeks”

Source: answer to a question from a webinar on 09/21/10. (At 02:16:00 elapsed time)

Example #4: “Longest time: 6 weeks”

Source: answer to a question on a webinar on 09/21/10. (At 02:16:00 elapsed time)

Reality check: 3 to 6 months or even LONGER?

I have heard anecdotal evidence the time frame is 3 months, maybe 6 months or longer. All the while you have to continue to add fresh, original content EVERY DAY. With no guarantee you will be approved as a Google News Publisher.

When I asked Jack Duncan, the developer of Newsranker 2.0 Software if he had any knowledge of the approval timeframe, he offered this response:

“They are “playing down” the difficulty of actually getting a site in Google News. I spoke with someone who personally has done this “from start to finish”…and after many rejections and a lot of “arm twisting”, he managed to become a Google News site after roughly 2 years.”

Reality check II: even once you are accepted, you won’t get traffic right away. Because there is additional wait time for your site and its pages to be indexed.

Land Mine #4: Total Time Investment

This for me is the biggest deal breaker. If you do it yourself, it’s recommended you add 3 original articles EVERY day. The webinar pitches talk about how easy it is to outsource the article writing at $2 an article.

On one webinar the price was $3 per article.

Reality check:

Lets look at a conservative financial estimate…

So if you have to add “several” articles a day, let’s say 3 articles as it is recommended in the webinar I attended on 09.28.10.

3 articles x 30 days = 90, x 3 months = 270 articles.

Lets also say an extra two weeks while the site is being evaluated = 14 x 3 = 42 additional articles.

270 + 42 = 312 articles x $6 each (that’s a good bulk rate for a native English speaking writer.)

That’s $1,872.00 investment for a site that MIGHT get accepted!

But that’s not all. Let’s say there is also a little bit of site promotion, a little SEO, some ongoing site maintenance, some ad rotating expenses, and of course web hosting. Let’s say that is another $100/month for the 4-month time period until you are getting the traffic promised to you. That’s another $400.

That’s a $2,272 investment for a news site over 4 months.

Now let’s paint a more rosy scenario. What if you get your Google News Site accepted a lot quicker? Well, you’ll still have expenses for ongoing fresh, original content moving forward. Unless you chose to do it yourself. If that’s the case, isn’t that more like having a job with all the ongoing responsibility of the content requirements to keep in Google’s good graces?

Reality check II:

What about the time to manage your outsource writers? What about troubleshooting time for the entire Google approval process?

Land Mine #5: The Fallout from Gaming Google

E. Brian Rose talks about not doing any “black hat” techniques. He said his techniques are fully compliant with the policies of being a Google News Publisher.

Reality Check:

Every hear the expression, “don’t’ throw the baby out with the bath water?” Well even legitimate sites, as the one Google Red Carpet recommends are coming under additional scrutiny by Google.

Why? Because even though you’re not trying to game the system, many others have.

And there’s evidence you’ll be penalized with extra wait time because of it.

In fact, “No Cost Traffic Blueprint” a competitive product to Google Red Carpet has been criticized for questionable tactics like software that artificially backdates articles.

What’s more, the official Google News Publisher forum has an entire thread about exposing spammy Google News Sites. Guess who’s name comes up there? Yes, E. Brian Rose.

To be clear, those could be simple and unproven accusations. But the fact that many Google News Publishers are upset, even outraged, should NOT be ignored. This fact was further brought to light by several comments on my last Google News Publisher article.

I was disappointed that E. Brian Rose made is sound like these publishers are whiny complainers. The quality of these Google News sites is a legitimate concern and deserves a legitimate answer on the matter.

In fact, the quality of Google News Sites even has it’s own thread.

Land Mine #6: Traffic Conversion

The assumption is when you get traffic for very competitive keywords, even if the news item is only on the first page of Google for a matter of hours, you’ll get a lot of visitors. An example in the webinar cited 8,000 visitors in a 24-hour period. (Source: webinar on 9.21.10 at 00:41:01.)

You’ve got the traffic so mission accomplished, right? Not right. Many Google publishers have complained that the traffic doesn’t convert. That’s why E. Brian Rose talks about ways to generate revenue that don’t require purchase. (Like Adsense or CPA offers where you can make money by clicks or when visitors fill out forms.)

Land Mine #7: 30-Day Guarantee

Let’s do the math: how long is it going to take you to build and populate your Google News Site? How long until the site gets accepted and approved by Google? Can you really fully evaluate the validity of E. Brian Rose’s claims in only 30 days?

BONUS Land Mine: Flipping Google News Sites

In both the promotion of the webinars and during the webinars I attended, a major financial benefit being touted was building Google News Sites and “flipping” or selling them.

Reality Check:

I’m sure if you have a successful site, that you could certainly do that. However, recently several sites were sold and then were delisted shortly after the new owner took possession. One Google News Site was delisted 25 hours after purchase. (See the 3^rd post from the top.)

Obviously, if you were the buyer you’d want your money back. If you’re the seller, do you really such a possibility hanging over your head?

Some final thoughts

One dynamic that I see in the information product business is that marketers that are pitching products speak of their own experience. And successes. That’s only natural, right? Well, here is where things breakdown. It’s one thing for a marketer to achieve something. But can the average buyer do the same thing in a similar timeframe?

Is that realistic? Is that being authentic and telling it to you straight?

Coming up NEXT:

The third article in the series will look at what the future holds for Google News Publishing and what alternatives exist that may, in the long run, be a much better return on both your time and money.

Please share your feedback and experiences with Google News Publishing, E. Brian Rose, Google Red Carpet or No Cost Traffic Blueprint by Ben Shaffer.