Update! After posting this, I got distracted and added a “maintenance mode” plugin in for several months, which resulted in PR going back down to zero. Lesson learned.
Sometime today or yesterday Google updated its PR database. “Pagerank” is a somewhat nebulous term that seems to refer to how “popular” your site is – how many people are linking to you. Pagerank is important because a) it increases your site’s credibility and b) it probably makes the site rank higher in Google search results. Your pagerank only goes up when Google does an update – right now I think they do about 4 a year; so don’t worry if all of the things you’re doing don’t immediately pay off.
I’m happy that all of my websites and blogs went up at least one rank; most of those sites I’ve already had for four to five years. I was really surprised, however, that Creativindie.com jumped from PR0 to PR 3. This is especially awesome because I only registered the site a couple of months ago, I had an “under construction” sign (inaccessible) until this week, and there are so far only a couple of pages of content (I haven’t started writing most of the planned articles yet).
So – what did I do that was so damn successful? I bought backlinks on fiverr.com
Should I buy backlinks to increase my PR?
Everybody says that backlinks are crucial for website success, but many people also warn against buying them. They have to develop naturally, by people linking to your totally amazing content (or so people say). But out of curiosity, while I was browsing fiverr.com (a site that allows people to pay $5 for random services) I “bought” a few packages by people promising higher PR with backlinks. 1000 .edu backlinks, 1000 comment backlinks, 500 PR4/5 backlinks… all for $5 each. Pretty sweet deal. And obviously, it worked.
SEO, Backlinks and Google PageRank for Authors and Artists
I’ve seen SEO and internet marketing companies charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for backlinks or SEO services to increase Google PageRank. For around $30, I was able (as of June, 2011) to buy high quality backlinks from .edu and high-PR sites that brought a brand-new site to PR3, contrary to what a lot of internet gurus advise.
What does this mean for you? If you’re an indie artist or author trying to promote your art website, book website or other online creative venture, visibility is key – you must get seen before people like or share your work. Of course, having excellent content is important too, but you can’t risk ignoring simple things like Google’s Search Function (which will probably be the #1 way people find out about you…)
Have you used fiverr.com in the past? What for? How did it work for you? What other techniques have you used to increase your PageRank?

I’m a philosophy dropout with a PhD in Literature. I covet a cabin full of cats, where I can write fantasy novels to pay for my cake addiction. Sometimes I live in castles.
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