Since I was murdered by Google, my traffic has been shot on my two biggest sites. In the past, these sites each required their own dedicated server (each dedicated cost me $150/mo). I’ve kept these servers for 6 months now just in case my rankings came back. But this morning, I finally canceled my two dedicated server subscriptions and have moved those two sites each to their own $50/mo VPS.

I made this decision because I now believe that my rankings will never come back. I wouldn’t have spent the hours and hours needed to move this sites to a new host if I still had hope. And the move isn’t entirely bad. By doing this I go from paying $300/mo for the two dedicateds to only $100/mo for two VPSs. That’s a monthly savings of $200! And who knows, maybe by moving my sites to a new host/IP… Google will un-penalize me?

Just like every other business in the world, it’s all about downsizing and improving the bottom line. You need to find ways to cut costs, whether it’s new hosting or doing work yourself (instead of outsourcing it). Also, it’s time to trim the fat and sell of websites that don’t produce for you. It’s pointless to spend time on a website that doesn’t give you anything in return.

Check your network out for yourself. If you have excess diskspace/bandwith on your server, try downgrading or selling off some of the extra space. Don’t leave anything for waste.

For those of you wondering… I now have 3 VPSs all hosted with Servint. They are an awesome company. Have super fast servers and the best customer support I’ve seen. If you’re looking for a VPS, check them out. Put my name down on your order form and I’ll get a referral discount!