Google is a beast, at least that’s the only word that comes to mind in polite society. Some days it’s more of a beast than others. Most internet marketers have a love/hate relationship with Google. Some days they love it. Other days, Google’s owners probably have ears that are red and burning. They may even have a few voodoo dolls with their names and faces attached via stickpins, safety pins, or who knows what? Internet marketers are a creative lot. Why the hate?

Things seem to be going along great for a while. Your sites are rising in the rankings. Your income is starting to look great. You’re taking trips, buying houses, and even thinking about quitting your day job. Then, all of a sudden Google brings an animal into the picture and your world stops. Just like that, your website is lost in the obscurity of cyber space, your income has slowed to an occasional drip, and you have no idea what to do next.

Marketers who have experienced this know all too well how painful this experience is. They worked hard to move past the initial shock of it all and rebuilt their web interests after Panda, only to get keel-hauled by Penguin (version 1.0). Now Penguin 2.0 has come along and marketers are shaking in their boots about what this could mean for their websites today and in the future, when Google pull a few parrots or panthers into the zoo.

So, what can you do to survive now that Penguin 2.0 is in play and in anticipation of future updates and animals?

Diversify Your Income Interests

It’s nice to bring in money month after month from ad revenues and affiliate sales. However, when you come to rely on these things, you’re constantly at the mercy of Google. Your site must get traffic and you really need to rank well in order to get that traffic. It’s a never-ending cycle of high risk in anticipation of high reward.

It’s impossible to stress how important it is to cultivate multiple streams of income in addition to your efforts that rely on Google. That way you have a safety net when Google’s changes come along, and you aren’t desperately in need of quick (and often temporary) fixes to restore your lost income. Create your own information products, offer services, and consider Kindle publishing to bring in other streams of income so that you’re not floundering when these updates occur.

Become a Social Animal Yourself

Google’s bringing out the animals. It’s time for you to get your “Roar!” on too. Become a social butterfly if roaring isn’t in your nature and get involved in social media. Google puts a lot of store in your perceived social value and it will help build better relationships with potential customers in the meantime. This opens the door to even more business for your web interests and will help tide you over whenever Google isn’t behaving the way you’d like.

In addition to giving Google what Google wants most – quality content in abundant supply – on your websites, these are the best ways to recover from Google Penguin 2.0 and shore your web interests up before the next animal is released into the wilds of the World Wide Web.