Exactly right on with that comment. There's a place not too far away from where I live, a restaurant that does ZERO advertising, is in an out of the way location such that you'd have to be lost or purposely trying to find it, and their business is BOOMING. You have to get reservations at least two to three weeks in advance and this is in the dead of summer where holidays are more rare than the polar ends of any given year.
Absolutely Ridiculous:(snip)"The argument: Computer hardware prices are plummeting in any case. Experts say Google may one day start giving away PCs, reducing them to the equivalent of the free calculator you get when you open a bank account. The Google PC would come loaded with ad-supported software designed to keep people Googling - and not necessarily doing their work.A recent study by the Nielsen Norman Group found that employees spend 11 seconds a day, on average, glancing at ads surrounding free software. Clicking on ads wastes another 15 seconds a day. These are tiny increments of time, but they add up. Over a year, Nielsen Norman estimates, a free computer could easily cost a company $100 an employee in lost productivity. "Talk about speculative nonsense!This whole article is just absurd Google-bashing. Google is shaking up several markets - it's creating new niches and destroying old ones. This is A Good Thing. If you can't adapt your business, stop whining: It's called capitalism. And FORTUNE, of all publications, should know this.
I run a large adult website started in 2002. Since then we have grown to one of the largest in our niche, and are one of the originators anyways. We are the uhm consumer reports of pay porn, a review site. Google always loved our site, because honestly we didn't optimize at all, we just built it for people and google reacted well. About 2 months back one day I woke up to see our traffic was waaay down. As it turned out we lost about 85% of our google traffic that was steady as a rock for 4 years, in one day. It hasn't recovered, it's stayed rock solid at an 85% loss since then. Still can't put a finger on why it happened. It was about 60% of our total traffic. What it didn't turn into was a loss of a company. Even with such a dire problem, you have to be able to survive. We've turned to various ways of increasing our traffic, and are working to return favour of the google gods. Still, if I wasn't such an optimist it's a scary prospect for an online business.
I think the best way to take advantage of Google, is to jump in head first. As Tom6a mentioned, add your company coupons to your Maps listing. Make one up if you don't have one. Use Sitemaps and Analytics. Sometimes it's a pain [Sitemaps], but do the legwork. Use your best whitehat SEO... don't try to outsmart the guys who work at a place where PhD's mop the floor. Use Google Base, Froogle... whatever you can. Invest the time and do it the way they suggest you do it.Then of course, promote with people in your industry. Work with them, call them on the phone, follow up... build a working network with them. Continue to leverage other promotional techniques that have worked for your type of business in the past. Often you'll see a better return (if less consistent) with the old staples. Google is big for some people, but be able to trade on your name. If you couldn't, chances are you're overrated in Google anyways and living on borrowed time.I've worked for a few companies that have been very successful with their online presence, and can honestly say that playing it straight with Google and everyone else is the best way to go. If you're constantly trying to squeeze one more clickthru out of your site via SEO, you're probably wasting valuable effort that could be far more productive doing something else.
Now, that's a great idea I'd wish my phone had...8< - - - - - - -Cellphones already have cameras, goes the reasoning. So why not add a bar-code scanner? You could walk into an electronics store and scan a DVD player. Up would pop the price, along with Google ads for various area merchants, touting their lower prices on the very same item. "This is a logical direction for Google," says Roger Entner, a telecom analyst in the Boston office of Ovum, a research firm. "It would extend their advertising reach out onto the actual floors of merchants."- - - - - - >8It would be cool if it also searched store only within 50km radius, or would end up calculating the price of the petrol spent to go there and eventually gave a map. Or, as an alternative check the shipping price from onlines chops too.-- Freddo, dreaming again...
That guys a joke for what it seems putting all his eggs in one basket. If your running an online business you need to keep up with the times. You can't rely on only organic search engine traffic, it's only a small piece. Business owners need to start learning "Social Network Optimization". Using sites such as digg, social bookmarking, even the hated myspace (which can bring in massive traffic for a business), etc. etc.. Viral marketing, word of mouth - that can play a big role.
tom6aAug 24, 2006
Is there anyone out there that has tried adding Google coupons to their business since the announcement last week? That is one way business owners can take control and try to make a difference with Google.If you haven't seen it, here's the run-down:Google Maps Adds Coupons for Local Businesses<a class="user" href="http://www.omninerd.com/2006/08/15/news/877">http://www.omninerd.com/2006/08/15/news/877</a>
clerixAug 24, 2006
Exactly right on with that comment. There's a place not too far away from where I live, a restaurant that does ZERO advertising, is in an out of the way location such that you'd have to be lost or purposely trying to find it, and their business is BOOMING. You have to get reservations at least two to three weeks in advance and this is in the dead of summer where holidays are more rare than the polar ends of any given year.
mistaroblivionAug 24, 2006
Absolutely Ridiculous:(snip)"The argument: Computer hardware prices are plummeting in any case. Experts say Google may one day start giving away PCs, reducing them to the equivalent of the free calculator you get when you open a bank account. The Google PC would come loaded with ad-supported software designed to keep people Googling - and not necessarily doing their work.A recent study by the Nielsen Norman Group found that employees spend 11 seconds a day, on average, glancing at ads surrounding free software. Clicking on ads wastes another 15 seconds a day. These are tiny increments of time, but they add up. Over a year, Nielsen Norman estimates, a free computer could easily cost a company $100 an employee in lost productivity. "Talk about speculative nonsense!This whole article is just absurd Google-bashing. Google is shaking up several markets - it's creating new niches and destroying old ones. This is A Good Thing. If you can't adapt your business, stop whining: It's called capitalism. And FORTUNE, of all publications, should know this.
darkmistAug 24, 2006
Did anyone notice that the Title bar said September 1, 2006. This must be REALLY OLD that was over 4000 years ago...Reported
Closed AccountAug 24, 2006
I run a large adult website started in 2002. Since then we have grown to one of the largest in our niche, and are one of the originators anyways. We are the uhm consumer reports of pay porn, a review site. Google always loved our site, because honestly we didn't optimize at all, we just built it for people and google reacted well. About 2 months back one day I woke up to see our traffic was waaay down. As it turned out we lost about 85% of our google traffic that was steady as a rock for 4 years, in one day. It hasn't recovered, it's stayed rock solid at an 85% loss since then. Still can't put a finger on why it happened. It was about 60% of our total traffic. What it didn't turn into was a loss of a company. Even with such a dire problem, you have to be able to survive. We've turned to various ways of increasing our traffic, and are working to return favour of the google gods. Still, if I wasn't such an optimist it's a scary prospect for an online business.
l0t3kAug 24, 2006
I think the best way to take advantage of Google, is to jump in head first. As Tom6a mentioned, add your company coupons to your Maps listing. Make one up if you don't have one. Use Sitemaps and Analytics. Sometimes it's a pain [Sitemaps], but do the legwork. Use your best whitehat SEO... don't try to outsmart the guys who work at a place where PhD's mop the floor. Use Google Base, Froogle... whatever you can. Invest the time and do it the way they suggest you do it.Then of course, promote with people in your industry. Work with them, call them on the phone, follow up... build a working network with them. Continue to leverage other promotional techniques that have worked for your type of business in the past. Often you'll see a better return (if less consistent) with the old staples. Google is big for some people, but be able to trade on your name. If you couldn't, chances are you're overrated in Google anyways and living on borrowed time.I've worked for a few companies that have been very successful with their online presence, and can honestly say that playing it straight with Google and everyone else is the best way to go. If you're constantly trying to squeeze one more clickthru out of your site via SEO, you're probably wasting valuable effort that could be far more productive doing something else.
freddoAug 24, 2006
Now, that's a great idea I'd wish my phone had...8< - - - - - - -Cellphones already have cameras, goes the reasoning. So why not add a bar-code scanner? You could walk into an electronics store and scan a DVD player. Up would pop the price, along with Google ads for various area merchants, touting their lower prices on the very same item. "This is a logical direction for Google," says Roger Entner, a telecom analyst in the Boston office of Ovum, a research firm. "It would extend their advertising reach out onto the actual floors of merchants."- - - - - - >8It would be cool if it also searched store only within 50km radius, or would end up calculating the price of the petrol spent to go there and eventually gave a map. Or, as an alternative check the shipping price from onlines chops too.-- Freddo, dreaming again...
davidnycAug 25, 2006
That guys a joke for what it seems putting all his eggs in one basket. If your running an online business you need to keep up with the times. You can't rely on only organic search engine traffic, it's only a small piece. Business owners need to start learning "Social Network Optimization". Using sites such as digg, social bookmarking, even the hated myspace (which can bring in massive traffic for a business), etc. etc.. Viral marketing, word of mouth - that can play a big role.
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