Google seems destined to dominate the web (aka Shades of
Big Brother) for years to come… keeping a close eye
on all our Internet activity with large databases
tracking our every (abiet aggregate) move. Since privacy
has become an antiqued and obsolete word in our ever
increasing public world, this can be very disconcerting.
And it is not just the web, Google is branching out in
so many directions, it will play a major role in our
daily lives off-line as well as online.

Regardless of whether you love or hate Google, you must
not ignore the importance it will play in the success of
your website or sites. As a webmaster you must take full
advantage of what Google offers or face an uphill battle.
As an online marketer it would be just as unwise not to
explore all avenues of this gentle giant.

Years ago, I joined the Google Adsense program where
webmasters place the targeted Adsense advertising code
on their webpages in order to receive a small share of the
advertising revenue. It changed forever how I viewed Google.

As a struggling webmaster and marketer, I have to admit,
receiving those Monthly commission checks from Google
was a Godsend. They still are. Acquiring a high PageRank
and receiving all that free targeted Google traffic is an
even greater Godsend. It has put my sites in the black and
keeps them producing revenue, month after month.

Google presents a legitimate way of monetising your site
or sites. It gives you a monthly cash flow that covers your
hosting fees and provides you with a monthly income from
your sites. It can be a great starting point for anyone wishing
to earn an online income. Google must be explored and utilized
to give you this monthly income.

Regular readers will know I like to keep things simple, as
simple as possible.

So lets put to one side the very complicated and risky
endeavor of using Google Adwords advertising to bring
targeted traffic to your site for this usually takes some
training and skill to get right. In other words, you have
to know exactly what you’re doing or you may lose a lot
of money. However, if you want to learn more about this
advanced Google profit system, the best resource is still
Chris Carpenter’s Google Cash.

But for now, lets keep things real simple. I always take the
simplest route where possible.

Google Cash File

I keep a very popular page on my site called Google Cash File
– it explains my simple methods of working Google to bring
in a monthly income. Just simple steps you can take to earn
money from Google. You can find the link to this Google page
in the Resource Box below. Granted, you can spend money
on info products and software but you don’t have to, I started
with all free information and worked my way up. As I earned more
income, I invested some of it in good software like Brad Callen’s
Keyword Elite… but again, you can use all free programs
and resources to earn money from Google.

Here are four revenue sources from Google that I use:

Google Adsense I use Google Adsense code on all my webpages…
visitors click on these targeted Adsense ads and I earn a small
percentage of the ad revenue.

I also earn by marketing three Google Referral Products through
the Adsense program:

Adsense Referral I get $100 for each referral I make to Google,
as long as that referral joins Adsense and earns at least $100.

Google Firefox Bar I earn $1 for each referral that downloads
the Firefox Browser and then uses the Google Search Bar. Might not
sound like much, but this quickly adds up.

Adwords Referral Google will pay me $20 for each Adwords
referral that spends $100 on Adwords advertising within 90 days.
Another good revenue stream.

If you have a popular site and promote these three Google
referral products along with the Adsense code, you will be
surprised at how much extra income you can earn each month.
Granted, Google is no way as generous as most of my other affiliate
programs I promote with my sites but Google is an Easy Sell!
People trust Google, people respect Google, but more importantly
– people like using anything Google. This factor simply means
more money for you if you take full advantage of Google’s referral
products.

In the resource box below you will find a link to a page
where I have listed all the techniques and methods I use to put
Google products on my pages to earn that monthly income.
Again, these are very simple steps you can take to make Google
pay you each month… so what’s keeping you from turning that
Big Brother into a wealthy Uncle (aka Cash Cow) who sends you a
generous allowance each month. It doesn’t get any easier than this.

Everyone is profiting for Google, find out how you can too! Click here: Google Cash File Copyright © 2006 Titus Hoskins. Get a Free Desktop Calendar & Planner. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Titus_Hoskins

You could start with same word as many times as you wanted and never end up in the same place twice. It was the information highway, and you went on a road trip. It was an ocean of information, and you went surfin’. We didn’t care what it was we were looking for at first, because we found all this other cool stuff we would have never known about.

Times have changed. Google pushed relevancy to the extreme. Or have they? Let’s face it, search engines are nothing more than word searchers, and add posters. Any good word processing program has a way for you to search a document for key words. That is what Google, Yahoo, MSN, and all the others do. It used to be the words would link to other words in ways you would have never dreamed. You would just follow those paths. Now these word search programs have become more and more advanced. Google has led the industry by taking good idea’s and making them better.

They took search engine’s to new level. They grew to such power that they are now shaping the world wide web into their vision. To not be indexed by Google is almost certain obscurity. So, you have to play by their rules. Yet, they keep changing the rules.

Google said content is king. Quantity of links determined popularity. And key words were aptly named because they were the keys to the indexing. Webmasters and Search Engine Optimization companies scrambled to meet Google’s demands. Google had become the most popular search engine because it promised relevancy to it’s users. Link farms, and link trading sites sprung up over night. SEO companies made huge profits giving advise that many never followed. Some found loop holes and used them to their advantage. To get to the top of Google required money, and/or, innovation. Google saw it’s rules were being bent, so, it changed the rules.

They have apparently decided that too much emphasis was on the links, at least the link trading. They still wanted content to be king, however bloggs were doing their share of bending that rule too. Just before the biggest shopping week of the year, they mixed it all up again. Many of those that were at the front, are now in obscurity. Some that were doomed into obscurity are now scrambling to meet the demands that they suddenly face. Everyone is in a rush to get their sites to meet the new Google standards. We now write articles, or use others, with key words used in very specific positions in hopes that the word search program we know as Google will find our site relevant to their users. They have launched new beta programs that will build new ways to determine relevancy.

One of those, allows Google to pier deeper into web sites than ever before. Google site maps beta. Good news is webmasters now have the Google ruler in front of them, and can now, instantly see how they measure up. They can now tweak their sites to conform to the Google mold. Bad news is, this is a stepping stone to a bigger shake up, and a mold made of concrete. They want to see what your users are doing on your site to help determine popularity, and relevancy.

This could lead to dead locks. A site will have to be popular to be at the front of Google. How do you get to be popular without being at the front of Google? If Google doesn’t send you traffic, then how do you get your site in front of everyone. The sites that get to the front will grow in popularity, while those at the back are forever doomed. Or, will they be?

Google is all about making money. How do they make money? With click through adds. The links Google says have the most relevancy are one way text links. Like an add. If your site is in obscurity, then you will have no choice, but to create good content and purchase adds. And, of course, one way to make money is to put Google adds on your article pages. Google is creating a money machine. Hey, I have no problem with that. I believe in free enterprise. The problem is in the content and relevancy. Remember Google got to the top by providing that to it’s users. When you typed in apples, you got apples. Do you really?

If content is king, then those with the most articles about a given subject will be at the forefront of a key word. I wanted to know how to make a motorcycle helmet. I typed in “How motorcycle helmets are made”. What I got back, was a bunch of sites trying to sell helmets. None of them had articles on how a helmet is made. I looked through page after page of Google listing and could not find the information I was looking for.

On the flip side, if I want to purchase some lingerie for my wife, and I type in lingerie, I don’t want to read about it. I want to see some lingerie, and make my selection at a safe, cheap, and secure web site. I don’t care about the history of lingerie, I just want my gal to look sexy. How do I know if the site at the front of Google is going to offer me the best deal? Granted Google, and other search engines have come up with shopping links. You can compare prices on the same item listed at many different sites. Cool, that is what I want when I shop. Then why is a shopping site listed in front of information sites when I type in lingerie? What happened to all the cool sites I used to find when I typed in apple?

I don’t think the relevancy problems are going to be fixed any time soon. Not until someone splits the web. At least two sections. Shopping, and information. If I have lingerie for sale, should not my site be indexed on shopping experience. If I am a search engine, and someone wants to shop, I should want to provide them with the best possible shopping experience, at the best possible prices, and the best possible selection. All the shopping sites are trying to fit the Google mold so creativity is lost.

For instance, Google frowns on javascript. I can’t have fun javascript pages and get to the front of Google. I thought it would be cool if I could create a virtual reality mall. The shoppers walk into the front door (mouse manipulation) and tour the mall and look at the various shops. Will never be indexed. I want to create a super clothing store where shoppers can but shoes, purses, clubwear, lingerie, sportingwear, and accessories. Too many departments depletes your relevancy in any one department and destroys your indexing power. Google has destroyed web surfin’. Web users and web builders are now conforming to what Google says is relevant. Will this ever change? They greatest thing about the web is, it is ever changing.

The industry started with Apple computers and is now at Google. Bill gates started making a program with a bunch of guy’s that eventually formed Apple Computers. Bill Gates went on to form Microsoft. The leaders of Google came from Microsoft. Who knows what, or who will sprout off next. It started with Apple, and may end in Zebra.

James Newton ownes and operates a retail store and a web site called Hot Stuff Leather and Lace [http://www.sweetdeal4u.biz], where he hopes to be at the top of Google one day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Newton

Jagger

First, let’s discuss Jagger… Just like hurricanes, Google updates have names. (A Google update is a change to the way Google determines its rankings. Google makes these changes periodically, and they’re universally feared because they can impact dramatically on a website’s ranking.) The latest update is called Jagger, and it has search engine optimizers (SEOs) all around the world in a state of panic.

Why was Jagger such a fearful update? Simple… With Jagger, Google once again outsmarted huge numbers of SEOs. You see, many/most SEOs spend their time (and their clients’ money) trying to trick Google into thinking that their websites are more relevant and important than they really are. They do this mostly by swapping links, buying cheap links, and placing links on free directories. While there’s nothing wrong with these sorts of links (i.e. they’re not considered ‘black-hat’), they don’t really show that the site is relevant or important. All they really show is that the site owner has made a deal with another site owner. In these deals, the incentive for the linking site owner is a reciprocal link, money, or increased link volume. Google much prefers it when the linking site adds the link simply to enhance the value of their content or to increase their own credibility and authority.

In other words, Google wants its search results to contain relevant, important sites, not sites that merely appear to be relevant and important. To this end, Google invests millions of dollars and employs the world’s smartest mathematicians to create algorithms which identify sites that are trying to trick them. And that’s exactly what Jagger did; and when it found those sites, it simply adjusted their ranking to more accurately reflect their true importance. (Unfortunately, it also demoted some sites which actually deserve a high ranking. It is hoped that these mistakes will be ironed out with future minor updates, but that’s a topic for another article…)

From a technical standpoint, Jagger was well described by Ken Webster in his article, http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/Jagger. To summarize, Jagger:

1. Increased importance placed on IBL (Inbound Links) Relevancy?
2. Increased importance placed on OBL (Outbound Links) Relevancy?
3. Promotion of relevant Niche Directories (related to #1 & #2)?
4. More weight thrown back to PR @ top domain?
5. Increased importance on AdSense placement relevancy?
6. Possible introduction of CSS Spam filtering?
7. Overall Blog demotions?
8. New and unresolved “canonical” issues?

Some more interesting effects were reported by WG Moore in his Jagger article – http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2005/nov/9.html. Mr Moore runs a number of test sites for SEO purposes. By monitoring the links to his test sites as reported by Google, he established that:

“all reciprocal links had vanished. We think that this is because Google is down-grading or eliminating reciprocal links as a measure of popularity. This does make sense, actually. Reciprocal links are a method of falsifying popularity. Sort of a cheap method of buying a link, if you want to think of it that way… During the second week of the Jagger Update, a few of our reciprocal links did come back up. However, we also noticed that these were from places where we had highly relevant content. They came from articles where we discussed our area of expertise: Web Analytics, or from forums where we had relevant threads. So we feel that these links came back because of content, not linking.

The other group that came back up was one-way inbound text links, regardless of the originating web site. These links also had strong relevance to our web analytics business. In other words, they contained keywords and/or phrases related to our site and its business.”

In short, Jagger undid the hard work of thousands – if not millions – of people! As a result, hard-won high rankings and revenues plummeted.

Interestingly, article PR (article submission) came through Jagger seemingly unscathed. My SEO copywriting website, for example, went from no.4 to no.1 worldwide for “copywriter”, and I’ve employed article PR almost exclusively. Whether it was promoted or the sites around it were demoted, one thing is clear: article PR is one of the best ways to obtain a high ranking.

Google Analytics

The second monumental event to occur recently was Google Analytics – http://www.google.com/analytics/index.html. Google Analytics is a free web-stats solution which not only reports all the regular site stats, but also integrates directly with Google AdWords giving webmasters and insight into the ROI of their pay-per-click ads. According to Google, ” Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site.”

Why is this such a landmark move? Because for the first time ever, Google will have access to your real web stats. And these stats will be far more accurate than those provided by Alexa – http://www.alexa.com . Furthermore, Google’s privacy statement (http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy.html) says: ” We may also use personal information for auditing, research and analysis to operate and improve Google technologies and services.” Now let’s put two and two together:

1. Google is ‘giving’ every webmaster in the world free access to quality web-stats.
2. Millions of webmasters will accept this ‘gift’, if only because it integrates directly with their Google AdWords campaigns.
3. Google will then have full access to the actual web stats of millions of commercial websites.
4. Google will have the right to use these stats to develop new technologies.
5. What’s the next logical step? Google will use these statistics to help determine its rankings, of course!

It should come as no surprise. It’s been on the cards – and frequently discussed – for a long time. For example, Jayde Online CEO, Mel Strocen, recently published an article on this very topic http://www.site-reference.com/articles/Search-Engines/The-Future-of-WebSite-Ranking.html. She quite rightly asserts that:

“Google’s “democratic” vision of the Web will never be achieved by manipulating algorithm criteria based on content. It will only be achieved by factoring in what is important to people, and people will always remain the best judge of what that is. The true challenge for search engines in the future is how to incorporate web searcher input and preferences into their ranking algorithms.”

In fact, the Jayde Online network already owns and operates a search engine, http://www.ExactSeek.com, which incorporates user popularity statistics in its rankings.

The Future of Search & SEO

To date, ExactSeek is the only search engine which uses visitor stats as criteria for its rankings. But Google isn’t far behind. We all know that Google specializes in taking a good idea and implementing and adapting it brilliantly. This is exactly what we’ll see in this case. By combining link popularity and user popularity statistics, Google will be the only major search engine to consider both what other sites think of your website and what your visitors think of your website. And because they have the most advanced algorithms for assessing link popularity, and will soon have access to the farthest reaching, most accurate web stats to assess user popularity, its competitors will be a long time catching up.

So if that’s the future of search, what’s the future of SEO? The future of SEO is undoubtedly one where:

* one-way text links from relevant pages continue to be the most valuable links
* reciprocal linking continue to decline
* the ’shotgun’ approach to link buying declines
* mass email link requests decline
* free directory submission declines
* niche directory submission increases
* article PR (article submission) increases
* article submission sites (e.g. http://www.ezinearticles.com , http://www.goarticles.com , and http://www.articleblast.com ) play a much bigger and more important role in helping online publishers locate quality articles (due to the increasing article volume)
* user popularity is just as important as link popularity, which means:
o the quality of article PR improves in order to increase site traffic, credibility, and loyalty
o the quality of website content improves in order to convert traffic and encourage repeat visits

Clearly, the choices for SEOs will be pretty much limited to paying for links at niche sites and/or engaging in article PR. Being an SEO copywriter, I may be a little biased, but for mine, article PR is the hands-down winner in this comparison:

* It satisfies Google’s criteria for relevance and importance. Linking site owners include your article and link because, in doing so, their site becomes more useful to visitors, and their business gains credibility and authority.
* It generates hundreds of free links quickly enough to make it worth your while, but not so quickly as to raise red flags at Google (in the form of link dampening).
* Links are permanent and you don’t have to pay to keep them there.
* You get a lot of qualified referred traffic who already trust you and your expertise. This satisfies Google’s visitor popularity criteria, while at the same time bringing you a lot of extra customers.

For more information on article PR, read ‘How to Top Google with Article PR’ (articlepr.com/SEO_Article_Submission.shtml).

Conclusion

The lesson from Jagger is, don’t try and trick Google! They’ve got more money and more brains than virtually any company in the world. It’ll only end in tears! Don’t spend time and money trying to make your site look important and relevant. Instead, spend that time and money actually making it important and relevant! Content – the real content behind the optimization – is the answer. After all, whether it’s an article or a web page, it’s the content that keeps ‘eyes on paper’, and that’s what it’s all about.

Happy optimizing!

Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and article submission and article PR specialist. He is a director of article PR company, Article PR, and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit DivineWrite.com or ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glenn_Murray

It has became a virtual cash-cow for those who have
mastered Google with their marketing techniques.
They know a number one spot for a competitive keyword
or keyword phrase in Google will usually prove very
lucrative, bringing in a steady automatic income.

Regardless of what the other search engines will attest,
seasoned webmasters also know getting a top placement in
Google will usually bring more traffic than a top placement
in MSN or Yahoo combined! Getting a number one spot in
Google for a popular keyword can prove very lucrative,
earning a webmaster revenue 24/7/365.

Therefore, webmasters have to optimize their sites and
keywords for Google if they want to turn a healthy profit.
Optimizing your webpages for Google is a complete industry
in itself, what you really have to keep in mind, besides
on-page optimization like keyword density, mega tags, etc.
is that Google places a great amount of weight on off-page
links and anchor text.

Google ranks all webpages on the Internet by a scale
of PR0 to PR10, higher is better. One-way links from
high PR sites related to your keyword or website theme
is highly valued and will usually move your site up on
the SERPs (Search Engine Return Pages). This is the major
factor why ‘article marketing’ is all the rage and why
articles are great building blocks for getting top
keywords and consequently extremely important for
earning you revenue, directly or indirectly from Google.

There are countless strategies for getting those top
keyword listings in Google. But in my opinion, one of
the best experts on the net for website SEO is Brad
Callen. His ‘SEO Elite’ is top quality SEO software and
his soon to be released ‘Keyword Elite’ will greatly
impact how keywords are used by webmasters and
marketers.

Once you have gained significant traffic, you can use
Google AdSense to earn revenue from your site or blog.
Google AdSense lets webmasters and bloggers earn
advertising revenue by placing the AdSense code on
their sites. These can be text links, images, or banners.
These AdSense ads will be directly related to your
page’s keywords. Top or highest paying keywords will
naturally return more revenue. AdSense ads are
extremely targeted and is an effective way of
earning money from your site. Learn more:
https://www.google.com/adsense

One of the undisputed top experts on using Google
AdSense is Joel Comm. A seasoned marketer who has
created some well informed products on Adsense — mainly
his Google AdSense Secrets ebook and courses.

Of course, Google gives marketers another option, you
can buy your way onto Google’s first page results by
using Google AdWords. This is the popular Pay-Per-Click
advertising system offered by Google. Perfecting the
AdWord system is an art form in itself; do it right and
you can create very lucrative cash streams. Do it wrong,
and you can create your very own personal money pits!
https://adwords.google.com/select

Therefore, it is strongly advised that you learn more
about AdWords before you risk your hard earned cash.
One of the best sources for Google AdWords is still
Perry Marshall’s excellent ebook ‘The Definitive Guide
to Google AdWords’. It will give you all the basics on
Google AdWords.

Just about everyone knows about Google’s two popular
programs AdWords and AdSense, but there are other ways
marketers can earn money promoting Google products or
services. Google has started to list products that an
affiliate can promote through the AdSense program. You
can earn money by promoting the Firefox browser with
the Google search box and you can also promote Google’s
AdSense program to other webmasters and earn money by
referring new users.

The next logical step for Google is to offer more
products through its AdSense affiliate program. Many
seasoned marketers are promoting Google’s AdSense, it
would be counterproductive for Google not to take
advantage and offer other products/services through
this marketing system. Its own products or other
closely related third party products. Many marketers
would gladly promote products under the Google banner
mainly because any Google branded product would be an
easy sale for most affiliate marketers.

Google pays monthly but you do have to earn $100 before
they send you a check. Getting a check from Google is
somewhat special, no matter what the amount, show your
family and friends a check from Google and their eyes
will pop open! If you’re an online marketer you may get
quite a few larger checks from different online companies
but nothing will get you the respect a Google check does.
Just goes to show how much Google has permeated into our
everyday lives.

Not that you need it, but it’s just another reason to
start earning money for Google. Try some of the programs
listed above and you will be smiling all the way to… now,
where the heck is that Google Bank?

……
Everyone is profiting from Google, find out how you can too! Click here: Google Cash File

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Titus_Hoskins

Having gold investment does not mean making you doing the traditional business like long time ago when people do the barter the goods they need with gold. This even has became the popular business that people like to do as one of their most beneficial investment. If you want to know more about bullion or gold bullion or how to buy bullion or how to buy gold bullion, you could check it out through this site goldcoinsgain.com this site would give you detail info about the benefit you could gain from this golds or silvers, platinums and palladium bullions coins. From that site you can browse the most well known items of those  golds or silvers, platinums and palladium bullions, the article about them , the comment from other collector or investor about those products, price, including the story or the background of each items for your reference.

There is nothing you need to doubt when you make an investment with this gold. Because other business such as property, foreign exchange or stock exchange could go down easily but the gold would remain quite stable compare to those other investment. Gold price always go higher and when you keep it personally, this items also resist with weather and any condition so you do not need to be worried to store them. Not like money where it can easily torn and destroyed just by water and temperature what more fire. Living in the time where people have to barter the goods for getting the food they need. Along with the revolution industry, people have changed this system into something that is more practical to use for barter, for saving and for transaction, it’s money !

However the more people develop, the more also industry get the chance to its expansion, it also change the way people think about earning, saving and investing money. Starting from working in the field, working in factory when the industry was just starting,  working at the office to earn money, until working with money to get money like what people do at stock exchange or index trading market. These are the progress that people have been through from time to time for earning, saving and investing. Among all of those old ways to earn, to save and to invest, there is another one that you should not forget to dig more. It’s Gold spot ! Spot gold price is a price where the market is buying and selling spot gold and used as a benchmark for the price of gold. Gold price never goes down, in fact gold prices always go up. So learn about this spot gold price more if you want to get a better deal in trading market and investment.

They could also deliver the ticket to your residence or to your office. The nice thing about this site is, they are not the same like other ticket seller who only offer you the most expensive ticket one. This site would give you just according to what you need and what you prefer. They would adjust with your pocket and therefore they call themselves cheap seat. They would help you to select the ticket that cold suit with your budget, either that is for Key Arena Tickets, Radio City Music Hall Tickets or Spiderman Tickets.

So you can see now that having Key Arena Tickets, Radio City Music Hall Tickets or Spiderman Tickets which usually the hardest ticket to get, is not really that hard if you purchase it through this site and when other has to fight and almost like going to the auction to buy a ticket for those Key Arena Tickets, Radio City Music Hall Tickets or Spiderman Tickets. You do not even have problem to have one even cheaper! Imagine that ! how much money you can save without losing the fun

Sign up for the Google Adwords program is free but they require a $5 USD deposit before they will start to display your ad copy. Google provides an excellent interface to work with. A pleasant modular design groups all of your work into nice “containers” that can be manipulated and viewed in a variety of ways.

The system reporting is by no means real time but the delay on their results display is palatable when comparing them to the other major PPC provider, Yahoo-Overture.

A nice feature that sets Adwords apart from other PPC providers is that your ads display almost instantly after you place them in their system. They have built a lot of their editorial guidelines into the ad entry system.

Their system will flag your ad before you can enter it if it doesn’t meet their terms of service . That is a lot better than waiting 2-5 business days to find out if your ad had a problem or not. Time is money.

Also provided with your Adwords account are a number of free tools to help you with your campaign management.

While several of these tools are great starting points I have found the need to augment what Google provides through my own online research, tools and software as well as e-book purchases.

The lesson learned, everybody that uses Google Adwords has access to the same tools that you do, including your competitors. It goes without saying that if you want to get an advantage here you will need other resources to supplement your knowledge other than what Google provides.

Having said that the Google Adwords system is still extremely powerful . Providing you with keyword suggestions, automated bid management, campaign optimization (by Google staff), geo-targeting, roi tracking, and all the reporting you can handle, their system allows you a b level of control over your spending and the ability to truly identify who your customer really is.

What I really like about the Adwords system is the fact that the guys with the most advertising dollars are not guaranteed to win any particular market.

Google tracks the Click Through Ratio (the percentage of people who see your ad and click on it) for each of your ads and keywords. Their system gives you a better position in their display listings if more people are clicking on your ads.

Why do they do this?

To reward people who take the time to write relevant ad copy and marry that to a tightly relevant keyword list.

You see, Google will reward you for doing your homework . The time you invest studying and learning their system will save you money , which can be just as rewarding as making money.

Hey, if I could afford 5 dollars a click I would pay it, but I can’t. I need to lower my advertising costs while at the same time generating as much targeted traffic to my site as possible.

Unfortunately, my experience with their support system does not paint as rosy a picture of the mighty Google . In general, their online information is pretty good. It will solve your routine questions such as “when exactly does my credit card get billed? ) ” quite well.

Google’s support system seems geared towards keeping you off the phone with them. They like to refer to their repository of online documentation and use template driven email communication.

In instances where I needed specific information (i.e. why is this keyword disabled even though I created a brand new campaign to put it in?) I received “canned” emails with my support persons name “pasted” into the email.

Often times I was required to send them another email asking if they had even read my first one and to get the answer I was REALLY looking for.

At the end of the day I was left feeling that eventually my problem was going to be solved I just wasn’t sure when that was going to be and how many times I would have to contact them in order to get the answer I really wanted.

Typical Costs associated with Running an Adwords Campaign

There’s two ways to approach this:

Are you going to manage your own campaigns?

or

Do you want to leverage someone else’s experience and invest money in a company that can manage your Adwords campaigns?

Let me suggest that you manage your own accounts at least in the beginning . Start small and start collecting reference materials while you learn how the system works.

Search for other products and resources that can help you but keep in mind some of them won’t work out . Don’t let that stop your research, there is material out there that can truly help you and save you a lot of money.

Investing in a $40 e-book is a lot cheaper than blowing $500 or more with Google while you are learning the ropes .

Having said that if you want to get a successful campaign started now you can enlist an SEO company to manage your Adwords campaigns.

The question is: How will you know who to trust?

You can burn several thousand dollars for overpriced, untargeted traffic if you let the wrong companies manage your campaigns. How can anyone honestly know what to look for in an Adwords Management company if you haven’t even tried the system out for yourself? Food for thought. If you manage your own campaigns at first you will get a feel for the system.

Campaign Costs

Ok, let’s talk about the typical costs you can expect running a Google Adwords campaign. The good news is Google Adwords gives you the potential to reach millions of surfers in a matter of minutes for pretty much as little money as you want to spend.

The bad news is after the novelty of having an Adwords account and setting up your first few campaigns wears off it can begin to feel like a ball and chain. There are a lot of monotonous tasks that have to be managed daily and it can be a tough thing to manage unless you are a disciplined person.

Before you spend money on campaigns and resources acquire this mental discipline. Realize before you begin that it isn’t going to be fun after a while. Google Adwords is a business tool, one of many, and as such it has it’s advantages and flaws . It can make you a lot of money or it can cost you a lot of money and create a lot of stress for you depending on your ability to consistently manage your campaigns.

Ok, your minimum initial deposit is $5 to get started as we learned above. Start here, and I suggest resisting the urge to JUMP in and start spending like crazy… stay at or near this $5-$50 level of investment until you use it up .

You’re not going to see any returns on this investment financially but you will gain valuable knowledge of how best to use the Google Adwords System to generate income without learning the hard way.

You have a lot of learning to do before you want to start pouring money into your account. Google is in the business of making money and their system makes it “REALLY” easy to spend as much as you want.

Minimum bids start at a reasonable $0.05 USD. After developing your keyword list and dumping it into Google’s system you have to start making financial decisions.

If you take Google’s suggested bid prices for your keyword list you can pay a lot of money for your web traffic depending on how large your keyword list is and how much traffic these keywords generate.

Rest assured Google’s system will provide you a lot of traffic quickly if you want to pay for it. It’s not uncommon for Google’s big management system to suggest max bids in the $20 – $30 range.

You don’t have to accept these outrageous suggestions of course so your first big money saver is to lower the max bid to something you find acceptable and enter it for all of your keywords.

Please note Google’s system will not charge you this full amount unless someone else is willing to pay that much for the keyword. Leave this number set higher if you want to produce a lot of clicks quickly.

Bidding into position’s 1-3 will deliver the most traffic, but will be less targeted than position’s 4-6.

Position 1 will get the most clicks but many of these clicks will be untargeted “impulse” clicks. Taking the time to scan all the way to position 6 in the listing and click on the advertisement at that position suggests that the searcher is extremely interested in the subject being advertised.

Over time you will learn which keywords are making you money and which one’s are simply too competitive for your budget. Google’s campaign tracking abilities in conjunction with other 3rd party ad tracking software can help you identify these profitable keywords and track your website visitors.

Unfortunately every system can only provide so much traffic and you will find the larger companies can afford to bid pretty high for more general, high traffic keywords because they can afford it.

Large companies will pay $5 for general keywords like “credit cards” because they know over the lifetime of using a credit card they will recover their investment.

The big boys can squeeze you out of the Google Adwords World just as easily as in the “real world”. Of course it’s not all “doom and gloom”. You still have a powerful and relatively inexpensive tool in your hands if you can exploit niches and find the “bargain” keywords.

Google’s system of tools leaves you high and dry in this respect unless you have a lot of money to blow on “throwing out a wide net” by trying a large keyword list and then refining your campaigns as you start to get clicks and track your conversions.

You can get a lot of garbage clicks by bidding your way to the top for general keywords . This is expensive, less targeted, and lower converting than if you bid to position 3-5 or spend time finding the less expensive niche keywords (using your third party software or e-book techniques).

Chances are when bidding on more general high traffic keywords you will be competing with large companies and competitors using SEO company services to manage their campaigns.

These companies can afford to pay a lot more than you or I for their clicks. In order to counteract this you need to tightly target your campaigns and find niche keyphrases to be profitable with Google. I can’t stress this enough.

To make proper decisions you will need to gather as much data as you can on how the Adwords system works. Obviously, you won’t have this data until you run a campaign or two which is why I suggest running your own Adwords Campaigns for a while to get familiar with their system.

Study the stats provided by Google which are really quite good in conjunction with one or more 3rd party stats tracking packages.

You will start to notice trends in the numbers which will allow you to make more effective use of your time and money by bidding only on the keywords that are generating sales.

Analysis may also prompt you to tweak your site content if you notice a niche you want to start competing for (better yet start up another site or tier two web page on your site targeting that niche and remove these keywords from the original campaign moving them into a new campaign pointing to your new content).

Minor tweaks can save you BIG money using Adwords

Some Notes on Scalability:

Google allows you to bid on 3 types of keyword matching options which immediately gives you three times the keywords to bid on without any more brainstorming on your part.

Each matching option provides different results and should be managed on a keyword by keyword basis.

Google also provides two methods of displaying your ad on their network: Content Match Listings and Search Network Listings .

Effectively this allows you the potential to be noticed by:

1) anyone searching on Google’s portal

2) anyone searching portal sites that get their search results from Google

3) anyone viewing a site displaying Google’s ads that has content related to the keywords you bid on.

4) anyone reading an email with content related to your keyword at Google’s free email service Gmail.

That’s a lot of options and a lot of potential exposure. Tweaking to find the right combination for your particular situation and spending requirements is something you simply have to do on an ongoing basis. I think the benefits are obvious to you by now.

A final word on costs. You may have noticed that I didn’t use a lot of numbers in my discussion of campaign costs with Google. What I think I have illustrated is a Google campaign truly can cost as little or as much as you want it to.

It can get you as much or as little traffic as you want it to. What kind of traffic it brings and how much it costs is up to you.

Where will your ads be displayed? More places than you might think:

At the time of publication AOL, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, AT&T Worldnet, EarthLink and Excite all get some or all of their search results from Google.

Content Match Listings vs. Search Network Listings

When user’s do a search on one of the Google family of portal sites your paid listings appear either along the top of the search results highlighted as sponsored listings or to the right of the actual search results in text boxes.

Your position on these search pages is determined by your keyword list and your bid for that keyword.

Your results with the Search Network Listings can be quite successful as long as you manage your account using some of the techniques suggested in this article.

Use the included Geo-targeting capabilities built into the Adwords system to ensure your ads display only in areas that are potential customers for you.

Content match listings appear as inserts on web pages not in search engine results pages. My experiences with the content Match Listings haven’t been as successful as with the Search Network Listings although I still use this option for some of my campaigns.

Google’s system analyses the content of web page and serves up ads to those pages based on the what it feels the page is about . A web page on motorcycles may feature ads about buying motorcycles, motorcycle catalogues, parts distributors … I think you get the idea.

And this idea is a good one since the ads it displays are usually pretty close to what you would think they should be. When you display ads on your website using Google’s Adsense program for example, you are effectively joining their content network.

A drawback to the content matching system is you can’t really know who is clicking on your ad. It could even be a competitor clicking on your ad from their own site! Google gives you the option of disabling either of these display methods if they aren’t working out for you with the click of a button.

You can do this on a campaign by campaign basis only enabling/disabling what is working for you. If you want to minimize your risk but still utilize the Content Matching system you do have an option.

You can set up a separate campaign with lower bid prices for your keywords and only enable content matching for this campaign. Remove the content matching option from your original campaign and voila! you’ve minimized your risk.

A few more notes on Google Campaign Optimization

I can’t stress enough the importance of getting a good Click Through Ratio (CTR) for your best target keywords. Google has really offered you a chance to save some big time money if you know how to get a good CTR for your ads and keywords.

Getting a good CTR allows Google to sell more ad space which makes them more money. Google transfers some of this money to you the advertiser by increasing your ranking within their search results it displays for your keywords, at no additional cost.

That’s right, if you can write relevant ads for your target keywords you don’t necessarily have to pay the higher bid prices for those keywords that your competitors are paying. More money saved!

Advantages of the Google Adwords System

- Highly configurable system with an intuitive web-based interface.

- Reporting system is near real-time so you can tweak campaigns on the fly

- Since their system is web based you can access your account at any time.

- Good list of Free tools and guides (although third party tools may still be required)

- Rewards advertisers that pay attention to providing relevant content to their search clients not necessarily the highest bidder. Get a better CTR and your ads are cheaper.

- Geo-targeting capabilities. Target by City, Country or display your ads Globally.

- Multiple ad delivery systems. Content and Search listings, Partner Network listings, Email.

- Multiple keyword matching options including the ability to ‘filter’ keywords.

- Reasonable minimum startup cost of $5 with no monthly minimum spend requirements

- They have licensed their search results to several other large search engines improving your web site’s exposure to people that don’t use Google as their main search portal.

- Free ROI tracking tools.

- Minimum bid is a reasonable $0.05 USD.

Disadvantages of the Google Adwords System

- Learning curve can cost you a lot of money.

- Not the most expensive PPC search engine but certainly more expensive than all other PPCs except Yahoo-Overture

- Click fraud is an unavoidable risk.

- Content matching system does not always deliver the same ROI as their search listings. If both ad delivery systems are enable for a particular campaign the content match results can lower your overall campaign CTR and get keywords disabled.

- Support system is email template driven. It can take you a few tries to get the information you REALLY need from Google’s support.

- Interface does not indicate what your competitors are bidding, only the maximum bid for any particular keyword, making the implementation of bidding strategies much more difficult.

Google Adwords Resources: Google Adwords Homepage

About the Author

Michael Lawrence is the webmaster for the Cobrasurf Directory of search engine optimization resources. He also publishes an SEO Blog, SEO Web Guide featuring SEO articles, news, tools and services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Lawrence

However, behind the king’s business expansion that the software analyzes a number of experts doubt that even Microsoft’s insistence. In fact, if the percentage of Yahoo and Microsoft in online advertising revenues combined, the accumulated value is 33 percent. Meanwhile, today Google is collecting only the highest points in the business field with the acquisition of virtual world advertising reached 58 percent.

So far, Microsoft and Yahoo are always trying to topple Google’s dominance with its own way. Dozens of subsidiary established to build an Internet business networks to undermine Google. However, they eventually lost popularity precisely advertiser, as Google’s more robust fester.
Technology analyst, Paul Saffo, considered that if the acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft, then Google’s success is indeed worthy of concern. However, Google has the power first to create and control sites have become virtual surfer lifestyle (browser) it’s not easy to conquer challenges Yahoo-Microsoft coalition. “Google has created a new culture so I’m sure it will be difficult to conquer,” he said.

Internet company Yahoo is a pioneer in Silicon Vallley employing young people and computer maniacs known as the organizer of the football competition. The workers at the company’s work in small rooms and has a conference room called the “lump of Monkey”.

Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Wash., employs at least 80 thousand employees. The main business of running the company is in the field of software and systems company famous for the traditional and conservative. The hallways at the company is always empty because of the employees working in enclosed spaces with a strict written protocol. “Yahoo is a very innovative company. Five years ago they almost mastered the virtual world of business sectors, “explained Roger technology industry observers Kay. “But they stopped innovating when the world go round and left them a more old-fashioned,” continued the President of research institutions that Endpoint Technologies Associates.

In essence, Saffo said, with a significant difference that, Yahoo and Microsoft have a very small chance to exist and move Google. If in the end the two companies are able to overcome differences significant among both the management of new possibilities will emerge. “This issue is now widening, and not just stuck in the struggle for market share alone. The key was on innovation, “said Saffo. “Google has quite a lot of innovation. Well, now lives waiting to see if Yahoo and Microsoft can innovate.

A little history

Microsoft, the world’s largest software vendor, has been around for quite a long time. Its target market is mainly selling operating systems and office applications for the desktop computers. Microsoft products are sold to computer manufacturers, i.e. Dell Computers, who in turn install and ship Microsoft software package to the consumers. So in a sense, consumers end up writing Bill Gates a $100+ check without ever knowing it. This is how Microsoft became to dominate the computer desktop industry and turned Bill Gates into modern day Henry Ford.

Google, on the other hand, is a relatively new company. It blossomed during the dot com boom, and eventually came to dominate the online search engine business. Today, Google attracts more than 200 million unique queries on its search engine every day; statistically speaking, each query generates 12 cents for the company…that is 8 zeros multiplied by 12! Google, for the most part, profits through its search based advertisement technology known as Adwords. Adwords makes online advertisement approachable in terms of easiness and affordability. Adwords, combined with a similar technology called Adsense, made Google endless amounts of cash. Google, today, is the undisputed champion of the online world.

How they became enemies

“When you set out to take Vienna, take Vienna” – Napoleon

Until recently, both Google and Microsoft were living in harmony. The masses used Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to surf Google’s search engine. However, internet’s seemingly unstoppable growth since the early 2000 began to attract the attention of many industries. Microsoft executives clearly saw Internet as the next big thing; possibly a market worth pursuing. Meanwhile, Google continued to make unprecedented strides within its search engine market. Having generated enough cash, however, Google took a different direction; founded by technology enthusiasts, Google began to enter various markets unrelated to its search business. Rumors began to spread that Google is building an online “free” Operating System and various other tools such as an alternative version to the dominating Internet Explorer. This, as you might have guessed, ticked off Microsoft, and it took the bait and decided to roll its war drums against Google. Microsoft, by the way, is not the only company that feels threatened by its presence. Other internet giants, such as AOL, Yahoo! and eBay, are also feeling the heat ever since Google embarked on its journey towards dominating any market of technological interest. Google innovated in markets that already existed and, surprisingly, came about to dominating them. For Microsoft, it was a threat worth neutralizing. Today, Google has its hands in web search, email, online videos, calendars, news, blogs, desktop search, photo sharing, online payments, social networking, instant messaging, WiFi, word processors, web hosting, web browser, search tool bars, spreadsheets, discussion groups, maps and more.

Before long, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo! and eBay maneuvered to encapsulate Google’s ever-growing strength. Over two hundred years ago, Emperor Napoleon, the Google of his day, found himself in a similar situation. Russia, Prussia, Austria and Britain had decided to go to war.

The drums of war

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake” – Napoleon

Microsoft’s take on this war is quite different from that of Google. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, has repeatedly alleged that the online market is not a zero-sum game; in other words, it is possible for two or more players to dominate a large share of this market. Microsoft is not used to this. In the past it has decisively eliminated any competition, and taken the throne for itself. Consequently, Microsoft has publicly declared an all out war on Google.

Ironically, Google is the company that is on the attack; it has been aggressively pursuing Microsoft’s market. However, using clever tactics, it has intimidated Microsoft to appear as the aggressor, while Google quietly carries on with its business. In other words, Google has lured Microsoft into a rash attack; when it ends up in disaster, Microsoft will have only themselves to blame, and everyone around them will blame them, too. Google will win both the battle of appearances and the battle on the field. Very few strategies offer such flexibility and power.

It takes more energy to take land than to hold it. Throughout history, defensive tactics have won more battles than the aggressors. After the first wave of siege, the aggressor loses the advantage of surprise attack and leaves himself exposed to a counter attack. The defender can clearly see his strategy and take protective action. Napoleon’s most celebrated victory, the battle of Austerlitz was a counter attack, defeating a larger army with a kill ratio of 15 to 1. A defensive position has become the perfect way to disguise an offensive maneuver, a counter attack. Google has repeatedly asserted that it is not interested in competing with other businesses; it is a web search business only. They have used this facade to make Microsoft’s concerns with the company seem paranoid; a clever move that worked. The fact remains that Google is a powerful secretive company, driven by smart people, and for a cause.

Do No Evil

“In war the moral is to the physical is as three to one”- Napoleon

In his day, most emperors preferred to hire mercenary armies simply because maintaining a healthy army of their own came at too much of an expense. Napoleon reversed this setback by recruiting young French loyalists more eager to fight for a greater France than for the money. As a result, during battle, French soldiers swiftly defeated much larger mercenary armies. My point? Bring people together around a cause and you create a motivated force.

With a 60% stake in the U.S. web search market, one might expect Google to have mottos of the kind “Let Google do the searching” or perhaps “Search fast, search Google”. On the contrary, Google’s motto is a simple “Do No Evil”. Recently, web search companies were asked by U.S. intelligence agencies to transfer private data on user searches over to them; while other web search companies concurred with them, Google saw it as evil and denied. This decision alone drove Google’s shares dwindling down several points on the NASDAQ, but Google remained true to its “Do No Evil” maxim. Google has come to be seen as a company driven not by the incentive of making money, but rather by the pursuit of knowledge through technological innovation; as a result, the company has used this justification to convince its competitors that it is not interested in defeating competition, but rather providing easier access to information for everyone, and hence making the world a better place. Google keeps its business silent and only attracts attention to the technological goodies it has brought to the masses. In fact, Google’s Machiavellian tactics have worked so well that most of its users do not even know how or if Google makes money.

Google’s army of 7000+ employees are loyal to the company. Over at Microsoft, the employees, especially senior executives, feel caged within the company; leaving Microsoft for Google might bring a lawsuit from the company, as it did for Kai-Fu Lee. To Microsoft’s credit, Google is simply reaping fruit from the hype that Microsoft once enjoyed. Sooner or later, the quality and quantity of potential employees will inevitably decrease in size as the excitement around Google is neutralized.

Mobility through decentralized command

“Separate to live, unite to fight” – Napoleon

Genghis Khan, like Napoleon, was a master of mobility in war. In a very short period of time, his empire stretched from Korea all the way to Europe. Neither two conquerors could have expanded like they did if it weren’t for mobility. Mobility was the key to decisive maneuvering during battle. Varying in size, from 15, 000 to 30, 000 men, each corps was a miniature army headed by a miniature Napoleon. Fluid, Fast, and Nonlinear. At the battle of Ulm, Napoleon completely surrounded the Austrian army within a few hours; cutting off any channels of escape or reinforcements. The Austrian emperor was forced to surrender an army of 30, 000 soldiers.

For a large company like Google, the hierarchy within the company is quite small. Google organizes employees in teams of three to five people. Each team is self directed, while the middle managers provide the required resources to support development within the teams. As a result, Google has fashioned a powerful self-directed decentralized approach towards product development. The consequence of such an arrangement is that there is no keystone employee or manager within the company. It is almost as if the company could run on its own even if it were divided into several smaller pieces. Forbes magazine described the phenomena this way: “Innovation will flourish for as long as the masses are running Google. When management forcefully steps in, the pace of change will slow.” Microsoft, on the other hand, has a well known bureaucratic problem. There are over 12 layers of middle managers between executives and the developers. As a result, the company takes the course that its top managers set for it. Instead of allowing innovation to originate from developers, it flows from top level managers to code-monkeys at the lowest base. This is quite common in other companies as well. The natural tendency of a top manager in any company is to want to control the group, to coordinate its every movement, but that ends up tying the company to the past and to the slow moving armies in history. It takes strength of character to allow for a margin of chaos and uncertainty-to let go a little-but by decentralizing army and segmenting it into teams; company managers gain in mobility what they lose in complete control. A critical step in creating an efficient chain of command is assembling a skilled team that shares the same goals and values; once this is achieved, the top managers at Microsoft can contentedly allow the teams to think and direct on their own. As Joel Spolsky puts it, “The goal of any business owner should be to break his/her job into functional pieces that can be replicated over and over.”

“The goal of any business owner should be to break his/her job into functional pieces that can be replicated over and over.” – Joel Spolsky

Google Achilles:

“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets” – Napoleon

Napoleon demanded unprecedented loyalty from his men. When in 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to the mainland, King Louis XVIII sent the Fifth Regiment, led by Marshal Michel Ney who had formerly served under Napoleon in Russia, to fight him at Grenoble. Napoleon approached the regiment alone, dismounted his horse and, when he was within earshot of Ney’s forces, shouted “Soldiers of the Fifth, you recognize me. If any man would shoot his emperor, he may do so now”. Following a brief silence, the soldiers shouted “Vive L’Empereur!” and marched with Napoleon to Paris. The strength of his image echoed in the hearts and minds of, both, his allies and enemies. He described this himself as “I have destroyed the enemy merely by marches”
Whatever a company’s strength might be, it is actually a potential weakness, simply because the company relies on it: neutralize it and the company is vulnerable. A company’s task is to put its competitor in a situation in which it cannot use its advantage. Google’s advantage is its brand.

”Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult” – Napoleon

The Wall Street judges Google’s worth in terms of its shares value in the stock market. As of July 29, Google is trading at $388.12 per share, the highest bid/share I have ever heard. However, Google’s out of the charts performance in the stock market is a weakness in disguise. Wall Street isn’t thrilled with Google’s secretive style of management, so the investor loyalty could be swayed quite easily. Google will lose its extraordinary command of the NASDAQ as soon as conditions stop favoring them. Google might have a strong user base, but its investor loyalty is at dismay. Without Wall Street’s backing, Google will lose its share not only in the stock market, but in the public relations department as well. Google feeds off its brand, so any successful attack on its image will cripple the company even when it continues to generate cash.

Google depends on its hype. But hype does not stick around forever.

What Can Microsoft Do

”To extraordinary circumstances we must apply extraordinary remedies” – Napoleon

Google is successful not just for its technological innovation, but also for the command structure that makes this innovation possible and. Hence, to solely attack Google’s technology is a mistake since Google will always manage to innovate with quick decisiveness, as it has in the past. Google’s Achilles heel is its Adwords system; its money machine. Without it, Google can neither grow nor innovate.

The general rule for defeating any large army is to launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible. Whereas a defender must defend all their borders, an attacker has the advantage of being able to concentrate their forces at one place. By releasing, what seems to be a product every week, Google has stretched too thin. Aside from search and email, Google products are essentially at the mercy of another competitor, say Microsoft. Microsoft, with its MSN Search, cannot possibly defeat Google in search business, it is Google’s core business and the company will protect it however possible. Sun Tzu stated this in the Art of War as “Put your enemies in a spot where they have no place to go, and they will die before fleeting. If they are to die then, what can they not do? Warriors exert their full strength. When warriors are in great danger, then they have no fear. When there is nowhere to go, they are firm, when they are deeply involved, they stick to it. If they have no choice, they will fight to death.”

“Put your enemies in a spot where they have no place to go, and they will die before fleeting. If they are to die then, what can they not do? Warriors exert their full strength. When warriors are in great danger, then they have no fear. When there is nowhere to go, they are firm, when they are deeply involved, they stick to it. If they have no choice, they will fight to death“ – The Art of War

Microsoft should adopt a partial non-competitive strategy. Instead of publicly and pragmatically target Google’s main business, it should, with surgical precision, covertly attack products Google doesn’t pay much attention to. Google’s policy to let beta products become widely accepted organically is a weakness waiting to be exploited.

There are many non-conferential strategies Microsoft can adhere to:

1. The giant can enter markets that Google would never tackle; Microsoft’s success in the gaming and music industry strengthens this point. Furthermore, Microsoft can let its allies (i.e. Yahoo!, AOL, eBay etc) confront Google in markets Microsoft wouldn’t want to.

2. Google, with its recent release of Open Source project hosting, has subtly brought on its side a smart culture of developers who already dislike Microsoft. This form of passive strategy is what Google is best at. CEO Eric Schmidt once stated that a company’s success lies in its programmers. Microsoft can hire more talented engineers. If there are two equally intelligent students competing for the top position, all they have to do is study 5 minutes more than the other would. Taking that one extra step in hiring employees will have a significant impact on the company’s business.

3. Be more reserved. An attack kept silent has a better chance at succeeding than one that is clearly perceived and understood by the enemy. As Niccolo Machiavelli puts it “No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.”

“No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.” – Machiavelli

4. Decentralize product releases. Instead of passing product decisions through a layer of eleven managers, let the product innovation come from the engineers responsible for designing them. A much more effective road that Microsoft can take is to provide seed capital for other startups releasing products competitive to Google. This has several advantages. Startups are more focused and motivated. Microsoft wouldn’t have to expend excess resources into startups since they can also rely on other VC’s. Since startups can think and manage themselves, this will decentralize innovation and also rid Microsoft off its 11 layers of management.

5. As mentioned previously, Google’s vital organ is its ad delivery mechanism. If Microsoft successfully releases a better system for delivering advertisements, it will decisively capture Google’s hold on ad publishers. Due to Microsoft’s huge hotmail user base, the company has an excellent opportunity at delivering more targeted advertisements.

6. Lastly, Google focuses a very small team, usually 3 to 5 engineers, on its beta products. Microsoft can take advantage of this by focusing more resources on similar products. Even though, smaller teams innovate faster, larger, more resourceful teams, have a better chance at success. A successful product requires the collective effort of more than just the engineering department.

”Between a battle lost and a battle won, the distance is immense and there stand empires” – Napoleon

Conclusion

Napoleon’s tomb In the end, despite his genius, it was Napoleon who became overwhelmed by counter forces and lost. Unprecedented success often causes blindness. My advice for Google is to continue its rapid innovation but also put a tap on its uncontrolled product releases. As for Microsoft, despite the company’s several ill conceived tactics, it has a lot of potential for improvement and much to learn from its rival, Google.

Notes:

(1) Some excerpts were taken from “33 Strategies of War”.

(2) Despite the critical tone of this article, I can’t help but think how dull the tech world would be without either of these companies. I will gladly take down any part of this article if anyone at, either company, is disturbed by it.

(3) I didn’t write this solely for the purpose of comparing Napoleon’s strategies with that of Google or Microsoft. I wanted to write a piece that gave a strategic analysis for both companies. I wish I could’ve written some more on this subject, but thought most readers would fall asleep. I can’t write, I am an engineer.

(4) Any research on this article was done through Google. The article itself was written on Microsoft Word.

I am a jobless undergraduate studying Electrical Engineering at Ryerson University, Canada. My interests include military and corporate strategies, business, economics, history, religion/philosophy, politics, logic, technology, programming, electronics, mathematics, neurology, quantum physics, and cosmology. If you wish to contact me, I can be reached at biohazard@gmail.com, or python_kiss@hotmail.com and my website address is http://www.shuzak.com

To see this article with photos, go straight to http://shuzak.com/Personal/Napoleonic-Lessons-for-Google-and-Microsoft.php

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jawad_Shuaib

It gets complicated. And when I say complicated I mean Einstein-esque complicated. The Google PageRank explanation isn’t for the faint of heart. So… if you have heart conditions, blod clots, emphysema, are pregnant, nursing or could become pregnant… Look the other way… NOW!

Google PageRank History

Google PageRank was developed in the mid 90’s by Larry Page and Sergey Brin (pictured left) at Stanford University. The two worked tirelessly for 3 years on an algorithm that could produce a numerical ranking of webpages based on a number of factors (we’ll get to those in a second).

After a successful prototype was created in 1998, the two went on to found Google shortly after. The Google PageRank became the standard by which Google now ranks webpages.

The PageRank Algorithm

I’m going to zoom right through this part because this is where it gets complicated. I just want to show you the world famous algorithm.

PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

where

PR(A) is the PageRank of page A,

PR(Ti) is the PageRank of pages Ti which link to page A,

C(Ti) is the number of outbound links on page Ti and

d is a damping factor

This is the original Google PageRank algorithm as discovered by Page, and Brin. It has undergone a lot of changes since then, and the ACTUAL algorithm that is used now remains somewhat mysterious.

So What Exactly Is A PageRank?

Google PageRank is defined by a number from 0-10 (10 being the highest). It is, essentially, a vote of confidence from the community. The higher the PageRank, the more “trusted” your site is by Google. That said, the links from these sites are also highly trusted (more on that later).

What Does Google PageRank Mean To Me?

PageRank or PR, in short, means EVERYTHING! If you are aspiring to build a great site that generates tons of revenue and loads of daily visitors, PageRank is very important. There is a huge misconception floating around that Google PageRank also determines your search engine results placement (or SERP). This is not, and has never been true. On Google alone, it is a SMALL factor. When I say a small factor, I mean it is only one of a couple dozen factors. None of the other search engines use PageRank to determine their results.

That said, Google PageRank IS a very important statistic for a monetized blog or site. It is one of the deciding factors when determining everything from how much you charge advertisers, to the overall value of your site if you should go to sell it. Some sites even charge other sites for a link if their page has a high enough PageRank. I’ll get into this in a minute.

How Do I Get A High Google PageRank?

Pray! Actually the single most effective way to build a PageRank all has to do with a very basic blog principle. Write quality content! It’s that simple…. kinda.

Google PageRank is a system that relies heavily on links. Incoming and outgoing links are the biggest factor in your PageRank. You know how I’m always preaching “link love”? This is one of the reasons (besides my strong desire to better the community). Every link that comes into your site (linkback, trackback, backlink) is given a value. The overall value of your incoming links weighs heavily on your Google PageRank.

Every link is assigned a value based on how high the site that linked to you is rated. For example… if you had 1,000 incoming links from websites that don’t have a PageRank, it might not weigh as heavily as having 100 incoming links from a site with a PR 5. As I mentioned above, the higher the PageRank, the more trusted the site is. Therefore, when it comes to incoming links, the higher the PageRank of the links, the better your chances of increasing your PageRank. The higher your PageRank, the more leverage you have as a blogger.

There are also factors that you can’t control when it comes to PR. The older your site is, the more trusted it becomes and therefore, it is looked upon in a favorable way by Google. Google wants lots of pages, lots of incoming links to said pages, and lots of internal links to your pages. That means that you should try to link to as many pages inside your site as possible. This shouldn’t be hard, because it only helps your cause. A “recent post” category in your sidebar is an example of an internal link.

Some people even BUY incoming links from sites with a high Google PageRank. I don’t condone this on either end though. For one it costs money and it isn’t really cost effective for a new blogger. And secondly, the sites that do this are usually punished when Google finds out.

Conclusion

This was just the basics of how Google PageRank works. I’m no expert, but it should help you out as you are getting started. I hope this helps un-mystify PR a little bit.

In closing, I’ll tell you this… The fastest way to build Google PageRank is to get linked to, A LOT! Also, I mentioned that writing quality content was the way to build Google PageRank, and here is how. The more quality content you put into your blog, the more pages you accumulate. Google likes sites with a lot of pages. Also, the more quality content you write, the more you get linked to. Incoming links mean sweet PageRank improvement, and gaining a few awesome readers!

–Bryan Clark– is the webmaster at http://onemansgoal.com Catering to the beginning blogger, Bryan offers advice, tips, and strategies for turning your blog into a steady stream of revenue.

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