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If Google Died Tomorrow...

DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
edited September 2012 in Marketing
I`m a member of several different forums, and I`ve noticed that a lot of businesses have made a fatal mistake by putting all of their eggs into one basket when it comes to marketing. In other words, they`re going to sink or swim with Google.
 
Here`s my question: If Google ceased to exist tomorrow, would you be able to adapt and stay afloat financially? If so, how? Do you have a contigency plan?
 
Dale King
DKing12/19/2007 4:01 PM
«1

Comments

  • RichRich administrator Posts: 582 Site Admin
    dale,
     
    for us, people would use other search engines to find us, so we wouldn`t be negatively impacted.
     
    having said that, in a world where google does exist, we get a HUGE portion of our traffic from google searches...
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    Rich, this question wasn`t actually directed at someone like you, whom in my opinion is doing all the right things in regards to growing your business. From what I can see, SuN isn`t totally dependent on Google. Obviously, we`re all in bed with Google to some degree - some more so than others. But SuN has developed brilliant, diversified strategies of generating traffic and income. My hat goes off to you!
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/19/2007 3:12 PM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    While these are interesting responses, they don`t come close to answering my question which is:
     
    "If Google ceased to exist tomorrow, would you be able to adapt and stay afloat financially? If so, how? Do you have a contigency plan?"
     
    Again Rich, this question does not apply to you.
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/19/2007 4:02 PM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    You make it sound like this sort of transition in market leaders would happen overnight. 
     
    That kind of apathetic thinking and pervasive smugness is why I started this thread in the first place. I agree that the chances of Google going out of business are miniscule. However, it`s NOT impossible. While Google hasn`t come close to going out of business, it did devastate thousands of businesses back in November, 2003. Remember Florida?
     

    "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat past mistakes!"

     
    Dale King
    DKing12/20/2007 10:36 AM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    I thought I asked a relatively simple question. In fact, I asked it twice. Has one person reading this thread gotten my point? Just one?
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/19/2007 7:09 PM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    If you say, had all your eggs in the Google basket, it might be a bit of a rocky transition but I don`t think it would last long for most.  The web would be abuzz with new solutions!
     
     
    Steve, when Florida hit in November of 2003, thousands of businesses that were at the top of Google`s search results suddenly fell off the charts and were put out of business. Those businesses are gone, because they weren`t able to adapt to life without Google. Why? Because they didn`t have a contigency plan. And I`m seeing the same exact thing all over again, just four short years later. Apathy and no contigency plan.
     
    How soon we forget!
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/21/2007 12:44 PM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    The point of this thread was to get people to think about ways they can diversify their marketing sans Google. If I got just one person to do that, then this thread has served its purpose.
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/21/2007 12:45 PM
  • AsiaOrBustAsiaOrBust subscriber Posts: 3
    A quick look at your website made me curious about something, DKing..  Are you frustrated with people`s responses because your question was meant to be a rhetorical segue into a sales pitch for your services?
    AsiaOrBust12/19/2007 8:37 PM
  • stonesledgestonesledge subscriber Posts: 608 Silver Level Member
    Hi Dale,
     
    As with anything..don`t put your eggs in one basket! You are right, alot of folks may not think about campaignes other than google. It`s a valid point. Gotta diversify. What is the new opportunity? I think your guruknowledge site is great.
    Erin
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141

    Hi Dale, As with anything..don`t put your eggs in one basket! You are right, alot of folks may not think about campaignes other than google. It`s a valid point. Gotta diversify. What is the new opportunity? I think your guruknowledge site is great.Erin
     Thank you, Erin! I appreciate your kind words. The only reason I started this thread in the first place was to get people to think about diversifying their marketing campaigns. If I got just one person to do that, then this thread has served its purpose. Regarding my new opportunity, I`ve been challenged to use my marketing talents to develop a niche I`m totally unfamiliar with (pets) and build a profitable and successful online business within one year. I`m excited about doing that.  By the way, I slept on it last night, and I`m not going to shutdown or sell GuruKnowledge.org as I had originally thought about doing.. I`ve decided to keep it. I really love my site, and it supports me nicely. I just won`t be able to update it as frequently, once I start my new business. Happy holidays to you and your family, Erin! Dale KingDKing12/21/2007 12:47 PM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
       I believe what you`re getting in your responses, indicates that not everyone is so stuck on Google that they`d go out of business in another hurricane situation.
     
     
    Craig, what are you talking about? Nowhere on this thread did I say anything about a hurricane - nowhere. Where did you get that from? This thread is about insulating your business and diversifying your marketing campaigns sans Google. Period.
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/20/2007 1:16 PM
  • AsiaOrBustAsiaOrBust subscriber Posts: 3
     
     Craig, what are you talking about? Nowhere on this thread did I say anything about a hurricane - nowhere. Where did you get that from?
     You keep talking about "when Florida hit" in November of 2004, but you never explained what "Florida" was.  A hurricane doesn`t quite fit within the context you provided, but it`s not too huge a stretch for someone to have guessed that might have been what you were talking about.  What was `Florida`?
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    Yah, I just assumed "Florida" meant some weather shutdown or catastrophe. If not, then I have no idea what happened to Florida.

     
     
    Nothing happened to Florida. "Florida" is the name of  a particularly nasty Google algorithm change that occurred back in November, 2003, in which thousands of high-ranking websites, speciallly optimized to rank high in Google`s search results suddenly had their rankings lowered significantly - or worse yet - disappeared from Google`s search results altogether.
     
    Thousands of businesses were affected. Literally overnight, they suddenly had no website ranking and no traffic. Because they had put all of their eggs into one basket and had no contigency plan, many of those businesses never recovered and eventually went out of business.
     

    http://www.zeromillion.com/webmarketing ... pdate.html

     

    http://www.seotoday.com/browse.php/cate ... /index.php

     
    That`s why it`s a mistake to depend too heavily on Google or any advertising medium. You have to be smart and diversify your marketing efforts, because anything can happen!
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/21/2007 5:04 PM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    So your point is that you either want people to diversify or you really think Google could disappear overnight?
    The latter is never going to happen.
     
     
    Right. No one thought the powerful Enron Corporation would go under either. And no one thought the world`s largest and most powerful automobile manufacturer (GM) would be on the verge of bankruptcy. Eastern Airlines, one of the most successful airlines in U.S. history is no longer with us. Kmart filed for bankruptcy in 1992. And though they`re still in business, they`re clearly not the same company. Northwest Airlines filed in 2005. Polaroid filed in 2001, along with oil giant Texaco. Throughout history, powerful companies have gone under. It happens. Remember Internet monolith, Alta Vista?
     
    So for you to suggest that Google is somehow immune to failure is  foolhardy thinking at best. Google is not immune to failure. No company is. I`m not saying Google is going to fail. I`m simply saying it could happen.
     
    Dale King
    DKing12/23/2007 9:09 AM
  • DaleKingDaleKing subscriber Posts: 141
    Enron is a rare case that a huge company can get shut down sort of suddenly overnight.  It happens. 
     
    And that`s exactly my point. It can happen!
     
    Dale King
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