Would you be ruined if Google closed shop tomorrow?

Does there need to be a logical point to every discussion? I suppose it's simply a hypothetical on diversity within your business.

I'm interested in hearing about some of the ideas that are likely to spring up from this thread on ways entrepreneurs have made their businesses less and less dependent on Google. Even though google isn't going anywhere anytime soon, the knowledge would be beneficial in my opinion.

EDIT: I suppose it would be better to have worded the thread 'If your business was banned from google tomorrow'.

No because Google is only one source of targeted traffic for me.

I wouldn't be too pleased about it of course -- nobody wants to lose a fraction of their business.

The point is, Google won't just close shop tomorrow.

Unwise as it may be to rely soley on Google, it would be unwise not to utilise it whilst it is here.

If you truly believe that, then you need to educate yourself a bit more.

Many big earners like myob (Paul) who's posted above couldn't care less about Google.

I do care about Google as it makes up a fraction of my traffic, but it certainly wouldn't be a disaster if anything did happen and I lost the traffic I get from them.

In your world maybe - I couldn't give a toss about Google.

Sure I leverage it but if it disappeared I wouldn't blink. I certainly don't rely on it.

That's actually difficult to determine, especially if you are just going by what you read about here. This forum is just a tiny sand grain in the large sand beach of internet marketing. There are thousands of businesses that purchase traffic from networks that don't rely on Google. Others know how to use free publicity (our fellow Warrior Ron Douglas is living proof of this).

I know plenty of Warriors who focus on obtaining traffic using:

* Free publicity

* Building their own network of websites and using them to build targeted lists.

* Viral marketing techniques (Facebook, Hotmail are two good examples)

* Television and radio

* Creating their own community (this forum is a good example of this)

* Social networking websites

* Strategic alliances using content while leveraging other people's assets, lists swaps, joint ventures, etc.

* Affiliates

* Software

* Hosting their own online radio show

I'm just scratching the surface here, as one Warrior that I've known for years gets over 300,000 unique visitors a month to her wedding websites by simply giving out awards to other websites (I can't reveal specifics here, but it's definitely out-of-the-box thinking).

So while there are many marketers who do rely on Google, don't make the mistake that most marketers rely on Google, because there are many who don't.

RoD

Might want to rethink that.

You never know what is around the corner. I'm sure Myspace is not a fan of Facebook. I mean, myspace was "first" and the biggest... minutes later (in relative internet time) Facebook was born... The game changed.

Bottom line... Don't rely on any one source of traffic that you have no control over.

This helps explain why your premise is so far off base. You drew your conclusions largely from the most unsuccessful IMers, and all the whiners and complainers. Certainly not from very many seasoned veterans.

I've never relied on Google for traffic. Fact is, I don't care much for linking schemes in general. I don't like forum profile links if I'm not going to participate in the forum, I don't do blog commenting unless I really actually have something to say, etc. Since everyone places so much importance on link building for Google rankings, I've concentrated on social networks for traffic instead. Part of that was an effort to get links without spamming, but as it turned out, the resulting traffic came from the social networks, and not Google. Forum participation is also a large part of my traffic as well as ads.

Err... no. It would be a bit sad really since the whole point of not focusing on Google is the same as not focusing on any one income source (inc WSOs).

Actually, think about it for a minute. Really think about it.

Google is a search engine. If Google went under, then Bing and Yahoo would get more search traffic (or someone brand new.) More traffic would then come from those instead of Google. Google would be replaced easily. You really wouldn't even notice much of a difference.

The only thing you might notice is that your traffic is coming more from Yahoo or Bing. Assuming you keep track of where your traffic comes from.

The amount of people you are getting would remain pretty much the same. Assuming you advertise with more than just Google.

Sorry - I call BS again......

That's like saying - "if you're starting a restaurant your main source of customers will be people walking past who see your shop front". It's BS. It may be true if you put your business in a busy location where masses of people walk past. However, if you put your business next to an industrial estate you may get 99% of your business from working business people who want somewhere nice to have lunch and food after work.

So saying you will rely almost entirely on Google is crazy.

What about if I'm a writer? maybe most of my customers come from Amazon because that's the only place they can find my work.

What if I'm a graphics person and forum traffic and recommendations are where all my work comes from?

For most people Google is the worst place to get traffic from, especially when they're starting out because it can take a long time and you can still end up with all the wrong type of traffic which can be turned off at any time - why on earth would that be the best business model for someone starting out?

They might aswell get a sandwich board and stand in the street advertising their business.

Google is not the be-all and end-all of getting customers.

Actually, with Google changing almost daily, I think it's far more time intensive to build your business around Google traffic. The main source of my traffic is not Google and never has been, and that's true for a lot of people.

I've never spent my time on endless backlinking and SEO schemes only to find that the next week, Google doesn't approve of the things that used to get you to the top of the serps and now you're at the bottom.

Robert, it's a thought-provoking discussion. I'd like to think that my existing customer base could hold me up but I'll certainly be concentrating on spreading out more after reading this just now. Thanks for the implied advice!

Really good point. Very easy to forget this in the rat race for rankings. I think this type of thinking is one of the main reasons you can find sites ranked very highly in some of the most competitive niches even though they appear to have weak SEO.

I can think of a few sites off the top of my head. They have really great content and as a result, they get many targeted, high quality backlinks as their content gets syndicated again and again. Giving them a very solid (and stable) position in the rankings. Thanks for sharing CD.

Seems we have two different questions here...

> Would I be ruined if Google vanished tomorrow?

Nope. As others have pointed out, something would fill the void. There would be a period of adjustment while people figured out the new landscape, but the survivors would survive and the rest would somehow find forums to whine on.

> Would I be ruined if Google banned my business tomorrow?

This would actually be the lesser of two evils for me. Most of my profitable traffic comes from other sites. A portion of them would be hurt in the shuffle if Google disappeared, but they would continue sending me traffic if I was deindexed while they remained unaffected.

I don't ignore Google but I don't pander to them either. I follow sound on page practices within the limits of practicality (in other words, I don't try to over-optimize). I link when it makes sense, but I don't spend hours simply hunting for backlinks.


To address your observation about the number of traffic courses that focus on Google rankings vs. what you read in this thread...

It's a matter of market dynamics, IMO. So many people spend so much time and, ironically, money in search of "free traffic" that SE traffic is an easy sell. Much easier to preach rankings, and promote a few tools along the way, than it is to talk about understanding customers wants, needs and psychographics. Much easier to explain spiders and keywords than market-to-message match.

Selling "free Google traffic" is much easier than selling "how to market a business".