Learn from the Best: Google

Although it is hard to imagine in today's world, once upon a time, Google was just another virtually unknown internet company. However, as we all know, Google is now THE dominant player in the online industry. Even though we often forget that Google has not always been the massive powerhouse that it is today, we can learn quite a bit by looking at some of the key factors that have allowed Google to expand at such a phenomenal pace:



::Vision
Even though directories were the dominant form of internet navigation when Google came onto the internet scene and there was no clear-cut way to monetize a search engine, Larry and Sergey realized that search would be an integral part of the internet and were not afraid to set out to make the world's best search engine.

::Building a Great Product
At the end of the day, Google is where they are because they have always been dedicated to building the best product out there. Google's product is so powerful that they have actually helped out two of their competitors over the course of their history: Google has provided advertising technology to Ask.com and search technology to Yahoo.

::Focus and Simplicity
Unlike Yahoo and MSN (which have always placed as much emphasis on being a portal as being a search engine), Google is still completely focused on being a search engine. If you compare the three home pages, you will see that Google's is substantially simpler and more plain than the other two, which in turn makes it easier for people to use. Although Google has expanded with many other products, they have never lost sight of the fact that before anything else, they are a search engine.

::The Viral Factor
Whether you call it word of mouth marketing or viral marketing, Google is evidence that when you build a great product, word about it will spread naturally. Even though Ask and Yahoo shell out huge amounts of money to spread the word about their web sites, Google has been able to reach incredibly high levels of growth simply by word of mouth marketing.