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Google Follows These 8 Simple Rules (and So Should You)

2012-03-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

Google Follows These 8 Simple Rules (and So Should You)

It’s Google’s world.

They’re just nice enough to let us live in it.

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched Google out of a dorm room in 1998, they had no idea that it would one day employ 32,000 people, process one billion searches a day, and earn over US$30 billion a year.

What they had, instead, were some very non-traditional thoughts on how to run a business.

Rule #1: Stay Simple

Google’s home page is a perfect example of the company’s commitment to simplicity.

For Google, simple means faster, easier to use, and higher quality.

That’s why software developers who work at Google are taught that the best products “include only the features that people need to accomplish their goals.” When they’re creating a new product, they don’t try to stuff it full of as many features as possible.

“Simplicity is powerful.”

Google Company Philosophy

What a Tangled Web We Weave…

For some reason, it’s human nature to make things more complex than they need to be.

But simple writing is usually more effective – and the same goes for business models.

Rule #2: Collaborate

The first day Larry Page met Sergey Brin, they got into a long argument. According to Page, they “both really disliked each other.”

But their studies at Stanford soon led them to respect one another as intellectual peers. It was this mutual respect that brought them together in 1995 to collaborate on Page’s doctoral thesis: an algorithm that could rank websites based on their shared hyperlinks.

Even though it was Page’s idea (hence the name PageRank), he couldn’t have created the algorithm without the mathematical wizardry of Sergey Brin. Without a math prodigy like Brin on board, Google might have been just another thesis.

It was the joining of two very strong brains and personalities that made the algorithm what it was: a search engine so effective that it put Lycos and Excite to shame.

Google’s PageRank system rocket-propelled Page and Brin to the top of the upper echelons of Silicon Valley. Suddenly, their little search algorithm was duking it out with industry titans like Yahoo! and Microsoft… and winning.

Part of the reason for Google’s success was the collaboration they encouraged among their employees. Since the beginning, they’ve implemented something called open source software development, “where innovation takes place through the collective effort of many programmers.”

But as the company grew even larger, Page and Brin realized that they had to bring another brain into the trust: this time, someone who could lead Google as a corporation and offer the boys “adult supervision.” In 2001, they hired Eric Schmidt as CEO and began running Google as a triumvirate. Schmidt started running Google like a business – and acquired YouTube in the process.

Even though Schmidt has since stepped down as CEO, he still serves as Google’s executive chairman, and Google continues to emphasize a spirit of collaboration in all they do.

Going it alone?

Having a partner to collaborate with isn’t a requirement. Many very successful businesses are founded, owned, and operated by one person.

With that said, two complementary business partners will motivate one another, brainstorm innovative ideas together, and each allow the other to do what they’re best at.

Rule #3: Great Just isn’t Good Enough

“We see being great at something as a starting point, not an endpoint.”

Google Company Philosophy

When Google launched its search engine in 1998, it was already great. The PageRank algorithm was simply better than the competition, which focused too much on words and often returned irrelevant results.

It was this greatness that allowed Google to grow without spending millions on a marketing campaign like Yahoo! and Ask Jeeves. Google was so great that it spread almost entirely by word of mouth.

But great wasn’t good enough. Google believes, “It’s best to do one thing really, really well.” So, instead of spreading out into different industries, the company kept perfecting their search engine.

“The ultimate search engine would basically understand everything in the world, and it would always give you the right thing. And we’re a long, long ways from that.”

Larry Page

The above quote is from 2004, by which point Google had cemented their position as market leader. Not only were they the world’s top search engine, they were about to unleash their IPO to a market capitalization of a cool US$23 Billion.

But even at that point, Larry Page was not ready to rest on his laurels. As he said, they were a “long, long ways” from where they wanted to be.

Thanks to this attitude, Google has been churning out big improvements to its search engine year after year. Innovations (i.e. the spelling suggestions Google gives you when you misspell a word) are a big part of the reason they’re still the world’s top search engine.

How Can You Improve?

I don’t care how good you are at what you do, you can always get better. That’s why I’ve suggested that you spend 20 minutes actively learning every day.

Rule #4: Give Value for Free

“Our goal is to develop services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible.”

Larry Page and Sergey Brin

People don’t expect to have to pay for much of anything online. But that’s not a problem for Google, which offers more free value to their users than any other online company.

Just think of all of their free software and services: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer, Google Earth, Google Chrome… the list goes on and on.

Collectively, these products have cost Google millions and millions of dollars to develop. Some, like Gmail, generate revenue through advertising, but many do not make Google any money at all.

What they do is more important: build brand loyalty. Thanks to all they’ve given away, Google has an army of devotees eager to use their latest services, share them with their friends, and shell out cash when Google releases something that actually costs money (like a Chromebook).

Count me among the converts: I’ve been so impressed with Gmail and Google Chrome that I just assume everything Google does meets a high standard of quality.

Giving / Receiving

When people receive something of great value for free, it instills in them a sense of gratitude to the giver. It’s human nature to want to return the favor.

Start being more giving with your business and you will find that you’re getting more referrals, making more sales, and getting a warmer response on social networks.

Rule #5: Protect Your Market

Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest inventors of his time. He laid the foundation for radio communication, wireless technology, and electric power. Without his advances, Google couldn’t exist.

Yet Tesla died with hardly a penny to his name.

When Larry Page read a biography of Tesla as a kid, he learned an invaluable lesson: protect what makes you valuable. This is an especially difficult task if your value comes from easy-to-steal ideas.

As CEO of Google, Page has been sure not to follow in Tesla’s footsteps. Google has kept a close guard on their big competitive advantage: the PageRank algorithm that Page and Brin had labored over as graduate students at Stanford University.

While Stanford actually owns the PageRank patent, Google bought the exclusive rights to use it for 1.8 million shares of stock (later sold by Stanford for $336 million).

No other company is able to use their patented method for ranking pages. That’s a big reason Google still sits at the top of the heap.

In recent years, Google has been more active working with the government to protect their interests. They spent about US$10 million on lobbying the US government in 2011 and took part in a successful campaign to deter the SOPA/PIPA legislation in January 2012.

How to Protect Your Big Idea

Every idea is different and there’s a good chance that yours won’t require a patent.

But that doesn’t mean you need to be telling your competition your secret formula:

“There are two rules for success. 1) Never tell everything you know.”

Roger H. Lincoln

Rule #6: No Hype Necessary

“Part of our brand is that we’re pretty understated in what we do. If you look at other technology companies, they might preannounce things, and it will be a couple years before they really happen, and they don’t happen in the way they said they would.

Google tends to release things without announcing them in beta, or whatever. We wait until they get really big and really good, then we start talking about them. And so that’s a really different way of doing business.”

Larry Page

Google doesn’t do hype. They let their innovative products and services speak for themselves.

A lot of entrepreneurs who talk a big game. They’d have you believe that they’ve got all of the most important connections and that their next project is the next big thing. Talk to those same entrepreneurs in six months and chances are that last project fizzled out and they’re already onto talking up the next one.

Talk is cheap. It’s always better to let your accomplishments speak for themselves.

Three Good Reasons Not to Hype Yourself Up:

You Make a Stronger First Impression

Everybody knows how important first impressions are. When somebody’s first impression of your project is you talking about it before it’s ready, then you wasted that first impression on mere talk.

It’s tempting to tell all of your friends, relatives, and colleagues about your brilliant idea. But think about how much more powerful it will be if you wait until your project is completed, successful, and has a few mentions in the media.

Be patient – and wait until the time is just right to share your business with the world.

You Don’t Box Yourself In

Until a project is set in stone, it should always be evolving. Keeping quiet also allows you to be more versatile with your business.

If you realize that it would be better to evolve in a slightly different direction than you had initially planned, you don’t want to be constrained by the expectations of the people who already know your original plan.

You Increase Your Commitment

At a more personal level, talking up your plans too much can actually make you less likely to follow through with them.

When we tell someone what we hope to achieve, we feel some of the satisfaction of actually accomplishing that goal – and it actually makes us less hungry to pursue them.

Rule #7: Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

“You can be serious without a suit”

Google Company Philosophy

Google may be the world’s most powerful website, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a little bit of fun. Since 2000, Google has been playing April Fool’s Day jokes on the world.

Their first prank was a new search feature called Google MentalPlex – which claimed to scan your “personal aura and brainwave activity” and then determine which website you were trying to reach.

In 2002, they “revealed” that their search results were determined by “data coops” full of trained pigeons. They’ve since announced job openings on the moon and unveiled a sports drink called Google Gulp. Sounds tasty.

Google’s actually ramping up their pranks. In 2011, they pulled a whopping 17 of them on April 1^st.

Why does Google spend so much time joking around? The pranks earn Google plenty of press and a small bump in traffic. But more importantly, it brings a sense of fun and real personality to their brand – both for their users and for their employees.

Nobody Likes a Robot

When you interact with somebody online, they could be all the way on the other side of the globe. Just because you’re distant from one another, that doesn’t mean you have to act distantly.

Every website visitor, every Facebook sharer, and every email subscriber is a flesh-and-blood person, just like you. A personal touch goes a long way.

#8: Don’t Be Evil

“We have a mantra: don’t be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone. So I think if we were known for that, it would be a wonderful thing.”

Larry Page

In a 2004 meeting, Google employees were brainstorming an unofficial company motto. Suggestion after suggestion was met with little enthusiasm. Then one finally stuck: “Don’t Be Evil.”

Big companies like Google can often make more money in the short-term by taking advantage of their customers and employees, damaging the environment, or ignoring human rights. Google’s adoption of the “Don’t Be Evil” motto meant that they were committed to being a different type of company – one guided by a strong moral compass.

This philosophy has had a big impact on Google’s ad policy. Their search results only turn up relevant ads, clearly marked as “sponsored.” They also refuse to use pop-up ads or any other flashy ads that would interfere with “your ability to see the content you’ve requested.”

Google also does good through philanthropy. In 2004, they launched Google.org, a not-for-profit organization that looks to solve the problems of global health, poverty, and climate change.

“We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served – as shareholders and in all other ways – by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains.”

Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Still Not Evil?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely – and Google has become very, very powerful in the last few years. In 2009, Google quietly dropped “Don’t Be Evil” as their official motto.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Google’s gone to the dark side. The slogan was simply attracting too much negative attention.

The company has drawn criticism for allowing their search results to be censored in China and for making a deal with Verizon that some journalists considered damaging to net neutrality.

Today, in 2012, Google is getting a ton of heat for their new privacy policy, which will allow the company to more easily merge personal information it has collected from across its many platforms. This means more powerful, targeted advertisements and more money for Google, but it also represents a new low in online privacy.

Do Good, Make Money

“You can make money without doing evil.”

Google Company Philosophy

We could argue all day about whether Google’s doing a good job of practicing what it preaches. It’s a worthwhile conversation to have, especially given than an immense amount of our personal data sits on Google’s servers.

But here’s something where, in my opinion, there’s no room for debate: doing good is good business.

It’s not just about being a better person or getting that warm, fuzzy feeling; businesses that do good are simply more likely to be successful in the long haul.

Read this or go Broke

2012-03-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Read This or Stay Broke

How To Get Your Blog Online Without The Hardwork

Making money online is easy. That’s my belief and when it’s yours – you’ll make money fast. Right here I’m going to take you step-by-step, lead you by the hand and walk you through the easiest way i know to get your blog up and running today.

When you’ve followed what I’ve laid out for you here, you’ll be on your way to a better life… more money… and the time to spend it all.

Now I can imagine you may be thinking this is impossible. How can having a blog, make all that money and bring so much success?

It’s really simple, it gets you SEEN. The money is just a by-product of the blog. All the success and opportunities is the real reason I blog and so should you.

How a blog becomes successful is simple, you set it up like I’m just about to show you. You create great content. Drive traffic. And from that traffic you make money.

Once you get things going it just grows and grows. Search engines rank you higher with age.

Here’s the quick way to setting up your blog…

A website and a blog are usually the same thing. This blog run’s on some free software called WordPress which is used by over millions of other people all over the world.

You just need three things to appear on the web, those are:

A domain, this is what you call your website, for me it’s IncomeDiary.com, for you it could be MyBlogName.com
Web Hosting, this is required to host your website on the internet so that people can visit it.
WordPress, this is what will help you run your website, this free software will allow you to add, edit and delete pages on your website. You also have a choice from over 100,000 different blog designs and 1000′s of free plugins that will allow your website to do different things.

Setting up the above three things shouldn’t take more then around 10 minutes, setting up a blog is very easy if you use the right tools.

Registering a domain

I have a lot of domains, how I come up with their domains is simple, they are descriptive of what the site is about, so for example, ExpertPhotography.com is about how to become an expert at photography.

For you, you may be creating a website about saving time by outsourcing, a good domain would be SaveTimeOutsource.com. I suggest you only go for .Com or .Net domain and try to keep the name of your blog as short as possible.

To register your domain, go to a website called GoDaddy, if your in America you will probably seen their Superbowl Adverts and already know who they are. A domain will set you back less then $10 a year and is one of the most important things to get right.

Here’s how to host your website on the internet

Your on my website right now, to do this, I have to host it on a server so that people can come and visit it. It’s quite simple, you rent some space on a server for around $5 a month and can put all your files on it and thousands of people can come and visit it without any hassle.

I personally use HostGator and I highly recommend them because they have 24/7 live support with agents who will always be happy to help you with any issue you may have.

One of the main reasons why you need to host with HostGator is that they have a built in plugin called Fantastico which allows you to install WordPress (blogging software) with one click.

They don’t charge any additional price for this but if you went with any other company, you would be likely to pay an extra $10 or so a month which is more then the hosting in the first place.

Setting up wordpress on your hosting

However, in 2012 all you need to do is login to your hosting controle panel and click Fantastico and click Install WordPress, less then 60 seconds later your blog is installed, you have a website on the internet and you can start publishing content.

10 Things to Do on Day One of Your Blog

2012-03-29T15:53:00.002-07:00

10 Things to Do on Day One of Your Blog

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

That’s a quote by the Chinese philosopher Laozi and it’s particularly relevant to new bloggers. That first step is the most important one, but what does it entail?

Let’s say you bought a domain, set up hosting, and installed WordPress. What comes next? How do you start blogging with the end in mind? Here are ten things you should do on day one of your blog (or today, if you’re past day one).

Let’s Assume You’ve Done Your Research

Before you purchase a domain, there a number of things you need to consider. For the sake of this article, we’re going to assume that you already:

Chose a specific audience with problems that you know how to solve.Always start with an audience, not a topic. Choose to help people that you are qualified to help.
Found and subscribed to the top related blogs in your niche.
Find out how to find other bloggers in your niche. Then subscribe to their feed and start following their posts.
Read free posts, ebooks, and resources from your niche.
Once you’re subscribed, spend a few days reading the free posts and ebooks they give you. Read both for the content and to see how they do what they do.

If you’d like more of my thoughts on any of these steps, let me know in the comments.

Technical Tasks for Your Blog

Here are five technical components of your blog that you need to take care of prior to writing a single post.

1. Burn Blog with FeedBurner

Every major blog that I can think of, including Copyblogger, Problogger, TechCrunch, and Mashable, all serve up their RSS feeds through the Google-acquired tool, FeedBurner. It’s become the industry standard because it’s by Google, it integrates with other software, and it’s been around for a long time.

To burn your blog with FeedBurner:

Go to feedburner.com.
Sign in with your Google account.
Burn your feed by plopping your url in the box.
Click next.
Select your feed. It should be domain.com/feed if you’re using WordPress.

If you were wondering how Michael integrates his RSS feed with Aweber, this is the first step in that process. Even if you’ve been blogging for awhile, it’s important to do this as soon as possible so all of your subscribers reside under one roof.

2. Place Opt-In Forms

The money is in the list … If I could do one thing differently, I would have started building my list earlier … The most important call to action for bloggers is to encourage people to subscribe.

You’ve heard all of that countless times. You can’t start building your list until your site has opt-in forms.

No matter which email platform you use (even FeedBurner has an email subscriber option), the process of putting opt-in forms on your site is, in most cases, a matter of copy/pasting the code. Here are a few places to put those forms:

Right side of the header.
Top of the sidebar.
Bottom of posts.
Footer area.
Featured on the homepage.
Lightbox with Popup Domination.

3. Write Your About Page

Your about page will be one of the most viewed pages on your site because readers like to know the people behind the site.

I was listening to a Derek Halpern interview on Smart Passive Income the other day, and this was Derek’s advice on how you should organize your about page:

What will this website do for the visitor? Followed by an opt-in box.
Establish yourself as an expert. Followed by an opt-in box.
Build a personal connection with your story. Finish it up with an opt-in box.

Treat your about page as a sales letter for why somebody should follow you and your site. If you do a good job, they’ll want more information from you, hence the opt-in.

4. Create a Contact Page

Once you have an about page, the only other page you need to launch your blog is a contact page. I include two things on my contact page:

Contact information.
Email, Skype ID, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Plus.
Contact form.
Sometimes people prefer to email you directly from the site. Include a contact form by using the Contact Form 7 andReally Simple CAPTCHA plugins.

Planning Content for Your Blog

Once you have the technical components of your blog worked out, it’s time to focus on the most important part, the content.

5. Choose Your Categories

Within WordPress, you create categories for your posts. These categories help organize your site both for your readers and for search engines.

Category pages display your archived posts based on the category you choose.

To set up your category pages, go to Posts > Categories and be sure to include your meta data as well as an introductory headline/content.

6. Pick Your Pillar Articles

After you create the category pages, think about how you can create a pillar article for each category.

A pillar article is different than a category page in that it’s an ultimate resource post (i.e. 101 Ways to Make Money Online) with links to your in-depth articles.

These posts get lots of traffic. You can even create a secondary navigation menu, like the one on Income Diary, to highlight the pillar articles on your blog.

7. Brainstorm a List of Blog Posts

Once you’ve chosen your categories and pillars, start brainstorming different posts that solve problems and fit within the scope of those categories. I like to brainstorm with a notebook and a white board.

To aid in and filter down this brainstormed list, do a little keyword research to figure out which keywords and blog post topics people are searching for.

You’ll use this brainstormed list to create your editorial calendar.

8. Create an Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar is a fancy term for planning which blog posts you’re going to write and publish on which days.

You can simply schedule your blog posts in a planner/calendar. If you’d like to take this process to the next level, you can use the Editorial Calendar plugin.

This step isn’t necessary but it will keep you focused and on schedule for creating content for your blog.

9. Write a Ton of Posts

One of the biggest mistakes that new bloggers make is that the start telling people about their blog when they only have a few posts written. As soon as you start telling people about it, you have a responsibility to keep it updated.

Based on how seriously you want to take your blog, this is how many blog posts you need to write prior to publishing the first post:

Recreational Blogger: 5 posts
If you’re testing the blogging waters, start with writing 5 posts. Publish the first three, tell people about them, and schedule the next two.
Intermediate Blogger: 10 posts
If you’re fairly certain you want to keep up with blogging, write 10 posts to see if it’s something that you enjoy doing.
Serious Blogger: 20 posts
If you’re blogging to better your business, start by writing 20 posts.
Career Blogger: 50 posts
If blogging is your business, write 50 posts before you tell anyone. As soon as you launch, it’s going to be tough to keep up with a rigorous posting schedule. It’ll be nice to have a couple dozen posts sitting in the queue.

If you’ve already launched your blog, there’s a good chance your posting schedule has waned since the first few months. Consider taking a hiatus so you can build up a stockpile of focused content and re-launch it in a few months.

10. Strategize Your Funnel System

Man, you’ve had a busy day. The final thing you need to figure out before you start telling people about your new blogis your funnel system.

The first step in developing your funnel system is figuring out what you want people to do. Maybe it’s to become a subscriber or purchase a product. This is the goal of your site.

Whether your goal is to get them to subscribe or to purchase, I think your funnel system should be the same:

Read > Subscribe > Free Report/Auto-Responder Series > Blog Post Broadcast > Purchase