V2X

For the record I love Google and have been using it years before it went public. I have always respected them and thought the simple search layout without ads on their homepage was great. As a web developer starting out, I couldn’t determine how they were even profitable until I learned about AdWords and then it hit me that they knew what they were doing.

I have always made a little coin with their AdSense programs on multiple sites, and helped a lot of new ecommerce businesses get established with their ad programs. Of course the AdSense programs have gotten bland and haven’t paid out as well for me anymore, but other web developers are still finding it profitable.

Where Google is losing me is that they have to have their hand in everything. Any time they see a new technology, or web site become profitable, they jump in to compete and/or buy them out to take them over. Great news if you’re Google, or one of their shareholders. Maybe even good for the poor unlucky sap that got paid millions of dollars to buy them out. I just don’t think it’s good for their image in the long run, as they are starting to be the “Wal Mart” of the internet.

Just like everyone else, they are in business to make money. It just starts to look funny when they use other people’s ideas and take it over. Smart business, and maybe I’m just hating on them, but they are slowly becoming an internet monopoly. You have noticed that they dominate the search industry, and a lot of times, they are your competition with an online business? They also will restrict how you can even profit from their own revenue programs. I am sure that eventually someone is going to have to throttle them down, but I don’t really see how that can happen as they have a lot of momentum and purchasing power.

One of my biggest gripes that got me on this rant is their policy on using their AdSense program on tobacco related sites. They will suspend your account if you place their ads on sites that don’t fit their terms of service agreement, but then again, they serve ads for companies who sell tobacco related products. Humidors are a very good example, but I can’t place their ads on my cigar review web site? I am sure the business who’s paying for AdWords would love to have their ads placed on a site visited by hundreds of cigar smokers a day.

Either way, at the end of the day, I’ll find a way to make a profit today. Damn, I just made that up and cracking up at it, but it is true. Google will continue to grow and I will continue to be a hypocrite and use them daily in some fashion. Hell, I may even purchase some of their stock so I can share in their spoils.