Do You Have A Google Habit?
Author: Chris McElroy AKA NameCritic

I visit a lot of webmaster forums and visit blogs about SEO as
well as write some blogs of my own about SEO, Article Marketing,
and Blogging. I learn a lot by visiting other people's blogs and
forums and learn a lot by sharing that information with others.

But one thing bothers me about what I read on most forums and
blogs. People are obsessed with Google. There are forums where
they refer to Google as just "g" because they seem to be afraid
someone at Google might read their post and not like it.

This Google obsession borders on lunacy. Webmasters seem to be
convinced that without a good ranking in Google and without
Google's seal of approval, page rank, they cannot be successful
on the web.

Let's think about that for a moment. If Google folded tomorrow,
not likely, but if they did, suddenly they just weren't there.
http://Google.com did not resolve, page cannot be displayed,
what would you do?

Would it be like the stock market crash of the 30's? Would
webmasters be jumping off buildings? Would everyone just stop
doing business on the web because Google was gone? Would the
forums be full of grieving webmasters with nowhere to turn?
Would they erect a statue of Matt Cutts and hold memorial
services for the CEOs of Google? Would you light a candle for
Google?

The point I'm trying to make is that business was being done on
the web before Google became a search portal, before adwords and
adnonsense, before Matt Cutts had a blog, and before Google
hired an artist full-time to keep making cute little Google
logos. Before there was a Google toolbar, page rank, Google
images, Google stores, and Google pay, we made money on the
Internet.

Yet, people write articles, blogs, and forums posts that start
with things like, "If you do business on the web, you have to
pay attention to Google", like that was a fact etched in stone.

If you are someone who builds a lot of websites, try an
experiment. Ignore Google for just that one website. Focus on
other search traffic and other ways to get business done. All
without using anything Google. Just try it once. I'll bet if you
really try, you will still have success with your website,
without visiting Matt Cutts' blog even once. Just make it a
game, see if you can make money on the web without Google.

Or do you have the Google habit so bad that you actually
believe the web could not actually function without Google? It's
like Al Gore saying he invented the Internet. We know he didn't.
Neither did Google.


About The Author: Chris McElroy aka NameCritic has been doing
business on the web since 1995. You can view his blogs at
http://www.ThingsThatJustPissMeOff.com and
http://www.WhoLetTheBlogOut.com or his business blog at
http://www.BlogContentProvider.com