Comments on: Open Thread: Would You Bet a Business on Google Gadgets?

By: TonyB

TonyB — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:36:28 +0000

Hi Everyone,
I have a carpet cleaning business in Houston,TX that was doing pretty good until the economy went bad, and with it my clientele. I have a website for the business but I dont
know what I have to do the get it to show up in a search. Right now it’s somewhere in the yahoo/google netherworld (LOL).

Is there someone on here that can give me some insight or know of anyone that coud give me insight on how I can get my local website on the front
page of a Yahoo or Google search to increase my business without it costing me 5 or 10k $$$? If so please share with me.

I thank you and my hungry over-eating children thank you.

thanks,

By: SluhLaulk

SluhLaulk — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:06:07 +0000

Извините, что не по теме форума.
Сегодня кто может, давайте соберемся у театра «На Таганке», а кто не в Москве, давайте просто помянем его вечером рюмочкой коньяка.
Ему исполнился бы 71 год.

By: selleriee

selleriee — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:57:22 +0000

did you mean http://flashsense.t35.com/ ?

By: HSCharles

HSCharles — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:08:51 +0000

I have a flash site
i’m looking for the script who shows google ads with flash.
where can i get it?

By: GabrielLawana

GabrielLawana — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 04:58:41 +0000

guys, what is that blog about. http://facebook-proxy-vpn.blogspot.com i really don’t understand what is vpn. btw sorry for off-topic.

By: a2zfishing.biz

a2zfishing.biz — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:54:03 +0000

Fishing Lure

I Googled for something completely different, but found your pageand have to say thanks. nice read.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:08:46 +0000

I made a really nice-looking gadget back when most of them looked like circa 1997 web pages (OK, a lot of them still do!) and people started putting it on their websites. The gadgets are embedded into the site using an iframe, which basically means that all those people are displaying a window of my content on their site at no cost to me. Even better – that content is completely under my control and I can change it whenever I choose. Who needs banner ads? Of course I’d never just put up a blatant advertisment in the gadget, but the power of subliminal messages should never be underestimated :-)
So the short answer is, no, I probably wouldn’t build a business around it, but if Google wants to help subsidise my marketing efforts, I won’t complain!

By: Rusty Weston

Rusty Weston — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:52:28 +0000

This is an excellent example of collaborative innovation, in my view. We see examples of pharma companies reaching out to other scientists. And who knows for $5000 they might turn over a stone that would have cost them tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop on their own (assuming they could).

By: Adam Sah

Adam Sah — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:16:08 +0000

Hi!

Just to clarify, we already have tens of thousands of active gadget developers. This is a way to help people and companies go ever further, because great gadgets attract lots of users, and users run searches, which makes Google money.

As for the wording of the announcement, it’s intentionally vague– we’re hoping to see some clever ideas, both for individual gadgets, tools, libraries, etc.

As for building a business on gadgets, actually several companies are already doing this, and many more are using gadgets as part of their business. Like any new technology, the smart thing is to dabble first, let it grow organically, then make the jump. We want success stories!

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
adam
Adam Sah
Architect, Google Gadgets

By: Anne Zelenka

Anne Zelenka — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:21:41 +0000

Dave: yes, I agree, from Google’s position — why not? They can spread a lot of small bets around and see what happens. That makes tons of sense since you can’t predict the future. Doesn’t seem like a very risky bet from Google’s perspective, but it does from a developer’s. The developer needs to spread bets around the table too… not just to Google Gadgets.

I can’t see building a business based around Google Gadgets, but if if their home page does take off, maybe someone will end up with a business with a large Google Gadgets component, which is what the $100,000 grant seems to require.

What does it mean to have a “large Google Gadget component”? Pumping your info into Google’s home page seems like a minor part of any business, that’s what I was arguing against.

By: Drone

Drone — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:49:13 +0000

So your point is that you’re scratching your head? Over what, exactly? You’re confused that a company with capital is awarding grants to startups so they can build something that might make money?

Gee, that sounds like capitalism.

If I were going to start a business I wouldn’t argue with “home page to bigger than General Motors in five years.”

’nuff said.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:03:05 +0000

It seems like a bit of a chicken and egg problem.

If Google can get lots of eager developers building Gadgets, it *should* drive more traffic and build customer loyalty to the Google homepage.

On the other hand, $100K isn’t really enough to justify making your entire business around a Gadget portal that may or may not get critical mass (at least in Google-scale terms).

When you have tons of excess cash, you can make risky bets – this the Google equivalent of spreading $5 chips all across the roulette table. Except if a few of these hit, the payoff is likely to be better than Vegas odds.