Derived from
Jeff Jarvis; What Would Google Do?
PROFIT : We all need our rules of thumb, our reference markers and personal viewpoints to succeed in life. Google has their’s and they may just help you break through or fine-tune your business. Here’s eight samples for you to consider…
1 Truth Will Surface
In the era of control and limited information sources, hiding your errors from the public was a reasonable strategy because you could often get away with it. Today, if someone knows we all know. Blogs, YouTube, Twitter and the like provide the means to share what we know and find the truth together. It’s best to admit your errors, declare your conflicts of interests and be transparent.
2 Do What You Do Best
Links promote specialization. They also make it easy to highlight the source and the best in that category. Do what you do best and link to the rest.
3 Data Decides
If a company arises out of the self-image of their founders, then it’s to be expected Google is obsessed with data. Search results are not personal favourites, they rely on the wisdom of the crowd. The more others like your web page, the higher you’ll be ranked by Google. Other decisions are made the same way: measure and test.
4 A Beta Life
Google’s Gmail was in beta or test mode for over five years. What does beta mean today? It’s a presumption that things are never perfect and you’re still working to improve them. Constant innovation is the new normal. Taking this even further, it means making your work available as soon as it is viable. Constant use then gives you the feedback to constantly enhance it.
5 Don’t Be Evil
When Google launched on the stockmarket, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced that ‘doing good things for the world even at the cost of short term gain would in the long-term be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.’ In other words, don’t be evil!
6 Simplify
Google’s home page is the ultimate in simple. Let me search. Done. No fluff, nothing to slow it down. Enough to get the job done. No more. Got it?
7 Be Found
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is pretty much based on how to be #1 in your search keywords on Google. Are you searchable? Can you be found on the first page of Google? For Business and Personally? Most people won’t find you through your home page, they’ll search for a question and land on your site if you have the answer. As Descartes might have said, “I’m on Google, therefore I exist.”
8 Get Out of the Way
An unlikely new leadership ethos is embodied in the words of craigslist founder, Craig Newmark. Once you’ve got your platform ready, your network growing, then there’s only one thing left to do: get out of the way – let the people to do their thing. Hand over control!
