Business Strategies at Google
Google, the company, got its start in 1998 by providing eerily accurate and useful search results that continue to be the envy of the Internet. Google, the business, didn't really take off until late 2000, when the AdWords advertising program was introduced. Before AdWords, Google search results provided users with useful information, but Google had no way to monetize those page views. AdWords exploded Google's revenue, and it is on the back of that advertising revenue that Google has continued to grow and expand into every conceivable Internet services market including productivity management, cloud computing and mobile technology. Google has become the largest and best-financed Internet company on the planet and despite this position, as "The New York Times" reports, Google continues to look for ways to expand its brand and increase revenues.
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History
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Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin with the stated goal of organizing all the information of the web so that it is easily retrievable and imminently accessible to users. The search engine took off and quickly became the most popular on the Internet, even becoming the search result provider for Yahoo! in 2000. The single-minded focus on providing a high-quality search engine enabled Google to gain a huge share of Internet users, and the website is now the most popular in the United States according to Comscore. Google has also encouraged growth by expanding its search functionality beyond simple web page crawling. With Google, users can search images, video, news, blogs and more.
Advertising
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In late 2000, Google introduced the AdWords platform for contextual advertising within Google search results. From the start, the AdWords program was designed to make a minimal footprint on Google's sparse search result pages. All advertising is displayed in a textual format. This was only the beginning, though, as Google opened up its advertising platform to the world. Anyone from an individual running a blog to a media company providing content through its website to a consulting group writing about a niche subject could place Google AdWords on their webpage and reap a portion of the profits. Before long, Google AdWords became the de facto standard in web advertising, thanks to its unobtrusiveness and the contextual nature of the advertising.
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Acquisitions
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Through the years, Google has continued to grow and expand through acquisitions. Many of its most famous products, including Blogger, Google Voice, YouTube, Google Analytics and more were not originally designed by Google. These acquisitions have served to expand the Google user base, and it has provided Google with a clever way to add talented engineers and web developers.
Internet Applications
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Search may be Google's meat and potatoes, but the growing stable of Internet applications designed to provide users access to a full suite of productivity software has continued to bring users into Google's fold. Applications such as Gmail, Google Voice, Google Docs, Google Wave, Google Analytics and more are often considered the top web-based applications and make it possible for Google to create a greater connection with users.
Cloud Computing
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As of 2010, Google owns more than 1 million data servers throughout the world. More and more, these data servers are used to provide users with cloud computing capabilities. Starting in 2009, Google has offered users space on its servers to store any file. This space is available for purchase, and as more users turn from storing data on their personal computers to storing it in the cloud for easy access from mobile phones and other portable devices, this line of business will continue to expand. As "Business Week" reports, users know that Google can be counted upon to provide secure and reliable cloud storage, and this will cause a great percentage of cloud computing users to flock to Google.
Hardware Offerings
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Some may think the introduction of the Nexus One mobile phone by Google in the start of 2010 was its first hardware offering, but that is not the case. Since 2002, Google has sold search servers that are designed to provide large companies with Google-powered search capabilities within an Intranet setting. These hardware offerings, including the Nexus One, may not generate the same kind of revenue as advertising, but they are certainly a central part of the Google business strategy.
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