Tap into the Google gusher

Google is a game changer. As with Microsoft and the personal computer in the.

early 1980s, a major opportunity exists to build a business on new technologies..

Google’s technical platform opens the door to generating revenue as a.

consequence of Google’s market dominance and the waves of products and services.

flowing from the company’s engineers. In the last two years, the pace of product.

and service proliferation has increased sharply. Google’s most recent.

initiatives span social networking and hardware devices to deliver custom.

digital programming to television viewers..

There are three major ways to tap into the Google ecosystem to generate.

revenue. I want to describe each of these opportunities briefly and provide.

links to additional information..

SEO Consulting.

Google accounts for a majority of the search traffic in North America and.

Europe. The company’s penetration varies in other countries. Google’s influence.

is such that other web search companies pay attention to.

Google’s webmaster guidelines..

Google publishes a free search engine.

optimisation starter guide that provides basic information about getting a.

website indexed and appropriately ranked in Google. The combination of Google’s.

market share and the abundance of useful information about PageRank provides a.

foundation for search engine optimisation (SEO) consulting..

A large number of advertising agencies and specialist firms offer SEO.

consulting. But the demand for SEO expertise is increasing despite the large.

number of companies, software tools and independent consultants offering these.

services. The reason for the land rush in SEO consulting is the catchphrase that.

I hear at conferences: “If you are not findable in Google, you don’t exist.”.

You can learn about SEO from online resources. There are specialist.

conferences devoted to the topic. You can read books on the subject. But the.

best way to dive into SEO consulting is to create a website. You can then work.

through metatagging, experiment with content, and use dynamic functions such as.

a blog that points back to your website and automatically sends out.

notifications about new content to such services as Facebook and Twitter..

The caveat is that SEO is becoming more and more technically demanding. The.

simplicity of adding index terms or metatags to a web page is giving way to.

programmatic functions and features..

At this time, Google does not offer an SEO certification programme. Third.

parties such as SEOCertification.org do. You can run a query on Google and.

surface three million hits for certification. SEO is a bit of a Wild West.

business, but you can build a solid business helping people with their website’s.

structure and content..

Google-Centric software.

Two years ago, there were few opportunities to write code and make money with.

Google-centric software. Today, there are a number of growing markets for Google.

software. Google has rolled out its own Apps Stores, which could be a jumpstart.

to a much larger Google-centric software business for many coders. I want to.

highlight the Android open source mobile operating system and Google Apps, an.

umbrella term for Google’s enterprise software push. Please, keep in mind that.

there are other Google opportunities for independent developers opening up on a.

monthly or even more frequent basis..

Android is the umbrella term for Google’s operating system for devices. The.

best-known Android product is the Google mobile phone, Nexus One. Telecoms.

companies are offering mobile devices with the Android operating system from.

such manufacturers as Motorola and HTC..

The opportunity is to develop applications for the Android mobile devices. If.

you haven’t looked at Google’s first attempt at an app store for its mobile.

phones, navigate to the Android Market..

If you have coding skills, you can.

download the Android development kit. No.

registration is required. You can develop an application and offer it without.

charge. Your software becomes an advertisement for your programming skills..

Alternatively you can charge a fee for your application and generate revenue..

You can take another path to generating revenue from your.

programming skills.

by developing Chrome extensions..

If you are comfortable with enterprise solution development, you may want to.

sign up to become a Google Apps developer..

Google Apps are Google’s cloud-based.

services. As Google Apps gains more enterprise customers, the demand for.

developers who can create custom implementations of Google services will grow..

Based on the research I conducted for my books Google Version 2.0 and.

Google: The Digital Gutenberg, it seems clear that developers who.

master coding for Google Apps can be carried forward by Google’s sales momentum..

You will need a Google account to download the Google Apps software.

development kit. There's plenty of.

information about Google Apps for.

developers, system integrators and independent software vendors. You use the.

same programming methods across Google Apps. The benefit to Google’s approach is.

that once a programmer becomes comfortable with Google’s application programming.

interface for one service, learning the second, then third, is a speedy, natural.

process..

Homogeneous approach.

Unlike some companies’ approach, the Google development experience is.

homogeneous in my opinion. The downside to the Google approach is that while it.

is relatively easy to develop a custom solution or mini-application for Google.

Apps, repurposing that code to run on another platform such as Microsoft’s Azure.

requires manual rework..

The Google Apps product and service line-up is extensive, ranging from.

standard applications such as a spreadsheet to more sophisticated services such.

as manipulating content and functions from other vendors’ enterprise.

applications. If you want to talk with other Google Apps developers, you may.

want to attend one of Google’s.

programmes such as the May 2010 session “Developing Products for Google.

Apps.”.

Just as Microsoft and the IBM PC made millionaires by the dozens, Google’s.

development opportunities will deliver comparable if not more lucrative payoffs..

The Google partner opportunity.

The third way to make money from Google is to become a Google partner. Google.

does not accept every individual or company who wants to be a partner into this.

elite group. Google partners can specialise. For example,.

Adhere Solutions develops software.

and provides consulting support to licensees of the Google Search Appliance and.

Google Apps. Other Google partners focus on Google Maps and the integration of.

Google services with third-party enterprise solutions..

To learn more about the Google partner programme, review the information at.

the Google enterprise partner.

programme page..

Becoming a partner requires an.

approval process. Google also charges a membership fee. Three partnerships are.

available: search, apps and maps, and the fee is $5,000 per area. In addition,.

accepted partners must undergo a certification programme which includes training.

and discussions with Google professionals..

To summarise, Google offers a significant revenue-generation opportunity. As.

Google’s ecosystem grows, those who have a core competence in Google systems,.

technologies and methods can generate revenue from consulting, programming or.

working as a Google partner..

There are some caveats to working with Google. The company’s rapid.

development process means that those wanting to “surf on Google” have to be.

excellent problem-solvers and able to learn without a great deal of.

hand-holding from Google..

Stephen E Arnold is an IT consultant.

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