AdWords & AdSense – How Google Opened up the Internet

Posted by kboon on January 21, 2010 under General | Comments are off for this article

In the late 90s, companies saw the Internet as a powerful communications tool, but many found earning money (direct cash) illusive.  By the time of the “dot-com boom” the common thought was, “build a website and they will come”.

We soon learned as the “dot-com meltdown” taught us, it wasn’t that simple.

Over the past 10 years companies and entrerpreneurs have become smarter.  We are realizing that success on the web comes from a variety of factors, one of which is a good website.  Communities do not grow on their own.  Establishing two-way communication, building relationships, developing trust and finding ways to be found (SEO), are essential to being success.

I’ll talk more about all of these topics in futures posts.

Google’s biggest achievement, I believe (besides search & rankings) has been to find a creative way of connecting Advertisers with producers of web content.  Their AdWords and AdSense programs have brought the Internet together connecting buyers and sellers.  The majority of Google’s revenue comes from ads.  Millions of companies use AdWords, which provides inexpensive, targeted advertising based on the search terms that you and I enter into Google.

AdSense on the other hand, has been used by producers of web content from blogs, and websites as a means of to provide income.  For every click on your website, you get paid a few pennies.    PlentyofFish.com used this method to earn millions of dollars, however not all web producers are lucky enough to have that volume of web traffic.

From what I hear most Adsense subscribers don’t see much revenue.  Many prefer affiliate programs or some means of paid sponsorship on their site.

My question is:

What are your thoughts on Google ads?

Have you used the Adwords program for your business?

Do you use Google Ads (Adsense) on your website?

Do you feel this business model is sustainable for Google?  How should they innovate?

Feel free to comment or connect with me on Twitter with any thoughts or ideas.

Plenty of Fish – Internet Dating and Markus Frind

Posted by kboon on January 14, 2010 under Stories | Comments are off for this article

The best way to start this blog is begin with a story.

This will be the first article in a series on Entrepreneurs who have created success using  the web.  I’ll try to vary the industries because I want to show examples from a variety of backgrounds.

Markus Frind is the CEO of Plenty of Fish, who as a lone entrepreneur and software programmer created a free dating site.   His website has attracted over 10 million people and has generated millions of dollars in ad revenue.  Started as one entrepreneur with an innovative idea, and created a personal fortune of over $10 million per year.

According to this interview on CBC he spends an hour or two a day working his business.

(Note: Please let me know if you have any troubles viewing this video)

The Question for business owners and entrepreneurs:

What has Markus accomplished?

• He had an Idea.
• He Committed some Time to build the website.
• He made it easy for visitors to understand the Value & Message: Internet Dating and IT’S FREE!
• He Built a Community – The tools were made simple for a community to develop.
• He Found a Revenue Stream – Through Google Adsense.
• He made the business Self Running – He created a business that is easy to manage and his time commitments are minimal.

These are some valuable ideas for business leaders and entrepreneurs who want to create income from the web.

What are your thoughts?