By Bob Speyer, Web Success Team

Fact: Google is everywhere — in your business, in your home and your psyche and in your everyday conversations with friends. It is even a new verb, like “just Google it.” What did we do without the Internet and search engines to find our way in life. We are dependent upon Google for everything. It’s our new best friend.

It’s Not All Black or Green

But like oil, are we becoming too comfortable with it and not looking for alternatives? The oil crises (note, we have had more than one, for those of you that remember the early 70s oil embargo and long gas lines). Today, nations and big business are frantically looking at alternatives to fossil based fuels. Going green is good, petroleum is bad, particularly when it pollutes our way of life and turns the Gulf Coast into the “Dead Sea.”

Google is good for business. People search and your company is found. Connections are made and everyone is happy. However, my question is are we too dependent on the whims of Google or too cavalier about the power they exert? We recently put up a client’s website and it took Google two weeks to index it. The client was concerned and we felt it was taking too long. We checked and rechecked our work, the coding, the content, and the architecture, the site SEO. All was good. We counseled patience to our client and to ourselves. It was finally indexed two weeks later. In May, Google later announced it had changed its algorithms (again!), factors that determine when and how the spiders “view” and index a site

Spread the Wealth

A lesson to be found in this is that your business doesn’t stop because your site isn’t live on Google or doesn’t appear on page one. There are many ways to promote your business in addition to Google and their site ranking. Be an active blogger, place your business on local search, and utilize the social web like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube.

The French have a saying roughly translated, “The less you know the more your spread.” Well quite the opposite is true for online marketing. Spreading your name throughout the Internet by taking advantage of many online opportunities, tools and engines will produce greater Return On Effort or ROE.

Love at First Search?

Don’t get me wrong. I love Google, but it isn’t my first love or my last one. My best advice is not to be too enamored with one tool. Simply look at it as one means to an end.

And the end game is to get business. All’s fair in love and Google.

As always, I welcome reader comments to this blog post. What has been your experience with Google in getting a site indexed?

Grow Your Business Online: These tips are meant to be used as a guideline to improve traffic to your site, increase your conversion rates, help turn visitors into buyers, and keep you ahead of the competition. Turning to a web marketer can ultimately save you time and money and increase your success online. The Web Success Team has many proven marketing strategies and techniques. The Team would be happy to discuss your web marketing needs with a complimentary consultation and web marketing assessment of your current site. Simply mention this article when contacting bob@websuccessteam.com or call 818-222-5643 for an appointment. Please visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for more information. To your web success!