Google has an Achilles Heal - Will their competitors notice?
Even though Google Revenues continue to soar, the hidden problem
that may stifle growth and may even allow Yahoo or MSN to
overtake the paid search market in the future lies in two
critical phrases: Customer Support, and Customer Training
Approximately 40% of the small businesses we have surveyed have
tried Adwords in the past and failed, and some of them have
tried multiple times. In some markets the percentage is closer
to 60%. Why? because the program was designed by Google
engineers, and heavily favors companies with the type of
resources that most small businesses do not have. Unlike MSN and
Yahoo who have programs that are much simpler in terms of use
for small business people, Google favors a technology driven
solution that relies less on customer support, and expects users
of their system to become more sophisticated. The problem with
this is that it is working quite well for professional internet
marketers and search engine marketing companies employed by big
corporations, but many small business people who are not
web-savvy are by and large left out of the mix. This is
unfortunate because this is a huge segment of potential income
that is left "up for grabs" and may be scooped up by MSN and
Yahoo who are developing simpler, easier systems with better
customer support. All the major search engines recognize this
problem, and getting those "offline" advertisers online is a
high priority for all of them, but so far there has not been
great success. It is a knowledge and training gap, and neither
Yahoo, MSN, or Google has so far been able to address it
adequately. Google's recent acquisition of urchin, a web
analytics program illustrates the problem Google is trying to
solve. Big Companies getting involved in paid search will still
continue to drive big revenues, but the new internet is about
verticals and niches, and Google simply isn't making the grade
in terms of training their customers well enough. Where do small
business customers go after they "churn"? Many of them go back
to what they were doing successfully before; email marketing,
direct marketing, and call centers according to our study. The
next growth area will be hundreds of thousands of verticals,
driven by small businesses exploiting areas and needs that the
fortune 500 companies can not fill efficiently. The search
engine company that gets the most advertisers on its side will
win market share, and winning will require the ability to
service everybody, not just the super sophisticated internet
super geeks. However, many private companies not sanctioned by
Google, have sprung up in order to try to bridge the gap between
the Google Adwords program and the ability to advertise
efficiently on Google and achieve a high ROI. One such company
is http://adwordstraining.org that offers free video training
and free frequently updated information at
http://marketingnewsblog.adwordstraining.org Simple training
videos are available on the site, as well as an advertiser self
study course to get non-technical people up to speed with Google
Adwords advertising. Between Google's extensive training program
of Google Professionals and private training by private
companies, this knowledge gap may be bridged, and in the process
a whole new industry of Google Adwords Marketing companies may
be created, to facilitate the knowledge gap between Google and
the advertisers that want to take advantage of the enormous
advertising reach afforded by paid search. But, this might not
be enough for Google to keep its lead, as advertisers often
follow the path of least resistance in getting their messages
out, and they are the ones funding the growth of the search
engine industry. Where those advertisers ultimately go will
determine the ultimate victor in the ever growing search engine
wars, and the winner is by no means secure at this point. Steve
Blom Founding Partner InTouch Media Group
About the author:
Steve Blom is a founding partner of InTouch Media Group, a
publicly traded company specializing in the online marketing
field.
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