InsureMe Affiliate Blog: Why are We All Trying to Be Google?

Oh yeah, because they are a financial powerhouse, that's why. But is imitation the highest form of flattery, or is it just a great way to make sure Google will keep kicking everyone's butt in the future?

These is the interesting question Derek Powazek (the fella who designed Technorati's current interface) asks in a recent article "What Would Google Do?"

The article focuses on Google "anti-design" design and all of the companies out there trying to copy the "search box, logo, submit button" Google interface. Derek points out that by doing the same thing as Google, companies like Ask.com will remain in Google's wake.

Stepping outside of site design, I think a lot can be said about companies in the search space trying to copy Google.

Most guilty are our friends over at Yahoo! who, while keeping their super portal homepage, have decided that all of their PPC ad serving should work just like Google's. This thinking brought us to the now infamous "Project Panama" which, when completed, will take Yahoo! Search Marketing (Y!SM) into the world of "black box" ad serving (having multiple variables dictate ad position rather than just bid).

While financially this might make a lot of sense, it will drastically change the "personality" of Yahoo!'s PPC interface, and from an advertisers viewpoint, make Y!SM "just like Google." This is not a good thing for Yahoo! Search Marketing as a brand.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has tried to be different with their Microsoft adCenter platform with pretty decent success. While adCenter does black box its ad serving, they were able to add features like demographic targeting and robust reports to their PPC engine. Many people in the search community consider adCenter to be the next evolution in PPC, which is good for Microsoft. Even better, when Google rolls out demographic targeting, everyone will say that Google has demographic targeting just like Microsoft adCenter. That is a great thing for Microsoft.

I guess the point of this Monday morning rant is this - make sure you aren't trying to copy the Google in your world. If you are an affiliate who spends all of their time copying bigger affiliate's Web sites, PPC campaigns, and linking strategies, step back for a minute and take stock. Ask yourself if what you are doing is simply imitation, and if it is, see what you can do to do something different. There are a lot of trails still to be blazed in this world, and it just so happens that the trail blazers are the people who are the most successful.

What are you doing to blaze trails?

If you are interested about more information on being remarkable and what it means to your business, pick up a copy of Seth Godin's Purple Cow. Actually, pick up any of Seth's books - I steal all of my best ideas from him. :)

Thanks to our lovely and talented UI designer Marina for pointing me to the article that led me on this tangent.