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How to Position Naturally in Google Through Search Engine Marketing

Google has undeniably become the most powerful search engine in recent times. With millions of online users from different parts of the globe, Google is obviously seen as a huge marketing potential by online advertisers.

Then, here comes the Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a form of internet marketing that helps business owners to build their reputation and reach unlimited number of prospect customers worldwide. It provides online advertisers good visibility for their website on the World Wide Web.

SEM services feature paid placement, contextual advertising, paid inclusion, and the widely used Search Engine Optimization (SEO). On the other hand, top SEM vendors are Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft Ad Center, and the most popular Google AdWords.

So, you want to use SEM services to have lucrative revenue for your business? You may want to use the following tactics:

You can purchase advertisements and most of the time they are on pay-per-click (PPC) basis. They usually appear on certain parts of a related page or the search results page with the headings “Featured Sites” or “Sponsored Sites”.

Also, you can have contextual advertising which are advertisements that are directly related to the content of your targeted webpage. It works this way: a network, Google Ad Sense in an instance, scans a website for certain keywords that are related to the nature of your website, when they found both pages relative, they will place the advertisement on the targeted site.

Another SEM service you can use is paid inclusion where Google charges fees for the inclusion of your advertisement or the link of your website to their search index. The above mentioned SEM services may tend you to shed some amount but you are well assured that you will have a good position on Google without doing much effort.

Moreover, the SEO strategy in search engine marketing is proven to be the most effective and widely used by online marketers though the said tactic requires some effort. Search engine optimization improves your visibility and ranking through posting quality content articles on different related sites.

The secret in SEO marketing is having original articles and it is far better to have both quality and quantity of articles. They must also have catchy yet concise titles and headlines as the first thing people will notice will contribute to their first impression of the whole write-up.

Then, post these articles on related websites so you can automatically acquire your targeted market. Keep in mind to post original articles even on different sites as posting duplicated write-ups are only counted as one.

Lastly, don’t forget to explore a lot of possibilities. Remember that the great traffic you can generate from such Search Engine Marketing tactics contributes to your ranking on Google.

Google Maps – A How to Guide

Satellite maps are a great resource to use when advertising a location, or to determine what the neighborhood and street of a location will look like. Is it an address you have never been to before? Do you want customers to know what the front of your building looks like? Is there nearby parking? This is the way to use Google Maps to your advantage.

The first step is to open a web browser and go to Google, then click on the link at the top of the page labeled Maps. Next, type either the name of a business or an address into the search bar at the top of the webpage. Be sure to include a city and state if possible, to help narrow your results. You can also type a business name and an address at the same time to find a business close to that location.

Once you have pulled up a map of a business, address, or place of interest you will have the options of reading and writing a review, learning more information about the location, getting directions, searching for a nearby location, zooming in, saving the location to My Maps, and sending the information. There will also be information such as the address, phone number, and website of the location you searched for.

Google Maps also allows users to view traffic, a simple map, a satellite map, and a terrain map. While viewing a satellite map, it’s possible to view the map from a street view by dragging and dropping the little stick figure at the top of the zoom-in/zoom-out bar, or by clicking on a specific direction to see road at that stage of your trip. Feel free to drag the street view photo, as this will cause the photo to rotate so you can look down the street and behind you! It is also possible to move up and down the street to see what the neighborhood looks like, simply click on the arrows in the center of the photo (on the white line where the street name is provided). From the street view, you may also zoom-in by double clicking on the photo.

At the top right of your map you will always see three options: Print, Send, and Link. Print will allow you to print a basic map of the location you entered. Send will allow you to email or send to a phone, car, or GPS. You will be able to send to multiple destinations and include a personal message. Link will provide you with a link that can be used in an email or instant message, or with HTML that can be used for a website.

Using the Print, Send, and Link features as well as the zoom-in and street view features is a powerful tool for both marketing and your own personal use. Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) is an easy to use tool that is both free and useful.

How Google Updates Affect Your SEO Campaign

Google updates its algorithms quite often. In fact, if we visit Google’s algorithm update history, it is easy to note they roll out new updates multiple times a month, and several times a year. Some updates include simple changes in the aesthetics of the search results page, whereas others include the introduction of new ranking factors.

We all know performing SEO on a website is continuous work, a routine. Actions made today will only reflect on your traffic down the road, and it takes patience and persistence to continue.

However:

Things out of our control can happen and ruin all the methodical and daily work we’ve done for our website’s SEO: the drastic changes in Google’s algorithm!

Does That Mean I Should Change My SEO Strategy Every Time Google Releases a New Algorithm Update?

While it is good to pay attention to these updates, you shouldn’t worry about having to change your entire SEO campaign.

Google Algorithm updates represent new ranking opportunities and criteria that SEOs should comply with, which is why SEO is a continuous strategy.

So, Why Does Google Update Its Algorithms So Frequently?

Google constantly releases algorithm updates in order to maintain its superb online advertising and search services. Several things can go wrong when running a business online, causing it to shut doors unexpectedly.

When this happens to a brick-and-mortar store, it is easy to see they have officially closed down; however, how can you tell if an online business is still operating or not?

That’s where “Bots” come in!

Google has “crawling robots” that go around discovering and inspecting websites 24/7. If Googlebots can’t get to your website, it will never be indexed. This means if Google can’t see your website content, then it won’t rank your website either.

You can avoid all this stress by performing technical SEO strategies to ensure your website is visible to crawler Bots, loads at fast speed, and depicts a true representation of your brand image.

Once your website is discoverable, Bots will analyze the layout and structure of your business, indicating how Google should be evaluating and ranking your website. Clues such as breadcrumbs, structured markup and sitemap can help guide the Bots through your content, pointing out the most important pages and blocking the ones Google shouldn’t consider.

Why Are Google Algorithm Updates Necessary?

What makes Google better than Bing, among other search engines, is the speed, accuracy and quality of the content it provides in its search results page.

Think about it:

If the search results page displayed links to websites that had little to do with what you actually searched for, or if it took too long to display it results, wouldn’t you try a different service?

We would!

That being said, Google is looking for the best content available online, so it is safe to say that “content is king”! Quality content must be helpful, informational, readable and digestible – not just fluff.

The general rule of thumb here is:

“the better the content, the higher are the chances it will rank on the first page of search engine results.”

Choose Quality Over Quantity – Always!

Since its inception, Google has been fighting off cheating practices of rank manipulation. This includes link schemes, link spamming, hidden keywords and keyword stuffing. Such practices are known as “black-hat SEO” and are used to boost website rankings.

Most people would like to know how long it takes a website to rank on Google, but the truth is there are no pre-determined deadlines for search engines; trying to bypass the process will only work against you.

Understand this:

“More content” doesn’t necessarily mean “better content”,

which is why Google rewards websites that offer value to its users, punishing and removing the schemers from search engine results pages.

What Should I Do When Google Releases Algorithm Updates?

Ultimately, Google relies on a broad network of trust indicators that help determine the most reliable and trustworthy sources available online.

Besides quality content, another main trust indicator is the amount and quality of links pointing back to your website, known as backlinks.

The same rule mentioned above applies here: choose quality over quantity! You can always find people offering hundreds and thousands of “quality” backlinks to your website for very little investment, but if some of them are “spammy” and not trustworthy, Google will mark your website as untrusted, and will remove it from its search engine results page.

Once Google has established your website as spam, it will require double, triple, or quadruple amount of effort to help it bounce back.

Quality backlinks are directly associated with Domain Authority (DA), a metric calculated by evaluating linking root domains, total links and more that helps predict how a website will rank on search engines, like Google.

Thus, for effective SEO strategy, building and managing the link profile of a website is crucial to improve its domain authority.

In Conclusion

While rankings will constantly oscillate, your position on search engines results pages should not shift drastically if you follow these principles.

Whatever you do, DO NOT panic: poorly constructed ideas and actions will negatively affect your SEO strategy; if you are applying white-hat SEO strategies, just be patient.

Link Popularity – Step by Step Guide to Attracting Inbound Links Through Google Site Maps, Part 1

Internet marketing today offers many methods to develop link popularity by using step-by-step guidance to attracting inbound links through using websites and tools such as Google Site Maps.

Having Google sitemaps set up for your websites can be very beneficial in getting more traffic from Google, because Google sitemaps help Google know about all your web pages and can, therefore, help all your web pages from all your sites get fully indexed in Google, which of course increases your chances of getting more Google traffic. It’s also a very useful tool for understanding better exactly what’s happening with your site regarding Google.

So, how exactly do you set up Google site maps for your website? I’m going to talk you through a detailed example here.

Follow these steps:

1. First of all, go to the Google Sietmaps website. And you need a Google account, a free Google account to use the sitemaps functionality. If you don’t have an existing account, you can easily set one up.

2. Log into Google Sitemaps with your own Google account.

3. So let’s start with adding sites. All you have to do is click on the add a site icon in the middle of the page to add your website address.

4. Next, you need to verify ownership of the site to make sure that this site genuinely belongs to you. So what you need to do is after the website address appears on the page is click on “try our new meta tag verification method.”

5. Okay, as you will more than likely see, the current verification status is NOT VERIFIED. So scroll down…and there are two ways you can verify your site: using the meta tag method, or upload a specific HTML file.

6. Using the meta tag method in this instance. If you have any problems with this there are full instructions on the page. Essentially, take the line of HTML code and add it in the head section of your website’s index page.

7. Selected it, right click and copy, and though to your ftp software. And on the right side will be listed your website, that is the site you are adding to Google Sitemaps. And what you want to look for is the index page. In most cases it will be listed as index.html. Download that, and open this, the index page, in Notepad so you can make the change.

8. Open up Notepad and there’s the index page on the desktop, so drag the HTML code and paste it into the head section, as Google instructed. So edit…paste. And there it is.

9. Scroll back and there’s the meta tag specifically for verifying this page.

Google will give higher link popularity to websites that have site maps. The more popular your website is on Google, which is the top search engine most people use, you will stand a better chance of having your site come up higher on search results that your target market is conducted. The higher your site becomes on the results you also stand a better chance of having people link to your site which will attract more inbound links for you.

If you are out to attract prospective customers and develop your online presence and exposure, you owe it to yourself and the financial future of your business to learn everything you can about Internet marketing.

Make Money Online From Home With Google AdSense

Google AdSense is one of the coolest ways to make money online from home. The fact is, there are so many people who want to advertise their products and services online. They will most likely use paid advertising methods to promote these products. This is good news for you because you can take advantage of this by signing up with the AdSense program.

Google AdSense allows you to make money every time someone clicks on one of the ads located on your website. You can even earn several dollars per click. There are many tactics you can use to ensure maximum earnings with AdSense. Here are just a few:

Place the ads just below the title of your page. A great way to increase your CTR (click-through-rate) is to place your AdSense ads right below the title. This will ensure that people see the ads right when they arrive on your website. If they are looking for something related to the ads being displayed, they will click on the ads.

Use text ads only. I have found that the best performing ads blocks are text. Image ads are too distracting. Keeping it simple is the best way to make the most money with AdSense. A good CTR to shoot for would be around 25%. This means that 25 people out of 100 will click on the ads.

Color combination is also very important. I find that using blue links and gray text is the best combination. This means that the titles of your ads should be blue, and the description of the ads should be light grey. My CTR has been as high as 80% using this color combination. Feel free to play around a bit. There is no secret to earning with Google AdSense. Follow a simple strategy and use Google friendly methods to get traffic.

Here’s how I do it:

Build a website around a product or service. Amazon is a great place to research different products to build your website around. For example, I have a website loaded with great articles about the Nespresso Aeroccino Plus. This is a milk frother. I get about $0.67 per click. This website took me an afternoon to create. It makes me anywhere between $45 and $70 per month. And the traffic I get comes from Google. So it’s free! What’s my secret? Well, I created great content for websites. Then, I started building back-links to websites to get it ranked high in the search engines. Then, I placed my AdSense ads on websites.

Affiliate Marketing With Over 100 Million Google Visitors

We all know that website or blog traffic is the only key to generating life changing kind of money online. And one of the preferred methods among super successful affiliate marketers is commenting because you can reach millions of visitors, you just need to look in the right places.

You will have access to 5 sites within the online marketing niche later in this article. Combined, they have over 150 MILLION Visitors per Month! But you also need to know how to do your own research because that will enable you to reach these kind of sites in Any Niche.

You need to know whether the particular site is in fact indexed in Google. You need to know the page rank and both the quantity and quality of visitors to that site. Visitor origin is extremely important, next to a product in demand (On Your Blog).

In another Blog Post I demonstrate a certain research method that will show you just How to “Look In the Right Places”. You need to research the sites you wish to comment on, and by using the simple tools as demonstrated above, I was able to come across sites with as much as 85.3 MILLION visitors per month.

But get this, they all allow comments and most even allow you to share your website and blog URL. Be careful though because the more professional the site, the less tolerance they will have to unprofessional conduct. This includes desperate sales pitches and a flood of random affiliate links, you only EVER share a URL to your own blog or website in any comments you make.

Most professional sites will provide you with one of 2 most used commenting options;

An On-Site Contact Form – That will allow you to share your URL by providing an option to do so, these forms normally require your name, email, URL and of course your comment.

Comments Feed Plugin – This is when you leave a comment by having to log into a particular social profile or Gravatar account to do so. And as these commenting options do not allow a special window for your URL, you DO NOT share any URL in these comments.

Within context however, you may want to suggest a certain idea and have other people respond to your comment. Should that discussion lead to an increased interest and request to view your site, then you share the link to your personal blog or website.

When You Comment – You always stay on topic, and blend with the discussion at hand. That can only be done by actually reading the particular post you wish to comment on. Don’t just barge in with a desperate sales pitch or offer, it mirrors desperation. Keep your comments as professional as possible, and you will never have to write another sales pitch.

Professional commenting (And Actually Getting results) is a time consuming exercise and must never be done hastily. Apart from researching the sites you wish to comment and even guest post on, you also want to read other comments. Find what a particular audience is looking for so that you may be able to offer a suitable and obvious solution (That Actually Works). And make sure this offer is available On Your Blog, preferably with a proper discussion because you want to inspire your visitor to want to Know More.

The purpose of your comment must be to get the visitor to your own blog or website, you then need to ensure your content is interesting and useful enough to keep your visitor there. A great way to check this is to pay attention to your visitor/view ratio. Your visitors should be less than the views because it indicates that you’re on the right path, it means you have returning visitors.

Now I did promise to provide access to my personal 5 commenting favourites, but I strongly advise you master that research method we discussed earlier.

Moz– This site offer an On Site Comment window that allows you to share your URL as a Hyper Link. Do not enter a raw URL (And Especially an Affiliate Offer URL) anywhere, because this is also a great way to get Moz to recognize your Blog or Website. Share the link to your personal site by means of the Hyper Link option provided.

Once signed up and inside your membership, you need to visit the Moz Blog to be able to comment and share your thoughts. You will also be able to answer questions because this is a site that offers great engagement, I can tell you that.

The Penny Hoarder – This site uses a Facebook comment plugin. You will need to login with your Facebook credentials to comment here, so be sure your profile is as complete and professional as possible. You will not have to register an account with the Penny Hoarder, only Facebook login to comment. And remember to only share the link to your blog or website when asked to do so.

Pro Blogger – And this is a perfect example of the on-site comments window where you have the option of sharing your blog URL. Once your comment is approved, your site will be accessible to reader when they click on your name in the comment. Pro Blogger, like Penny Hoarder requires no registration.

Money Talks News– Another high value site that does not require any registration. Like The Penny Hoarder, Money Talks too uses the Facebook comments plugin so the same rules apply. Only share the URL to your blog when asked to do so.

Always remember that content is the King of sales conversion, and unique content is what will have your site stand out. Content is the single most important part of actually generating money online, and endless research is the only way to be able to provide your audience with the relevant content. You must do the research, so your reader does not have to.

And that is how you can now leverage commenting to your profitable advantage.

Getting a Google AdWords Coupon For Your Online Business

Upon establishing your presence in the internet by creating your website, the next thing to do is promote to have higher ranking and better popularity. There are many ways to promote a website: you can have the organic way of acquiring traffic like using different SEO strategies or paid advertisements.

If you are want to get visible results in no time, then Google AdWords is the one for you. It is a pay per click (PPC) platform developed by the popular search engine to provide better ad placement services to advertisers.

Basically, Google AdWords is composed of text lines for an ad copy that usually appears on the right side of related search result pages. It easily boosts your website’s popularity as your ads are easily visible.

It might cost you a bit as you pay for every click made on your ad copy but other online marketers who are using this platform for quite some time now have a technique on how to save on the marketing cost. And this is by availing a Google AdWords coupon.

A Google AdWords coupon is a voucher that offers discounted or even free services that let you save big time on the PPC program. Usually, the banners that are regularly used will be replaced by keywords.

To avail a Google AdWords coupon, all you have to do is find websites through the use of search engines that give away such coupons for free.

However, these websites give the coupons for free but along with a purchase so you will still be spending some money. But if you find the product interesting, then you can do some calculations and when you have proven that you can still save with what the site offers, you can do the purchase and enjoy the Google AdWords coupon.

You can also join a business network that uses Google AdWords. Being a member of such network, you can also avail the incentives that Google provides to the whole network.

To utilize your Google AdWords coupon, you must ensure that your site is interesting and worthy of visit. If it is, then you can offer Google to use several parts of your site to be used as advertising space.

But make sure that your website has been established for quite some time now and has already earned a number of followers so you can assure them that the ads posted will get good number of clicks. Moreover, having an interesting website can lure more people visiting your site thus making the ads more visible – remember that people become interested once you are able to stir their curiosity.

Now, acquiring a Google AdWords coupon that can save you from expensive operational costs is easy.

Work at Home With Google AdSense Online Business Opportunities

If you’re one of those people who want to easily earn money online through your blogs and/or website if you have, then signing up for Google AdSense is the best way to start with. It might be somewhat unfamiliar to most of us, but once you know how it works, it will definitely add an increase to your income without taking so much time.

Many people have already gained a lot from signing up to Google AdSense, but its advantage is not that known to everyone. So for beginners, let’s take the steps one by one going up to its critical points to know more on how it works.

First thing to do is to have a blog and/or website and you can sign up at Google AdSense for free. After you sign up for a free account, you can already put ads that are relevant to your content on your site. Available also in your site are the adverts relevant to your area, because of the information you are giving to Google. By this, buyers from different places who will visit your blogs and/or website can relate to your ads.

Making your ads appealing and with relevance to the buyers helps you make money from Google. With every click you will receive from your blog and/or website visitors is a credit in your AdSense.

So, you would ask, “how can I make my blog appealing”? It’s just simple. AdSense offers a lot of choices for you to make your blog attractive such as its color scheme, color and borders that will suit to its appearance. For a beginner like you, experimenting is never a bad idea for it helps you gain knowledge about Google AdSense.

On the other hand, though many earn a lot from integrating Google AdSense in their blogs and/or website, still there are some who are less fortunate to have fewer visitors in a day as compared to others. Because of this, some resolve to find other strategies in which they can earn more.

For that instance, going to the AdSense’ advanced level and starting other sites with different but common topics catches the attention of many. These AdSense are then located in the most advantageous position to get more clicks. You may even add up links to the site which will also add a bit to your income.

The advantage of having these types of sites is that, when you have already created and have an own domain name, all you have to do then is to endorse and update them each day which is also done by putting news stories that are related to your subject to have more visitors by having a higher rank in the search engine results.

The last yet the most important thing in here is to wisely choose a subject. Something that would really jive in the interest of the visitors such as topics relating to health, fashion trends, high-earning jobs and a lot more.

To sum it up, integrating your blogs and/or website in a Google AdSense is the best way to start earning money. It won’t just five you income but also knowledge and skills in improving sites and blogs. It may even take you to the edge of becoming an AdSense expert which again, will give you extra income without hassles in the job.

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Innovative Internet Marketing Solutions: 5 SEO Tricks to Rank Highly On Google

Within the last few decade the web and the incredible amount of online money making chances took the globe as we know it by surprise. You will discover individuals making 6 and even 7 figure earnings because of running their own online businesses.

The world wide web shows a serious possibility to profit if you are ready to work hard and wise. In addition, a lot of buyers now use Google as their number one resource for pre-purchase study and as a result ranking high on the search engines like Google is becoming a bigger factor than ever.

On this edition of my impressive online marketing remedies series I have to discuss along with you 5 tips that have helped me to rank my websites high on the search engines like google.

Content is king: In 1996 Bill Gates posted an article called “Content is King”. In this article Mr. Gates points out precisely how in the future decade the companies who have the best and the most content could be the ones to reign over the online markets.

I’ve come across sites which have amazing design, structure, or owners and they fail to capture the readers attention simply because they lack related good quality articles. While is true which online visitors browse the web to find products and services for their problems, they also love to find out more on how a selected services or products may help them.

Larger low quality traffic normally means much less sales: I know cases of web sites that have over 10,000 visitors per month and still rarely make any money. Why does this happen? As the traffic these types of internet sites are getting is what is called junk traffic or untargeted traffic.

What’s the point of owning a store in the heart of Time’s Square if your target audience never goes there? You’ll definitely get a lot of individuals walking by but your revenue can be really poor.

Review your competitors’ SEO campaigns: You need to remember to always maintain it ethical but business is business and to get an edge you need to understand your competitors’ marketing plans. The fact is that if your competitors are much better and convincing customers that their products and services are wonderful, you won’t get any business even if your merchandise is more preferable.

That is why I would recommend to always evaluate your competitors’ keywords and research their marketing plan. Every marketing plan has flaws and if you can locate those weaknesses in your competitors’ promotional efforts you may be able to have an edge.

Have desired goals and a plan to get to those targets: Goal setting is supremely essential for marketing success. Promoting your business without a clear list of goals is like soaring a plane without a destination. You must know exactly where you would like to go and how you will get there.

Each and every successful online marketer has defined his/her goals and then implemented a well thought marketing plan to allow them to achieve those goals. SEO is not a “one size fits all” solution and what works for other websites may not work for you.

Figure out how to find keywords that can be monetized: There are several keywords that generate higher conversion rates. Many of these keywords are long tail keywords, keywords which are specific to product types (or even names), and keywords that show that the consumer is comparing product.

Bear in mind, search engine optimization doesn’t occur overnight and to reach the first page of Google you need to be consistent, work hard, and above all work smart. I hope you liked my innovative internet marketing solutions series.

To your achievement,

Marcello Ducille

Professional Online Entrepreneur/Senior Forex Trader

The iGoogle Homepage Is Shutting Down – Which Google Program Will Be Next?

Next month, Google is shutting down the popular iGoogle Homepage on Nov. 1st, and many Google users are not happy. Like the Google Reader users before them, they can cry tough kitty all they want. Google does as Google does as Google does.

The iGoogle program has been around since 2005 and lets one bookmark all their favorite gadgets, read news headlines and play games right on their own personalized homepage. Many users simply loved this program and will hate to see it go.

As a user of many Google free products it also scares the bejesus out of me sometimes. Google has closed down some of their popular programs, and it leaves one wondering what is going next? My one main concern – will Google+ go the way of Google Buzz? Will Google drop Google+ and Google Hangouts?

As someone who is using and building up their contact list of subscribers… losing Google+ would be a major blow for me. Besides, while I like and use Facebook for family connections, Google+ has become my online marketing or business hangout – I simply don’t want to lose it. No matter how much I have criticized Google Search in the last little while, they do do something right, and in my opinion, Google+ is one of them.

While it has been described mainly as a ghost town by many and user numbers haven’t exactly been earth shattering – Google+ still plays an important role in Google SERPs and markup. After all the programs Google has closed, it is within reasonable thinking that if Google+ costs too much to run or usage drops significantly – Google may shut it down. Judging purely from past closures, it would not be a great leap of faith to believe it is indeed possible.

For me, another major worry is Google Analytics, will Google shut it down? While it is not totally accurate, the data is a bit off, I can’t imagine my marketing day without real-time analytics running in the background. It gives me so much information on how my actual visitors behave on my web pages and sites. Although it is probably giving Google invaluable search and site data, Analytics must be a very costly program to run, even for Google and their vast resources. Just hope it’s the last free Google program which closes its doors.

Another one is Webmaster Tools, losing this program would also be a major loss, especially if you use it to keep your site or sites in line with Google’s countless rules and guidelines. While it hasn’t been very helpful for me, I still check it to see if anything is totally out of sync with Google’s rules. Webmaster Tools is such an integral part of Google’s whole setup; one can’t imagine it going the way of other lesser programs, such as the Google Affiliate Network.

Perhaps, besides AdSense and AdWords, the only other Google programs, which I would be somewhat disappointed to see disappear, are gMail, Google Earth and Google Chrome. I occasionally use all of these and would hate to see them gone – especially Chrome, which I have installed on several of my computers. However, for privacy reasons, I have been using those less and less, so I could survive their closures without too many withdrawal pains.

Actually, if you’re concerned about your own online privacy, you’re probably better off staying away from Google and any free Google programs. Needless to say, for advertising purposes, Google is collecting every bit of data, every keystroke and every subject you have shown even the slightest interest in pursuing. While all this information is supposedly “collectively gathered and processed” according to Google’s prospective, please use your own discretion if online privacy is top on your list of priorities. Truth be told Google has become the largest list builder and consumer data collector on the web and in the world. This collected user data has become Google’s most valuable asset – one which can be milked for years into the future.

It’s simply the price we have to pay for using these programs, after all you didn’t really think these products were truly free, did you? Then again, is anything in life really free?

Google’s products and programs are no exceptions, while I don’t want to be too cynical, but one has to be realistic about Google’s ultimate goals and objectives here. It’s a publicly traded company, and generating revenue is its lifeblood – the more it makes the merrier everyone will be. Nothing wrong with that, nor is there anything wrong with Google giving us all these countless free products and programs, as long as we realize the price we’re paying for those products.

I for one, am more than willing to pay that price, and I truly hope iGoogle is the last one of Google’s products on the chopping block. At least for the immediate future, but I am not holding my breath.