Google's business model

This Side Up · 22 Dec 2012 at 14:32

Google Adsense. People have made a living off it.

v0n · 22 Dec 2012 at 16:11

kwerk said:
I'll tell you what though, I'd pay quite a lot for access to high quality customer reviews for products. Something like a mix between Consumer Reports, Amazon and youtube, but consistent high quality that can weed out corporate shills. That's what I go by when buying stuff, not adverts.

Such model is unfortunately unsustainable. Which? does it and it looks like they also had to go mild in recent years otherwise if you just spill the raw truth and slate the product you cut the very branch you are sitting on and manufacturers don't want to be part of your group reviews.

I used to run small site with reviews of niche electronic products (non computer related) at the beginning of this century and posting pure uncensored truth is just a quick way to be locked in constant battles even if you don't need the site to be commercial success. In my experience 75% of products in some industries wouldn't pass basic consumer end QC, but in the same time manufacturers and distributors are not very keen on costs related to third parties fixing those issues and in return if you gain attention and page hits they will actively fight you over your rants or writeups regularly clashing with their plans or product launches. In the end you just give up and retract them.

chanjy · 25 Dec 2012 at 15:25

Hmmm... I'm a big google fan. Seems to me like they genuinely want to improve the world by making access to information easier (stuff like Google Books, Google Fiber, Google Scholar weren't invented for the purpose of making money) and they fund this by advertising.

Don't you think their ads are actually really useful? Loads of times the ads are more useful than the search results, particularly when you want to buy something

V4NT0M · 25 Dec 2012 at 15:56

kwerk said:
the www is unusable without ad blocking software.

D.P. · 25 Dec 2012 at 16:27

FoxEye said:
People who adblock are probably less than 1%.

There are even some websites now that look for ad locking software and will block if ad blocking software is found, warning the user to switch it off to continue viewing the website. I can see this model expanding, users either pay a small amount to have advert free viewing, or they are forced to watch the adverts.