That`s right - I dreamt of a World Wide Web without the Googlopoly. And let me tell you - it was a scary place.

Well the thing is - at first I thought it was frightening - but as the nightmare went on it started feeling less scary as I began to realise that I no longer had to check my rankings every day, worry about how my website was built from a `Google perspective` and constantly battle over positions with my online competitors. And this got me to thinking..

What Would The World Be Like If Google Didn`t Exist?

Exactly the same really. Okay - the world Wide Web would be different, but would it really be so bad? I think, that as website owners, we should behave as if Google doesn`t exist. It is only by doing this that we can free ourselves from some of the chains that it has on us. Just take a step back a moment and think of the number of times you`ve visited Google purely to see where in the rankings your own site is listed. Quite a few times right? What about all those hours your spent researching how Google works and what changes you could make to your website to effect a positive effect on your ranking.. Sound familiar?

Are You A Killer Google Zombie?

So instead of all this wasted Google-Gazing - what would your website be like now if you had spent that time creating excellent new content? Or what if you had spent that time finding key partners in your industry and launching affiliate arrangements with them? Or what about if you sat down and really improved your homepage so that your conversion rate from visitors into sales increased two-fold? Don`t you see? Your Google-tinted glasses are tainting your entire view of how to be successful on the web. Take off your GoogleSpecs - I urge you to smash them right now. From this moment onwards promise me that you will take steps to ignore the fact that Google exists and look for other ways of growing your website`s profile and improving its capacity to make you money. Don`t be a Killer Google Zombie!

"Michael - You Ignore Google At Your Peril!"

What? Wise up! I bet you there are thousands if not millions of hours wasted every single year by people Google-gazing, researching how it works, trying to beat the system, discussing it in online forums, trying to jump one position higher or pandering to the latest Google dance. Imagine how much better the web would be right now if these millions of hours had been spent on making websites more effective, more user-friendly, more informative, more enjoyable and more fun! The next time you find yourself being drawn into the Google-gazing trap just take a step back and think about how you could use the time to actually improve your website for those pink squishy things that actually buy from you - people!

Michael Cheney