(Picture Credit - Visionbritain)
Google
it! That answer to almost any question has become a commonplace part of the
English Language. Google has become much more than an internet search engine.
One writer jokingly referred to it as “The Google”, a godlike entity ruling all
of cyber space. For that’s what Google now is.
Way back in the nineties or noughties, Brian Slater,
the deputy head of Cambridge Park Special School, Grimsby, introduced me to the
internet. Specifically he showed me how to use the Yahoo search engine and I
loved it.
When I got my first PC I started with Yahoo and the
then NTL search engine. I then used Ask Jeeves and many more. But the one that
struck me for its sheer simplicity was Google. Just a rectangle in the middle
of a blank page, on which you could type in your keywords and voila! Google
soon became my Home Page as it was the obvious place to start any surfing
session.
The
Google
Clearly I was not the only one to prefer Google.
Today Google seems to rule Cyber Space. Everyone who writes on the web bangs on
about how best to get Google’s attention. All that stuff about the Google
algorithm, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), keywords, getting ranking points
and God knows what. It’s a mass industry now.
See my title above: the keyword is “Google”, at
least one of the most searched-for words on the web. Only the word “Facebook”
might rival it. So, I’m looking forward to plenty of Views.
People keep saying, “We must do more to impress
Google: better quality, the optimum keyword density...” Why do you think a
certain Forum was closed down eh?
Blogger
and Adsense
Google has become much more than a search engine. I
personally use “Blogger” on which to post many blogs, and Blogger is of course
run by Google. Those blogs are of course “monetized” by being linked with
Google Adsense. Indeed quite a few of my pieces on various writing sites are
monetized the same way.
“Blogger” I find very easy to use. I can add images
quite readily, though sorting through copyright licences etc. I find confusing.
The beauty of Triond is that they sort that for you when they find you images.
As for Google Adsense, I can’t make much sense of it
to be honest. The pages there are a nightmare to navigate and filled with mysterious
jargon. The Google ads on my blogs have gone very simple recently – not much of
a temptation for anyone to click, and I’ve been unable to sort out why.
I get very few “clicks” on my Adsense related ads.
My Views count is also much lower than shown on my blogs or writing-site
pieces. No, can’t make sense of Adsense.
Just checked: have made £6.42 sterling on Adsense
over about five years and the minimum threshold for payment is £60. A long way
to go! Surely no “Content Farm” in the world is so stingy.
Google
Plus
Recently I joined Google Plus. It’s a social
networking site quite similar to Facebook. It’s okay, but the fact remains that
most of my personal and writing friends are on Facebook. While I’m talking, I
might as well mention that I cannot get into Twitter either. That 140 character
limit is a pain and again few of my human friends use it. (Well at least I hope
all my friends are human)!
Conclusion
As you can see I am Not an expert on Google or
indeed the web. All I can give you is my honest account of my personal
experiences with these things. How long will The Google reign? Who knows? It
remains to be seen whether the recent trend of PCs and laptops giving way to
Smart Mobiles will have any lasting impact. Maybe some day Google (and the
other big multi-nationals) might have to pay all their Taxes!
But, until anyone says otherwise, Long Live The
Google.
Paul Butters
More Work: http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/my-poorly-mother/
Update 25\8\13 - "Beat The Bullies..." 8346 Views now (18 today!).
Update 6\9\13 - "Bullies" - 8586 Views.
7\9 - More Work, even if "Forbidden"(!) - http://authspot.com/poetry/now-now/
- And more - http://authspot.com/poetry/image-intuition/
More - http://authspot.com/poetry/fear-175/
More - http://hellopoetry.com/poem/fear-181/ (23 Views in five minutes!) (18\9 - 2.30 PM - 120 Views now and Trending on "Hello Poetry"!)
21\9\13 Update - "Fear" has had 256 Views in 3 days! Some Likes too. New friends... Thanks to Australian poet Elizabeth Squires for prompting me that this was one for "Hello Poetry".
24\9 - 301 Views now for "Fear". 2\10 - 8879 Views for "Bullies".
10\11\13 - 9,559 Views for Bullies and 164 Views in a day for my blog on returning serve at table tennis (after extremely slow start).
20\11\13 - "Bullies" has now had 10,134 Views! Most of my Triond Views are from the USA still, with JAPAN (!) in 2nd place. UK is way down now. 194 for the table tennis blog - very good compared with most of my stuff.
8\12 - 12,449 Views for Bullies now.
17\12\13 - 2601 Views for Bullies this month, 81 today! 14,124 Views in total. Just posted onto Triond a blog - "Is there an Afterlife?", sadly prompted by Mum passing on last Thursday (12th December).
19\12 - More: http://socyberty.com/philosophy/is-there-an-afterlife-2/
24\1\14: Bullies 16,514 Views now! 2\2: 17,206 V. 18\2: 17,854 Views.
31\3 - Bullies 20,273 Views.
