I've been putting aside a number of stories this past week I wanted to comment on, so I'm trying to catch up this weekend.
On Friday, fellow Search Insider Aaron Goldman penned a column that's mostly complementary about Google's recent roll outs, but warns about trying to keep too many people happy with too many different business models.
I have a somewhat different view. I've yet to see anything roll out of Google labs that shows signs of propping up their one legged revenue model. While a lot of quantity has been coming out, I haven't seen any gain significant traction to the extent that Google search did. Look at the list that Aaron cites in the column:
"Enter Google News, Froogle, Blogger, Picasa, Google Alerts and Gmail."
Not a market leader amongst that group. Later, Aaron lists more Google spin offs:
"Enter Google Book Search, Google Video, Google Desktop Search, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Base, Google Talk, Google Finance, Google Page Creator, and Google Calendar."
Again, despite tons of hype for some of these, including Video, Google Base, Desktop Search, none have gained significant market traction. Google Base was supposed to be the eBay killer, but it's still sputtering along. At this point Google Earth probably has the best chance of growing virally, as we're starting to see with the proliferation of mash up sites.
Google has yet to follow the admittedly stunning success of search with a worthy follow up. In my mind, they're still suffering from the Sophomore Curse. Yes, they've delivered most times on quarterly expectations, but this is still coming from AdWords, and to a lesser extent, AdSense.
Google's other forays into the world of marketing that had Madison Avenue shaking in their Florsheims have come up short of the bar as well. The experiment with selling print did not meet expectations, Google recently admitted.
Recent stories also have Google taking on television, both through offering an extended range of viewing options through an electronic program guide, and by possibly bring pay per click advertising to television. Bold? Yes. Interesting? Sure. Odds for success? I'm thinking a long shot.
Google knows their current revenue model is singularly vulnerable, and the scramble Aaron refers to is an attempt to broaden out that revenue base. Until Google hits another home run in the revenue department, they remain in a precarious position, especially when you consider the variety of revenue resources their main competitor, Microsoft, can depend on to fund the war chest.