Direct Visitors vs the Google Machine

Rich Skrenta recently mentioned an article about being within the confines of Google:

So it strikes me that the time is right to make some big bets. You can't make those within the system. My advice: start from scratch, take some chances in finding marketing channels outside the Google system. Be bold - make some bets while the upside is still very big and the downside is pretty small.

Google's is getting closer with some large ad agencies, which likely means stability and growth for that model:

"We are sharing our information to help Google develop the right platforms and Google is sharing technology to help us develop the best services for our clients," said Publicis Chairman and CEO Maurice Levy in an interview. "Google is not going to be an advertising agency," said Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. "We've all sort of figured out where everybody goes now."

The three big areas for growth for those not big enough to partner with Google are domain names, social networks, and public relations.

The first day auction results for the DomainFest auction are in. Most of the people buying domains are still speculators betting around Google / operating outside of the Google game. If you take your SEO knowledge to that market and add in a dash of content you are rolling your own strategy. Domains that seem ridiculously overpriced seem way too cheap when you add in a top Google ranking.

Max Levichin (or someone posing to be him) just started a blog. His first post offered tips for how to successfully launch a social networking development platform, including:

Make the #1 measurable goal of your PR team the amount of coverage that successful (or just interesting) developers get. People will jump through all kinds of hoops to be in the papers. Double so if the article lists them next to a [your] big brand.

As Google grows smarter and the web gets more competitive the key to dominating Google is to matter outside of Google and/or own the media. The media is getting pretty cheap, and trending lower.

While the networks are sleeping talent is looking to become the publisher.