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A Google search for every site

Janet Babin Jul 17, 2007

TEXT OF STORY

Doug Krizner: Google is looking to cash in on yet another new feature. But the product it’s unveiling today may also help the bottom line of small businesses.

Janet Babin has more from the Marketplace Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio.


Janet Babin: Lots of small businesses already use a free version of Google search on their sites. Take Seth Godin. He founded Squidoo.com — at the bottom of his marketing blog, visitors can search just his site, or the Web, through Google.

But both options take users away from Godin’s site, back to Google’s pages and advertising. This new option lets users search without leaving the original Website.

Many small business don’t want other ads on their home page. Godin says Google’s new product helps those businesses to be islands on the Web.

Seth Godin: This idea of it’s my storefront, I control it, is worth a lot. And if they end up with a couple hundred thousand people using it, they just added 10, 20, $50 million to the bottom line.

The new service starts at $100 annually for small businesses, with larger sites paying more. Google says most small businesses should be able to customize the technology in about 10 minutes.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.

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