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The mega search engine Google is used not only by Internet searchers but also by business owners. In fact, it serves millions of advertisers and enterprises all over the world every day. The secret: it is business friendly. Here are the top five benefits of Google for business owners:

1. Ease of Use of Applications
   Virtually all business owners do not have to build anything from scratch. The applications do not require additional use of hardware or creation of another program. However, developers can modify the codes through the developer tools and resources available at http://code.google.com/intl/en/.

   The website also promotes “one account for all applications.” Upon signing, the business owner can immediately take advantage of all the tools and resources developed by Google employees themselves. Users of Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange can switch to Google Applications in very simple steps.

2. Desktop on the Go
   Google encourages everyone to be as mobile as possible. Thus, it is easier to build network connections, stay in contact with employees even when on the road, and promote telecommuting that reduces business overhead costs.

   The website has applications that are very similar to those found in desktops. An example is Google Docs, which works like Microsoft Word. Other applications include Google Spreadsheet and Google Calendar.

   Plenty of tools can also be accessible through the mobile phone. Gmail, its e-mail client, can be synced in with Blackberry’s Enterprise Server and accessed through any type of Internet-capable mobile phones.

3. Collaboration
   Google promotes collaboration among employees, business owners, and partners. Business owners can set up and share scheduled meetings and appointments, as well as documents and spreadsheets, via Google Calendar, Docs, and Spreadsheet respectively. Google Groups permit everyone to communicate more openly and upload public files such as documents and images.

   One can purchase a business account for $50 per year and make use of 10GB site storage. All chosen employees can have 500MB. There is also a shared storage for more private videos in Google Video. Google Talk allows video conferencing.

4. Marketing
   Google provides several money-making opportunities for business owners. Google AdSense allows them to monetize their blogs while Google Adwords permits one to bring the business to the search results pages, while the keyword suggestion tool helps business owners find the best keywords to use.

   Google Analytics, one of the best search engine optimization (SEO) tools so far, is free to use and can be added into any website. This can provide valuable marketing information such as number of unique visitors, pages visited, and keywords used for searching. Business ads can be customized based on the desired geographical location. It also encourages local listing.

   The search engine has Google Finance that allows any stockholder to monitor the market on a real-time basis. It has applications such as Portfolios, Stock Screener, and Google Domestic Trends.

5. Uptime
   Virtually all applications of Google are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The website also has plenty of contact details, from e-mail addresses to phone numbers, for anyone who needs additional technical and customer support.

When it comes to search engine optimization, or SEO, you may have heard the criticism that any Web site could be number one if you pick a keyword that is obscure enough. There are also a lot of criticisms that say that SEO is not effective in putting your Web site in a higher search engine ranking and in bringing in sales and customers to your site; that everything is just based on pure luck.

What adds to the confusion are companies and services that claim to be able to put your site on the first page or top spot of any search engine for any keyword you specify and then they use black hat techniques composed of deceitful and underhanded tactics to put you on top only as long as you keep paying them. Once you have stopped paying, your rankings fall, sometimes it becomes worse off than when you started. What is more, these black hat techniques can prove to be a bane to your ranking because search engines are very dynamic and are constantly updated and be able to detect these sooner or later. There is always the possibility that your site would be banned for using these techniques.

Over the years, people have come out with pronouncements that SEO is dead. They claim that you cannot influence how your sites would be ranked by search engines with its algorithms being constantly updated. Additionally, they say that SEO companies are just guessing at how search engines rank sites because these algorithms are closely guarded secrets in the first place.

The truth of the matter is that SEO works. It is not dead. It is not an art, but a science. SEO companies and experts have made educated guesses and made changes to Web sites that have seen better rankings than when left alone. The process is very much like how scientists and academics have their own theories and they do experiments to test it out. SEO experts and scientists strive to prove causality between one process and its results.

Done right, SEO can help your site get good rankings on keywords that are used by your customers and potential buyers. What this entails is that, like other marketing initiatives, you should know who your customers are in order to find the keywords that would give you the most benefits. More than this, you should also know the various techniques of SEO and how to execute them. This includes learning how to implement white hat techniques like on page optimization, off-page SEO, link building, creating better content that is both SEO-friendly and natural sounding. Over and again, companies that implement these techniques have reaped rewards after rewards.

Critics could easily dismiss it as fluff and nothing but putting in a good word for a dying man. A look at how real world companies approach their SEO, however, proves another point. In June 2009, Forbes Magazine released its study of Ad Effectiveness. The Magazine found that:

• SEO, along with e-mail and newsletter marketing remains to be the most popular form of e-marketing among senior marketing executives.
• 48% of these executives said that SEO was most effective in generating sales and conversions.
• 92% of marketing executives will keep their existing SEO budgets or increase it within the succeeding six months.

What these marketers are saying is that SEO is effecting at not only putting your site where your customers are, but it works so well that they are willing to bet their money and keep on spending for it.

The overall worldwide breakdown of web browsers according to percentage of users. This data was for the year 2009. Internet Explorer is the most preferred browser with 66.6 percent, followed by Mozilla FireFox with 23.3 percent, Apple Safari with 4.1 percent, Google Chrome with 2.9 percent, and Opera with 2.1 percent.

With Google’s entry into the browser market in September 2008, the browser wars not only became more intense, it also saw a worthy addition in the battleground.

Google Chrome’s initial claim to fame was the speed with which it loaded Web pages, reliability and several unique features like detachable tabs and its Omnibox. Mozilla, at least, has taken note of these innovations and has incorporated it in its latest Firefox version.

Experts and industry watchers, however, agree that it is premature to judge the Chrome browser just yet. Google has made it clear that it is not out to compete with Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer. Instead, it is creating a new platform for new applications that are currently poorly or not supported by current browser technologies. In time, Chrome would become the platform for traditionally offline programs like word processors and spreadsheets. In short, Chrome would be everybody’s online desktop, with applications that runs at par or better than its offline counterparts.

Firefox, on the other hand, has enjoyed a loyal following over the years. Firefox’s strong suit has always been its customizability and a powerful array of add-ons, and it continues to capitalize on that advantage with the soon-to-be released Firefox 3.1.

This early, developers at Mozilla have announced that the TraceMonkey platform will be beating Chrome’s reputed speed, along with other features that would match Chrome’s innovations.

One thing though that Firefox still has is its higher crash potential, and security issues.

Security issues are what has been plaguing the Internet Explorer since news broke out years ago that IE has some serious security flaws. With IE8 currently in its second beta, with the full version set to be released by the end of the year, IE aims to be the most reliable and safest browser available.

IE has enjoyed the biggest pie of the browser market for years, precisely because Microsoft bundled it on every PC. This makes IE a very attractive platform for outside developers.

IE8 also boasts of a no-record browsing, and has since added some of the innovations we’ve seen in Firefox and Chrome: an Omnibox-like address bar, and add-ons.IE, however, have been found to be slower than both Firefox and Chrome, and it tends to use a lot of memory. Crash potential is higher too.

All versions of IE, Firefox and Chrome are in test stages. Until the full releases are out, it might be a tad too early to judge which of the three would come out best. For now, however, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. In the final analysis, it is the individual browsers benefit from having more browsers to choose from and have a browser that would fit their needs.