FXP @ Tazz One

A few years ago, in the real heyday for internet companies (remember the dot.com boom and bust?) a lot of traditional media, libraries, television networks and their ilk were scrambling to see where this new wave of technology and advertising avenues were going to lead.

Many believed that the advent and rise of browser based information gathering would soon sound the death knell for traditional avenues.

What we have seen however, is that this is just another outlet for the same old same old.

Fret not, it is what gives companies the ability to deliver better products and services, for if there are no advertising dollars then the actual cost of delivering content, information and entertainment would be beyond the reach of most households.

The downside to this however has been the way that the world wide web is making itself useless.

Useless web? Absolutely.

There is such an abundance of woeful, non-productive information out in cyberspace that it is almost impossible to research any item of interest without spending hours upon hours scouring through sites that may be useful to some but in most cases are not relevant to the actual search activities and requirements of the user.

Hold on! I hear you say, what about the reigning King Google?

Unfortunately, through no fault of their own admittedly, the Google search engine is becoming drowned and mired in much the same problem. At one point in time, when they were clearly on the ball, it was a virtual impossibility for web designers and engineers to doctor results easily and gain a higher ranking in the search engine. That is what made them who they are.

Lately, I get inundated with at least 100 emails a week from specialists in this field who claim they can put me on the first page of Google almost immediately, at a price of course.

The other thing I have seen making a huge splash, at least for the time being, is people scrambling to get 'Liked' on sites.

Take a step back and a deep breath... What does this actually achieve? Have you done your homework and really sorted out whether this is actually worth the effort of achieving?

Personally, and that is the only point of view I can hold of course, I have seen the merit in the art of 'Selling Without Selling'... sounds like something Bruce Lee would encapsulate.

What I mean by this is that I have found that by giving of my time and expertise, by writing articles, by helping people out on forums and word of mouth, I have increased my business and therefore my own bottom line without having to resort to having a lot of people hitting a button in cyberspace that says that they 'Like' me.

It is kind of like the circle of life. We are now heading back to the days when networking meant getting off our collective behinds and going and talking to people – In Real Life.

Remember, You and Me together hold the power to allow any site on the world wide web to continue to be a factor in our lives.