In the book The Dip Seth talks about how superstars lean into the dip. They almost use the dip as an advantage. Also when superstars come out of the dip and master their craft they create a giant barrier for any competitors.
So what are some real world examples of this? Well look at eBay! How hard is it to overtake eBay in the online auction space?
What about Google? Not only does Google have the best search engine but they also pay over 1 billion dollars a year to be the default search engine in Firefox, Safari, AOL, and others. If anyone even thought about competing with Google they need to bring a TON of money to the table.
Think Microsoft created much of a dip for competitors with its Office Suite and Operating Systems?
Many times reporters have asked me who I think is going to be the next big search engine. I tell them I think it over. Search as we know it is owned by Google and only the government will be able to stop them. The dip to overtake Google is just to much for any company to overcome.
If you can overcome the dip your compeditors have put in front of you then you can be #1. But what will your post dip strategy be to remain #1?
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Besides money, if you come with a really better concept or product during a period where it’s needed the most, then you can overtake your competitor from the sales and increased users from that period of release onwards. So that’s why I like your use of the word “strategy” in ths context, as that’s all it really takes, a brilliant strategy.
I mean as big as Google is, who knows, they might be overtaken by some company started by a teenage nerd in his room during high school, by just producing the most advanced search engine than the ones currently available. Lol!
Hey, anything is possible.
So…like…is this you promoting that book? I’m not sure what you are doing here. You aren’t…really making much in the way of commentary. This is the trouble with affiliating; there just isn’t enough ambiance to justify this sort of awkward cowbell.
Shoe, I hope you’re wrong but I doubt it. I for one am fed up of Google making false assumptions about what does and does not add value. Rightly, as they have become more corporate, Google have looked after the giants but unfortunately, at the expense of the little guy.
As a result, as time goes by search becomes less and less useful and I find myself wishing there was more alternatives. I am particularly peeved at the bias toward local search. Working out of the UK sometimes I want to see US results. To get accurate results I now have to use a proxy. What a joke.
Hopefully you like #2 if you can’t overcome the dip. lol. But if you provide a product that is unique (or at least the perception) at being unique and solves problems you have affinity with, that is built around your strengths then you should be able to create a market that you can be #1 in. Plus with addition of the Internet and Social Media, JVing, and PR can help to level the playing field. Maybe even going regional or local can help too. Become #1 in your local market, if there’s enough money in it, it’s worth it.
The competition does not stand still. I think the start is always difficult.
Yeah Google is definitely in a good position and I admire the brains of their business. Hard to imagine that they will ever be knocked off from where they are now.
Shoe – which dip have you leaned into which makes competition next to impossible or much more difficult. I would guess historicially it would have been ringtones. What say you?
be #1. everybody want to reach that place. some run under 9.70 to be or some do perfect seo to a content to get it and this list goes on and life goes on.
Shoe seems to be pretty impressed by “The Dip”
I think that what will happen is that someone will come along with a new twist or there will be a new technology that Google didn’t anticipate. I do however feel that Linux has really made good strides despite the Dip that Microsoft seems to have. Apple has also made amazing progress against MS but they’ve approached the Dip MS created from a different angle. I think that is where we can learn, to approach dips that are created by our compitiors from different angles and using different strategies.
I don’t think that Google is the be all end all of search but they will be around for a long time.
What are your thoughts regarding the new data that seems to be showing that the long tail is more like a fairy tail? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/18/tom_slee_long_tail/
This book really got me thinking about just about every aspect of my life from the spiritual to the monetary. What do I mean. Well, the dip is about focusing on your goals. If you want to be great at whatever you want to do then you have to deciplin yourself to only do those things that will help you attain your goal.
There are so many good things to be a part of but there is no way that you are going to be able to do everything to the highest caliber. For example.
All I wanted in HS was to march in a Drum Corps and then be caption head for the battery of a corps. Well, what do you know. I marched as section leader in the battery and then last year I got the opportunity to teach a baseline. Talk about a dream come true.
However, I want to be great and financially sound with photography. I couldn’t do both and I had to make a decision which to quite. As Jesus says…..you can’t have two loves…you’ll soon hate one and love the other
post dip? how about pre dip or in dip strategies?
Everyone seems to be using Google as the blueprint vs.other search engines. I’m curious to see what you guys think will be the next myspace,facebook, etc? Social networking sites aren’t going away, and there ís a definite opportunity for growth there.
I think Google is in a much more precarious position then people realize. If you think about it they’re really a one trick pony – only one thing that I know of has ever made any money – PPC advertising. Take that away and everything else collapses – Gmail, Analytics, Docs, webmaster tools, trends, maps. I use them all and they’re great utilities, but they’re certainly not making any money.
I think miss the point when they look for an MSN or Yahoo to over take them. I think over time there will be 10 or 20 search companies that slowly chip away at the their market share and eventually there’s not one huge player but many. Look at what Twitter has done. In some ways for some specific needs, their search is actually more relevant than a Google search. Over time there’s going to be a lot of different niches that are served better by smaller more specific search function. And that will eat away at Google. I always thought that MSN shouldn’t waste their money on buying Yahoo but should invest in that same money in 20-30 small start up outfits that have search as a major component. In the long run I think that is what will take Google down – lots of players chipping away at what they do.
Ashley, it seems you are talking about niches and “blue ocean strategy.” Borrow and don’t buy blue ocean….it talks about this very thing. google was the first for relevant search and will most likely be forever….just think about xerox and kleenex. However, you could focus on a specific niche such as search for a specific industry. There is always room for new companies when first to market has already been taken.
This is how much google has to first to market with a conversation I heard from the son . . .
Son: why don’t you search using Yahoo
Mother: YOU CAN DO THAT?
The UFC is a perfect example of this. Look at all the other ‘BIG’ promotions that have failed trying to be the UFC. They got that sport on lock down right now.
The Dip works in advantage with you too. If your competitors can’t handle the Dip, they will exit or not even try…leaving you to only get the past the Dip to be on top.
If you look at everything you did, I bet you’ve felt exhausted at some point or another. Motivation and happiness = getting past the dip.
I think everyones been there but who HASN’T. I can give you one example for me, my site up there, I’d have to say that was a Cul-de-sac…….
This book looks interesting but I do belive google are really powerful and I can’t really see many search engines over taking google, I would like to see more visual search engines with more images in results but maybe that’s something for the future I might have to blog about this over at http://www.genxor.com
Great post.
My strategy? hehe… That’s a hard questions. Its like harder than getting asked what will it take to become succesful….
Yeah good luck to anyone overcoming Google. So many people have tried and just fail miserably.
I agree… Google is just the INTERNET.. it seems…
It’s got to be that name, “Google”. No other name would work, “Hey Al, Google this for me”. It just fit’s too good. I think they were calling it something else before Google.
Yeah, Google has established itself into a household name and internet giant. They rule the world wide web currently.
If Google is internet then Microsoft is computer
The US economy is in a dip right now, a lot of people are honing their craft and looking for opportunities so that when we do bust out, they can take advantage of bargains.
I agree. Google needs some sort of monstrous competition to take its spot in the search engine market. I don’t think any company has the power to take down Google since it owns so much of the internet.
Wow that is a lot of money that google is paying, but its worth it for them because they are making so much more in revenue
Dana White has created this dip for UFC. Other events don’t come close.
Yahoo was No.1 == it was beaten by Google.
MySpace was No.1 == It was beaten by Facebook.
Hotmail was No.1 == It was beaten by Google.
The last one proves its not just about who has the biggest budget — it’s about who offers the best service, has somthing “new”, and usally can offer more for free.
Google/Ebay/etc — they are only No.1 at the moment because they still offer the best service.
Google can pay 1 billion dollars a year to be the home page of all them other browsers, but 80% of users still use IE, (default MSN homepage.) — People still change their homepage to Google because they like the service, not because of any money google spends. This again shows its not just budget.
I think another company will beat Google one day, if they offer somthing better, no matter what Googles budget.
P.S i got “The Dip” from itunes because you recommended it Shoemoney — and it’s great!!!
Cheers.
Never knew Google is paying sooooooo much to FF, aol etc…
It is always worthwhile to go through the dip
Yup you need lot of money to dip but I think you need share of luck also
Yeah, it’s great opportunity + enough capital. Which totals to luck.
What if they became victims of a massive 9-11 style terrorist attack? God forbid it would happen, but if so… how would that effect the internet? How would it effect our and other economies around the world?
Scary to think about how hard it would be to overtake google. Beating someone like John Chow would be easy though.
What are you trying to start by that Dave? Lol!
I have read dip (not complete) and I can say that it is really really useful and interesting book and will help a lot to inspire.
Shoe I would be interest to know how many affiliate sales you have made by talking about the dip so much?
Heh its not for the money… I think we have sold 95 books so far at about 80 cents commission per book. I will post at the end the final numbers.
I will need to work something out to become #1 in the personal finace/entrepreneur/MMO world. I don’t know what it is yet. I haven’t had major success yet, but something is going to get me to the top. I know I will think of something
Hey Shoe, I read the Dip a few months ago and thought it was an awesome read. What other of Seth’s books have you read? Which one would you recommend I pick up next?
hard work…focus on specific bisnis…focus on target market……, impossible number 1 in everything
I recall back in the IT heyday of the late ’90’s Microsoft had everyone pursuing certification, MCP & MCSE. This had all IT admins heavily vested in Microsoft systems. Cisco has done the same. They set barriers by having everyone vested heavily in their systems, so when purchasing or upgrading they are going with the products they are certified in.
In MMO, if there was a Shoemoney certification or something similar, then those who vested would not only stay with shoemoney tools, elite retreat, etc.; but they would also be the loudest evangelists. People would be scrambling to get the certification to be one of the elite- just like those who want to be Adwords Certified.
Shoe, interesting that you mention eBay and the Dip. While they are masters of the online auction universe, that universe is definitely shrinking… The old auction model has suffered a major slowdown (see link) as there are too many Buy-It-Now consumers + eBay stores – who are effectively turning eBay into another online marketplace and guess what, Amazon is streets ahead of eBay in that field! NYTimes linky: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/business/12giants.html
Seems like they saw this Dip coming but became too bureaucratic to do anything bout it…
i personally think and not in a spam way that google and ebay are damaged from this economic weirdness. the reason for this is simple (i like to say that) in the fact that their weakness lies in thier inability to escape the peer pressur of growth marketing whereas an indivdual or small business that is not so public can weather the dip and long tail both of which dont fare well for long term big business success. google needs a new gig besides advertising and search and i think that is essentially social media in a bigger way then the big social media sites can throw
google isn’t just advertising and search. google runs everything. if i had to pick a company that i thought would take over the world, it would be google hands down
No way would google take over the world. Google are good yes, but I don’t think they have what it takes to run the world.
I would put my bet on apple. Though not ready to run the world yet, give them 5-10 years. With their genius in marketing and their awesome products Mac computers will be running the world soon.
Bye Bye PC
if google pooled all their data about people they’d know so much about so many people. they also have such ridiculously huge amounts of money and they own so many companies. they also work with the government. they work with all the biggest companies. and they have at least contact with foreign governments (ie. how certain things are blocked on google earth). apple doesnt really have any power persay, they just have cool gadgets and some money
Mac enthusiasts have been saying that for 20 years and look where we are, you’re still saying it. Closed systems always will lose over open. When everything – apps, data, etc – is on the Web, the OS doesn’t matter, and Apple owning all the hardware just = Micro$oft’s model.
No one is going to take over the world, governments don’t like that.
good points, lolz google is crazy, i deffinitely feel that perspective and was really commenting on a pipe dream of mine
If you wanna see who’s taking over the world, go to youtube and search for fema and coffins in the same search.
It’s kind of funny how many people believe it.
Lol! Will go check it out!