How many times do we continue old, familiar ways of doing business that dont respond to changing circumstances? The inability to respond to evolutionary changes in marketing channels can spell disaster for some business owners. Search engine marketing is one of those evolutionary changes.

Take Microsoft for instance. Here is the dominant technology company in the world with incredible Corporate Branding and they wouldnt respond to changes in consumer behavior and preferences. Strangely, they were gearing up to deliver their products online, not via expensive physical distribution. Even their marketing was being increasingly online. Isnt it common sense that they would want to be front and center in front of online shoppers, including their current customers? Yes, but MS had preconceptions about which comes first, the cart or the horse. The whole idea of giving something away for free (search service) while not bombarding visitors with ads was beyond their corporate scope. They didnt bother improving their search engine or promoting it.

At the same time, the worlds B2B buyers and consumers were going online, using search engines to find the precise software products they needed, from office productivity to e-commerce shopping carts. With the MSN Search engine, Microsoft Corporation had direct access to those sales leads and online sales. Even though the writing was on the wall, and Google was showing that theyre new approach to online search was the way to go, Microsoft stuck their head in the sand, and lost out on what is now worth 30 to 40 Billion dollars to the innovative owners of Google. Their search engine was very poor quality, at one point almost losing its complete marketshare.

Search engines are used by extremely well-targeted sales prospects who are either doing serious research before buying or intend to buy online. They could be consumers or business buyers such as retail store owners and distributors. Although only 1 to 3% may buy online, two to three times that many may buy at a brick and mortar store afterward. The sales potential of search engines is grossly undervalued. Not only do they allow you to push sales through the distribution channel via B2B buyers, it pulls it through via consumer demand.

If Microsoft had disrupted their business as usual processes, and responded to the looming Web search phenomenon properly, they wouldnt be facing the huge new threat that Google poses. Google isnt just a search engine anymore. Theyre the worlds biggest online advertiser, growing in leaps and bounds as more people discover that online research and shopping fits their lifestyles and business needs, and they investigating implementing everything from browsers and even future operating systems.

Google innovated and discovered it had something extremely valuable to businesses direct access to consumers. It has a dominant leadership in the most important marketing medium in the new millennium, and it can sell anything. It can even sway the top Microsoft employees to work for them.

Last year, many executives reported a strong new interest in search engine marketing. This field has matured however, and it is expensive to buy paid search-based advertising on the appropriate Web sites. Given that cost, search engine optimization promises to capitalize on the search engines free opportunities so it has become very attractive.

For the past few years, only Google offered a truly free opportunity. Yahoo and MSN continued to try to charge web site marketers to appear in their results thus ruining their own search product. Consumers wanted uncontaminated quality results which Google delivered. Now companies like Yahoo and MSN are walking up to the need for quality search results. Why? Because Google wasnt giving them any preference in their own search results. In the past, MSN and Yahoo were showing up strongly in Google results so Google was giving them free business. So, Google then made a shift in their search algorithm to eliminate the boost MSN and Yahoo received. Their traffic must have plummeted along with the revenue.

So there comes a time when executives must recognize changes in marketing conditions. Like it or not, search is integral to the way people are leading modern personal lives and the way they do business. This new medium wont be forced to fit conventional marketing processes. Organic search in particular requires unique approaches that require more courage and responsiveness from business owners.

With respect to Microsoft, they have unbelievable resources and can make their search engine become their biggest asset if they choose. Since Google is producing stale search results, searchers are checking out MSN to find new and different sites. Consumers adjust and so should business.

That's where the innovation called Search Engine Optimization arises. It responds perfectly to opportunities the search engines offer and to consumers who are only interested in the context of their search. You have to be found as part of their search which in turn is part of their shopping experience. It takes confidence and optimism to let go of the old approaches and take on a new one that responds to the reality that consumers are in control.