The latest book I have been reading is a book by Jeff Jarvis, entitled “What Would Google Do?”.  My wife saw it at the bookstore and figured it would be right up my alley!

Before opening the cover I thought it might be a book focused on why Google is so dominant and where their reach might yet still extend.  Although he does make some leaps into how Google could dominate other industries it is more of a guide in how we can take the methodology of Google and apply it to other industries.

He does bring up some excellent points and I will share a few of the highlights here.  Fair warning though, he isn’t kind to the real estate industry.  Just in case Jeff Jarvis does land on this post, I have to say that just because you ran into a few bad eggs in your dealings with real estate professionals doesn’t mean we are all bad

With that being said here are some items worth examination in the book:

• Give control to your customers - I will say that particularly in real estate we do focus on the control of data too much.  You know here that Joe and I preach giving away quality content, and when you do that regularly your customers will reward you, but we can do even more.  Reach out to our customers and let them speak and even bring up ideas on how they want to be helped, we might be pleasantly surprised.
• Experiment - Google is known for always having their different applications in “beta”.  Too often I think we are terrified of making mistakes.  Instead of trying to be perfect try something new on your website, blog, or social network.  The community will tell you what needs improvement and they will reward you for taking action and listening to their voices.
• Join the Conversation - This mantra shouted loudly through the social networking experts means more than just signing in and seeing what’s going on.  To embrace Google thinking it is important to consider what the needs are of your community, allow them share their expertise, and then help them to solve their biggest challenges. 

This book is not a technical book at all, and it isn’t intended to be one.  It provides a wonderful examination of the web and how we can embrace the methods of Google and apply them to our own success.  I can only hope that Jeff Jarvis does come across this post, and maybe if he does, he might even accept my friend request that I sent out to him on Facebook.

Happy reading, I look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on the book.