Some People Just Don't Get It - Business Edition

Its becoming more and more clear that there are a lot of people that simply don't understand the internet. You make money by getting people onto your site. When you make it harder for people to get to your site you make less money.

Google maintains an opt-out policy for both its Google News and Google Print services, saying any publisher can withdraw its content simply by asking.

In one example of how ACAP would work, a newspaper publisher could grant search engines permission to index its site, but specify that only select ones display articles for a limited time after paying a royalty.

WAN is a Paris-based umbrella organization encompassing 72 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives from 100 nations and 13 news agencies.

Charging someone for doing you a favor seems like bad business doesn't it?

Earlier this month, the Belgian Court of First Instance ordered Google to stop publishing content from Belgian newspapers without asking their permission or paying them fees. Local newspaper editors argued that Google's popular news site, which features small photos and excerpts from news reported elsewhere, stole traffic from individual newspapers' sites

And this one simply makes no sense. Belgian newspapers can opt-out of Google at any time. Why waste money going to court over it?

These companies are shooting themselves in the foot. Google is ubiquitous with finding content on the internet. There are companies that pay money to get higher Google rankings - why are these companies spending money to get removed from the process entirely?

Shuting down their online business seems like a more effective way of doing it.