Turning Expertise Into Revenue

Gaurav at University of Pennsylvania writes this for a "Journal of International Management" paper on the strategic impact of search engines:

Amit Agarwal, a computer science engineer, had a successful career working for such firms as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. In 2004, noticing the growth of blogging, he took the unusual step of quitting his job and becoming a full-time blogger. Since the launch of Google AdSense, several online resources, including bloggers, have been providing information and advice to Web site owners to help them maximize their ad revenues.

People looking for such advice typically go first to search engines. As a technology analyst and an ardent blogger, Agarwal had a good understanding of how AdSense worked, and he was able to put together a number of tips and tricks for potential visitors. Traffic coming to his Web site, primarily from search engines, averages 1.4 million page views per month and is growing, and the ad revenue he realizes from his blog site is substantially more than what he earned as an analyst.

Search engines helped him convert his unique talents (and those of many others) into success as an entrepreneur.