Google Print Beta

Category: Professional

Thoughts on Google Print Beta.

1. When I did a search for Instructional Design from google.com the search results showed Product and Book links (the search results above the ten results). When I did the same search from google.co.in I didn't get the Product and Book results. Agreed, the Product and Book results are targetted primarly at buyers who'd like to click on those links and shop, however does that mean you don't show the results for people who are querying from India? If I'd have searched only through google.co.in I'd have missed the Google Print (Books) link, isn't it?

2. How is Google Print beneficial? How would you expect readers to buy a book if they are not allowed to read it online? You should allow for a couple of pages/chapters to be available for online reading, like Amazon does. Granted the strategy here is to encourage users to click on the 'x' links from where they can buy the book, however, I feel from a Usability perspective allowing the users to take a glance at the book would be more useful in converting those clicks to a sale.

Some thoughts. Posted it online.

In the meantime, I'm reading Google Print FAQs.