SEMPO's Gord Hotchkiss predicts 'search showdown'
Gord Hotchkiss, chair of search marketing association SEMPO, is bullish about the industry's prospects, saying 2007 will be a "watershed year" for localised advertising and that various other revenue channels will drive growth.
But in an exclusive interview, he also points to challenges facing the sector, including the lack of transparency over click fraud and an upcoming "showdown" between consumers and advertisers over search data.
Should Web 2.0 startups seek venture capital?
Web 2.0 startups shouldn’t bother seeking VC money, according to Neil Sequeira of General Catalyst Partners, because “there have not yet been these type of exits that generated venture capital type returns”.
Neil is a VC who made these comments at the AjaxWorld Expo in California, but I’m not sure he’s entirely correct in his observations.
Local search gains momentum, says study
A study by ComScore , focusing on the US, has shown an increase of over 40% in the number of users performing local searches online in the last year.
According to the research, 63% of US internet users (around 109 million people) performed a local search during July, a 43% increase over the same month in 2005.
Microsoft launches all-in-one ad solutions
Microsoft has struck a blow in its online ad war with Google with the launch of a set of services that firms can use to target consumers via PCs, game consoles, mobiles and PDAs.
Announced at Advertising Week, ‘Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions’ brings the company’s ad products and services under a single umbrella, assisting firms that want to reach customers across different digital platforms at a time when media continues to fragment.
Growth in online ad spending slows
Research firm eMarketer has forecast that growth in US online ad spending will slow slightly this year as due to weaker consumer spending and as the market matures.
A report by the firm predicted internet ad revenues would rise 26.8% to $15.9bn this year – a move that may calm some fears in the industry after Yahoo!’s warning sent shares tumbling last week.
SEO as effective as paid search, study says
WebSideStory has released an interesting study that indicates paid search is only slightly more effective than optimisation when it comes to conversion rates.
The research, which focused on 20 major B2C sites over the first eight months of this year, basically suggests that neither paid or organic search advocates are right to claim their methods are better.
Publishers up stakes in battle with search engines
Newspaper and book publishers have announced a new tagging system which they hope will wrestle back control over content distribution from news aggregators and search engines.
The Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP) technology, launched by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and various other groups, aims to calm publishers’ fears that they are getting a bad deal when their content is indexed online.
Yahoo! reportedly close to Facebook deal
Speculation is growing that Yahoo! is close to a $1bn deal for social networking site Facebook.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook is in "serious discussions" to sell itself to the search engine and portal, following months of reported takeover bids from big media players.
MSN exhibits great use of Ajax, good for the web
Over at Ajaxian yesterday, Michael Mahemoff gives a heads up on the latest Web 2.0 move by MSN, which sees them offer pretty much as yet unheard of Ajax driven user features for their image search.
It’s great, but it’s also gimmicky – KISS.
Content providers land on Google Earth
Google has added interactive content from the Discovery Channel and other providers to popular geospatial software Google Earth.
The overlays can be accessed by clicking a box in the software's sidebar, and support videos, photos, RSS feeds and blogs.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
