“A Little Bit of History Repeating” posted by Kaila Colbin on Search Insider today provides a dose of reality to the hysteria surrounding the recent lag in growth in the search industry.  Colbin states that the downturn in traffic to Facebook, drop in new listings on eBay, and flat quarter for Google were inevitable.  Just like an economy, an industry cannot possibly be in a constant state of growth unless it plans to take over the world.  So, my fellow search marketers, fear not.  The amazing growth trends and slight lags are all a part of a cycle - not a disaster. 

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The Internet has impacted business in a powerful way.  With more information available to the consumer, product options, vendors, and on-demand interaction, the buyer has many options, and so does the seller.  Any business can go global with just a few key strokes.   But, selling via the Internet is more than just putting up a Web site.  As a marketing platform, it poses a challenge for many businesses, whether they are start-ups or established.  It is within this niche that professionals in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) firms provide expertise and leadership in leveraging the Internet as a marketing tool for both online and offline strategic initiatives.
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Yahoo! has launched a program that will allow marketers to enhance the presence of a listing that appears on a Yahoo! search result.  The purpose of this plug-in based program is to enhance the user experience and provide more relevant results for searchers.

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In mid December, Ask released their AskEraser feature. This feature gives searchers the ability to search anonymously. This feature is available across many of Ask.com’s properties including Web search, image search, Ask City, news search, blog search, video search and maps and directions.

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Congratulations to the newly elected Board of Directors for SEMPO. The Board’s term will officially begin on March 12, 2008. The Directors for 2008 are as follows.

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The Kelsey Group released it’s Global Yellow Pages and Local Search Forecast today which measures the current and future size of the local search industry.  Highlights of the forecast include a predicted growth of 23.4% for interactive advertising between now and 2012, as well as a predicted global advertising share of 21% in 2012.

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From sources that I’ve seen so far, it seems like a recession, although bearing a lot of heavy weight for the majority of the economy, may not have as much of an effect when it comes to online marketing. This has also been debated back and forth though, like whether or not Google is recession-proof, which online advertising venues are the safest (sources say Search, if you must know),  and of course, if the online accountability factor could possibly lead it through such tough times.  It’s hard to say at this point what the outcome will be, or who knows the straightest path to take, but one article I recently came across doesn’t look at a recession in the same light. (more…)