SEO Blog

An interesting report from the Kelsey Group predicts the interactive classified advertising market will grow from its current $3.9Billion spend to over $14.7Billion by 2010. Advancing at a phenomenal 30.5% compounded annual growth rate, the increase in ad-spend will come primarily from traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television. A radical increase in online advertising dollars is not extraordinary news to the search marketing community. We’ve sensed and benefited from this shift in the sensibilities of advertisers for several years now.

What might be a surprise to many search marketers are the exact directions that increased ad-spending is likely to go in. According to the report, much of that money will be focused on highly vertical markets such as home services, home and garden care, health care, legal, finance and auto repair. Because items or inventory from each of these vertical sectors tend to have specific search tools or sections of larger search engines dedicated to them, search results from those categories might soon be found faster amd more easily “off-Google” than at-Google.

To quote search journalist Michelle Greer, “Apparently, some online advertisers are realizing that having ads on the 60th page of a Google keyword search isn’t exactly fruitful.” This is a scenario in which Google becomes its own worst enemy, leading searchers and advertisers to focus their attentions elsewhere.

It’s only a few months away… Having just returned from what is (in my mind), the most fun and interesting search marketing convention, SES New York, my thoughts are turning to what is (in my mind) the most challenging and intellectually stimulating one, SMX Advanced.

SearchEngineLand posted the agenda and schedule for SMX Advanced yesterday afternoon. Held at the expansive Bell Center on Seattle’s waterfront on June 3rd and 4th, SMX Advanced is viewed by most long-term search marketers as the best show of the year.

Incidentally, the name of the conference suggests exactly what attendees should expect. This is by far the highest-level information sharing conference on the annual circuit. With no time or even inclination to cover the basics, attendees are taken to the cutting edge by some of the leading search and internet marketers in the business.

There is a limited number of tickets available and last year’s conference sold out very quickly. If you are interested in having your brain expanded and your high-level networks filled, register now. As I wrote, SMX Advanced is exciting, enlightening and for those of us who live and breathe search, inspiring.

I started compiling links for this piece eight hours two days ago and have since been on a interesting journey through my own memories of 2007. The online marketing industry is in one of its greatest periods of transition as enormous sums of ad-spend pour into the sector looking for places to be spent.

Many small to medium sized search marketing firms catapulted into the big leagues seemingly overnight this year as advertising firms found greater value in online and digital media than in traditional television, print and radio.

The major search engines understand where the money is going. Each acquired its own online advertising network this year in order to contextually serve content-rich advertising across as many subscribing websites as possible. The moment Google initiated the slow process of spending $3.1billion to buy DoubleClick, Yahoo and MSN had to have ad-networks too. Not having one would be like not having a paid-search advertising platform…

2007 was also the year of the Facebook. Perhaps the fastest growing social network in 2007, Facebook received a great deal of attention in the mainstream media and from online marketers. Adding two or three hundred thousands new users per month, Facebook ranks among the most popular networks online. The company faced a setback late in the year when privacy concerns forced it to withdraw and redesign its social advertising platform, Facebook Beacon.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave Ad-Tech NY attendees a sneak peak at the rapidly growing social network’s new advertising platform as he unveiled it in Midtown Manhattan yesterday.

In order to offer a range of options for different types of advertisers, there are three unique Facebook Ad formats.

Facebook Pages is designed for businesses wanting to create a commercial Facebook profile page. These pages will have all the functionality of personal pages. Visitors can sign up as supporters or friends of the business and send messages of support that appear on the news-feeds of everyone associated with that business. Videos, reviews, audio files, flash content and other application formats will be supported as they are on traditional personal pages. Commercial Facebook Pages will be free to build and are ment to act as advertising platforms for the two other ad-formats Facebook offers.

Facebook Social Ads are smaller, targeted advertisements designed to “… allow your business to become part of people’s daily conversations.” Social ads will be displayed to users who have recently visited particular Facebook pages or off-network websites using widgets or gadgets from the third advertising format called Facebook Beacon. The ads will appear in a left-side ad space on Facebook pages and also in the news-feed of engaged users as attachments to relevant stories or events. (eg: a friend becomes a fan of a movie that has a Social Ad campaign)