Forrester Research: US Online Advertising And Marketing Forecast.: "The report includes data from an online survey of 99 leading marketers and four forecasts: US Online Advertising And Marketing Spending, US Search Marketing Spending, US Online Classifieds Advertising, and US Email Marketing Spending.
Key data points include:
Search engine marketing will grow by 33 percent in 2005, reaching $11.6 billion by 2010. Display advertising, which includes traditional banners and sponsorships, will grow at the average rate of 11 percent over the next five years to $8 billion by 2010.
New advertising channels will draw interest and spending from marketers. Sixty-four percent of respondents are interested in advertising on blogs, 57 percent through RSS, and 52 percent on mobile devices, including phones and PDAs.
Marketers are quickly losing confidence in the effectiveness of traditional advertising channels and feel that online channels will become more effective over the next three years. Seventy-eight percent of survey respondents said that they think search engine marketing will be more effective, compared with 53 percent of respondents who said TV advertising would become less effective.
The only nondigital advertising channel to reach the same level of confidence as online channels with marketers is product placement � only 8 percent of respondents believe that product placement will become less effective over the next three years."

CNN.com - Bloggers' conference emphasizes tools of reporting - May 9, 2005: "Right now, more than 8 million people write blogs, said Bob Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association. Blogs, short for Web logs, are running commentaries on whatever their authors are interested in. Content often focuses on politics or media criticism and usually includes feedback from readers"

What Clicks with Web Searchers?
What Clicks with Web Searchers

"While conventional search wisdom says advertising on topics produces lower ROI than advertising on brand names, a recent DoubleClick study has shown that 'buyers clearly favor generic terms early in the buying cycle,' according to Cam Balzer of Performics, DoubleClick's search marketing division. Further, searchers do a lot of research before buying, affording nearly five touch points on average. A majority of 70 to 80 percent of buyers searched on generic terms, with searches on brand names peaking immediately before purchase. "

"Brand managers take note: More than 92 percent of searchers never use brand names as search terms. "Generic keywords drive activity that later converts to brands," reported Balzer. Clearly, savvy online retailers will advertise on generic terms and place cookies for a minimum of 30 days on their shoppers to accurately track return on investment for purchases. "Short term cookies tell you nothing about long term return visitors," he said. "

40% Delete cookies monthly!

Can you believe this, do you know what that does to your web reports! You have to look at them differently form now on. I found this at www.mediapost.com.

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" Until recently, it was widely assumed that consumers did not delete cookies in any significant numbers. But a spate of recent studies, including a Jupiter Research report revealing that 40 percent of Internet users say they delete their cookies at least once a month, indicated otherwise.

'We definitely created a monster when we released our cookie report,' said Eric Peterson, the Jupiter analyst who authored the controversial study. 'But I do think it's encouraging that we're moving beyond the bickering about the numbers and on to larger efforts to resolve this issue.'
"
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Why use an Agency?

Cory Treffiletti of Online Spin put it like this...

"I believe the agency world is where the best of the best reside. The agencies gather the top talent and put them to work on business to drive results for their clients. The agency recognizes the need for coordinating a strategy that identifies the needs of a segment of the audience and can apply that information to a design that is aimed at driving results. Your "average Joe" will typically do something they think is "cool" without regard for the brand image.

Agencies take the right amount of time to develop campaigns, whereas your "average Joe" will develop a singular idea. Agencies also think about a unifying theme, whereas your "average Joe" will focus on a moment in time or a singular experience. Of course, there are some brands that can survive on the moment, but the stronger, more established brands are focused on a brand. They use the brand as a means to drive growth over a period of time. A moment can show a spike or create buzz, but the moment will inevitably pass; a brand can live on and on."

I believe in the value of Agencies. Too many people run a project and never ask if it was successful, agencies on the other hand sink or swim based on customer results, they also get lots of opportunities to improve their craft.

Think about this, isn't just one additional conversion worth the cost of using an agency?

Micro Persuasion: "Mark Cuban, Why Do You Blog?
Shel Israel interviewed Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban on why he blogs and out came this gem...
What made you decide to blog?
'It was in response to the media primarily. I was tired of 4-hour interviews being turned into 500-word reports that mischaracterized the interviews. I sat down with Fortune Magazine for what I thought was a serious interview, and it turned into something completely different. Those types of situations were the catalyst.'"

Creative Think: "One day a new product design team got into a really whacky mood and made fun of their product. They were zany and off-the-wall. The meeting was a great success, and many new ideas were generated. The next week, everybody was in a serious mood and no new ideas were generated. Moral: there's a close relationship between the 'aha' of discovery and the 'ha-ha' of humor, and being whacky stimulates your creative juices."

This is a fun online creativity tool. Click the "give me another whack" button to see another idea that could help you solve your problem.

Where to get advertising ideas with attitude:

Check out the blogs below. Fast Company voted them some of the best business blogs around on advertising. They contain lots of ideas and plenty of attitude so they're fun and interesting.
More >>

Good article on Marketing Services online.

Services Marketing Is Moving Online Are You?: "According to the Association for Online Retailers, in 2004 approximately 40% of adults with Internet access researched a potential product purchase online. As services marketers, focusing on everything from high-ticket items to sophisticated buyers, we wondered whether this was also true for business-to-business services.
So, in 2004, the Wellesley Hills Group polled approximately 200 SMB (small-to-midsize business) decision makers to see whether they visited the Web sites of business-to-business companies before they made a purchase from them. About 98% of buyers said yes. Approximately 50% stated that their online experience did, indeed, affect their purchasing decision. "

Good News the MSN preview of the new SE will index and list our sites with out additional work! 4th place for Activated Carbon Regeneration.

Search technology preview - Activated Carbon Regeneration:

"Activated Carbon Regeneration Activated Carbon Regeneration Home | Site Map Search Search Help Home > Industries > Automotive > Technologies Bookmark This Page Activated Carbon - Carbon Regeneration Activated carbon is a ...
http://www.usfilter.com/water/Corporate/Technologies/activated_carbon_regeneration_technologies?OverrideChannel=%2fChannels%2fwater%2fIndustries%2fAutomotive%2f � cached � feedback"