San Mateo, Calif – BrightEdge, the leading global SEO platform, today released analysis showing that brands in the Retail, Financial Services and Technology verticals are leaving upwards of $112 Million in unrealized sales on the table, that could be secured by more aggressive or effective search optimization activities.

BrightEdge analyzed terabytes of page rank, social signals, keyword, backlinks, ranking and CPC data from their cloud database to identify the real dollar opportunity available to specific vertical market segments. BrightEdge found that on average, Retail companies could drive more than $51 Million in potential revenue, followed by Financial Services at $51 Million. Hardware and software solutions are coming closer to the mark with leaving more than $5.4 Million in potential annual revenue.

“Search marketers are a part of the revenue generating organization, but they have lacked a forecasting tool to define the revenue opportunity for their company. Our research shows that there is a tremendous opportunity for brands to grow their revenue through search engine optimization,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge. “With the unveiling of these findings BrightEdge is excited to announce that we are also introducing the ability to accurately forecast the business opportunity for SEO as part of our S3 platform.”

BrightEdge’s search opportunity forecasting, which is currently available in limited release to BrightEdge clients and agency partners provides a complete solution to allow search marketers to build a solid forecast for themselves.

To join the discussion about BrightEdge’s data, please visit www.facebook.com/seoplatform, or follow BrightEdge on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brightedge.

About BrightEdge
BrightEdge is the leading global SEO platform helping more than 1,100 of the world’s largest brands stay ahead in the rapidly evolving Internet landscape. BrightEdge S3 drives more than $4 billion in organic search across industries, harnessing the power of analytics to drive revenue from web sites, search engines and social networks across the globe in a measurable, predictable way. BrightEdge is based in San Mateo, CA and is privately held with financing from Battery Ventures, Altos Ventures and Illuminate Ventures.

For more information, please visit www.brightedge.com, friend BrightEdge on Facebook at www.facebook.com/seoplatform or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/brightedge.

The April 2011 qSearch data reflect the impact of Yahoo! Search Direct, Yahoo!’s new feature that delivers search results in real-time while users type their query. Yahoo! Search Direct was available only on Yahoo! U.S. Web Search for the month of April.

U.S. Explicit Core Search

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in April with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.9 percent (up 0.2 percentage points) and Microsoft Sites with 14.1 percent (up 0.2 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 3.0 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.5 percent.

*“Explicit Core Search” excludes contextually driven searches that do not
reflect specific user intent to interact with the search results.

More than 16.2 billion explicit core searches were conducted in April. Google Sites ranked first with 10.7 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.6 billion, Microsoft Sites with 2.3 billion, Ask Network with 491 million and AOL, Inc. with 248 million.

U.S. Total Core Search

Google Sites accounted for 64.2 percent of total core search queries conducted (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 17.9 percent and Microsoft Sites with 13.8 percent (up 0.2 percentage points). Ask Network comprised 2.7 percent of total search queries, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.4 percent.

* “Total Core Search” is based on the five major search engines, including
partner searches, cross-channel searches and contextual searches. Searches
for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the
core domain of the five search engines are not included in these numbers.

Americans conducted more than 18.0 billion total core search queries in April. Google Sites ranked first with 11.6 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 3.2 billion and Microsoft Sites with 2.5 billion.

comScore Total Core Search Query Report
April 2011 vs. March 2011
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore qSearch
Core Search Entity    Total Core Search Queries (MM)
Mar-11    Apr-11    Percent Change
Total Core Search    18,886    18,089    -4%
Google Sites     12,113     11,609     -4%
Yahoo! Sites     3,405     3,239     -5%
Microsoft Sites     2,576     2,501     -3%
Ask Network     520     491     -6%
AOL, Inc.     272     248     -9%
“Powered By” Reporting

In order to accurately represent the continued evolution of the search landscape, comScore is providing insight into the share of algorithmic explicit searches that are powered by Google and Bing, and branded as such to the consumer. Google’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Google entities, as well as branded searches at AOL and Ask. Bing’s “powered by” share is composed of searches conducted at Microsoft entities as well as branded Yahoo! entities.

In April, 67.8 percent of searches carried organic search results from Google, while 26.5 percent of searches were powered by Bing organic results.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

COLUMBIA, Md. – Merkle (www.merkleinc.com), the nation’s fastest growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency, announced its acquisition of Pittsburgh-based IMPAQT, a recognized leader in search marketing. IMPAQT’s expertise in SEM, SEO, bid management and search analytics complements Merkle’s extensive analytics, database and digital marketing capabilities and expands its integrated customer marketing solutions. The combination of search with Merkle’s CRM assets is unique in the marketplace and will provide a lens into customer behavior that will allow brands to further optimize conversion, media measurement, keyword and bid strategy at the intersection of search and database marketing.

In February 2011, The Forrester Wave recognized IMPAQT as a market leader among search marketing agencies. Its roster of clients includes world-class brands such as Mercedes, Office Depot, Chase, Tiffany & Co. and Penske. IMPAQT is a formidable force in the search marketing arena and has experienced significant growth, now with over 80 employees and projected gross revenue in 2011 to exceed $90M. IMPAQT’s proficiency in search combined with Merkle’s longstanding expertise in CRM strategy, data management and analytics will give marketers the opportunity to enhance both customer acquisition and engagement.

“This acquisition brings together two standout companies,” said Merkle CEO David Williams. “This is an exciting time for us, and we are looking forward to putting this unique combination of competencies and capabilities that search and CRM bring together to work for our existing and future clients. The fusion of both organizations unites our mutual drive for innovation, entrepreneurialism, analytics and market leadership.”

Merkle’s acquisition of IMPAQT signals its ongoing commitment to accelerating its digital strategy to include investments in digital acquisition and engagement capabilities, focusing on e-mail, mobile, social, site optimization, performance display and search. In addition, Merkle continues to expand its staff and capabilities and is evaluating acquisitions in digital creative, analytics, technology and strategy. Through the integration of these existing competencies, new digital technologies and the skills of its industry experts, Merkle provides its customers access to best-in-class CRM across media and channels, both online and off.

“IMPAQT’s acquisition by Merkle will greatly expand our growth opportunities in the coming years,” says Richard Hagerty, IMPAQT’s CEO. “We look forward to our two companies working together on innovations within areas of marketing that have yet to be targeted by our competition, defining new relationships between CRM and Search and expanding our already extensive analytics capabilities.”

Merkle Inc.

Merkle is the nation’s largest and fastest growing customer relationship marketing agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. By combining a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines, Merkle works with clients to design, execute and evaluate Integrated Customer Marketing™ programs. With more than 1,400 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered near Baltimore in Columbia, Maryland with additional offices in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Little Rock, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Hagerstown, MD and Shanghai. For more information, contact Merkle at 1-877-9-Merkle or visit www.merkleinc.com.

IMPAQT

IMPAQT is a privately held Search Marketing agency helping Fortune 1000 marketers gain revenue, branding, awareness and top Internet rankings through Search-based Paid Placement campaigns and Organic Web site optimization, as well as social media marketing and data integration.

IMPAQT’s customized client consulting, coupled with powerful analytics tools and analysis, has catapulted it to the top tier of Search Marketing agencies worldwide. IMPAQT manages millions of keywords for more than 100 brands and has managed more than 500 campaigns since its launch in 1999. IMPAQT has doubled its annual growth rate over three years, ranking as one of Inc. Magazine’s fastest growing companies. Please visit www.IMPAQT.com to learn more.

SES New York 2011
NEW YORK – Atrinsic Interactive, a division of Atrinsic Inc. (Nasdaq:ATRN), released a white paper at atrinsicaffiliatenetwork.com, which details the growing challenges of – and strategies for – preventing affiliate brand abuse in the SEM channel. The Affiliate Brand Abuse Explosion in the SEM Channel reveals that brands are at a greater risk than ever before of having their SEM brand campaigns hijacked, their brand equity diluted, and of falsely paying out valuable advertising dollars. Focused on solutions, the paper offers proven strategies for locking down brands to prevent abuse, potentially saving advertisers an average of over 40% in previously misattributed revenue.

“Our data shows that the dollars lost by hijacked brands could hit $1.6 billion by 2014,” said Atrinsic Interactive EVP Aaron Baker, who will be presenting results of the Atrinsic white paper on March 22nd, in a session titled “Is Your Affiliate Program Cannibalizing Your Paid Search Efforts?” at SES New York, the industry’s leading search and social marketing conference and expo.

“The good news is that as hijacking techniques become more sophisticated and prevalent, so do the tracking techniques, technologies, and strategies for locking out what is becoming chronic brand abuse,” continued Baker. “This white paper seeks to not only highlight the problem, but to provide advertisers with proven tactics that can help them detect and prevent brand abuse, saving millions of dollars.”

The Affiliate Brand Abuse Explosion in the SEM Channel includes a case study detailing how a major online advertiser whose brand was consistently and successfully being hijacked, was able to track, detect and prevent systematic brand abuse. The advertiser, who had noticed a dramatic increase in CPAs on branded terms, turned to Atrinsic Interactive. Through its proprietary technology, Atrinsic quickly discovered that affiliates had been violating trademark terms and conditions 97% of the time. Within two weeks of applying Atrinsic’s tracking technologies and integrated approach, those violations were reduced by 50%; and, by month’s end, $50k in fraudulent fees had been reversed for the Atrinsic Interactive client, with an estimated annual savings for the advertiser of $600K.

In addition to the advertiser case study, highlights of the white paper include insights into the key tactics brand abusers utilize to hijack the channel and the consequences for the brands abused, as well as the top three things to consider before instituting brand lockdown technologies and the top five tips for locking down a brand – from understanding and tracking campaigns to setting the appropriate affiliate and publisher guidelines.

About Atrinsic Interactive

Atrinsic Interactive, a division of Atrinsic, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATRN), is a full service agency and affiliate network ranked by Advertising Age as one of the top 10 Search Marketing Agencies for 2010.* Offering clients a cross-platform approach, Atrinsic Interactive is dedicated to delivering customers to its clients in the most cost-efficient manner possible by bridging the gap between search and other online marketing channels. Atrinsic Interactive helps advertisers drive leads, acquire customers and build brands through an integrated suite of customer marketing solutions and technology, including SEM/SEO services, business intelligence, social media, the Atrinsic Affiliate Network (atrinsicaffiliatenetwork.com), display advertising, email marketing, mobile marketing, creative services, and its proprietary brand protection technology, Brandlock.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company’s actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. A number of factors, including those described in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), could adversely affect the Company. Copies of the Company’s filings with the SEC are available from the SEC, may be found on the Company’s website or may be obtained upon request from the Company. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date.

*Advertising Age April 26, 2010 “Agency Report 2010” Top 25 Search Agencies

SES London Conference & Expo 2011
LONDON – Incisive Media announced that delegate registrations for SES London have increased sharply compared to results from last year, confirming that Search and Social Media has become the top priority for UK marketers.

SES London is the leading UK event for education in interactive marketing. Following the announcement that sessions will focus on a range of topics that go beyond search, including social media marketing, there has been a 20% increase in registrations compared to last year.

Mike Grehan, Chair SES Advisory Board, Global VP Content, SES/Search Engine Watch/ClickZ says:

“We have made a number of changes to SES London, with the emergence of new areas in interactive marketing. SES London now includes education in social media marketing as well as search marketing and online advertising. Sessions will focus on a range of topics that go beyond search, including new ad formats, VoD and social media marketing. Search and social media are crucial areas for online marketers which is why we’ve seen a significant rise in registrations for this year’s event. Also, with over four weeks still to go, the exhibition hall has completely sold out so it’s going to be a very busy and exciting event this year.”

SES London will be held on 21-25 February 2011 at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London. See www.SESLondon.com.

SES London is the leading UK event for education in interactive marketing. The SES Conference & Expo is designed to ensure that delegates are given the skills and knowledge to help them maximize search marketing for their business. It also provides a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves as well as connect with colleagues and friends.

SES London will feature sessions that will help marketers at all levels of understanding to maximize success online – whether they are new to online marketing or have advanced skills and experience. Intermediate workshops and panel debates cover key applications such as video, podcasts and blogs as well as design and writing for search engines. More advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools, web analytics and advanced paid search tactics.

All sessions are uniquely ranked according to content and degree of understanding, making SES a crucial event for anyone interested in online marketing.

About SES

Incisive Media’s SES Conference & Expo is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

AMERICAN FORK, Utah – OrangeSoda, a leader in localized online marketing (search, mobile, social), announced the official launch of CitrusBlast, a solution designed to help Internet users find small and multi-location businesses. CitrusBlast optimizes recent changes to Google Places, the feature set in Google that presents maps, listings, locations, addresses and contact information based on a user’s search.

CitrusBlast helps businesses increase their prominence in Google Search and supports similar feature sets in Bing and Yahoo! that organize search results by clustering around specific locations. CitrusBlast combines a customized website, mobile microsite and maps to quickly and effectively place businesses in front of potential customers looking online for their products and services.

“Google’s recent changes in displaying localized searches are having a profound impact on locally-focused businesses and CitrusBlast is helping them to leverage these changes to build their bottom line. This is especially significant as more Internet connections are coming from mobile devices”

“When you consider that 80% of consumers search online before buying within a 10-20 mile radius, it becomes clear that the Internet is the single most important avenue for every business to market themselves locally,” said Jay Bean, OrangeSoda founder and CEO. “Google’s recent changes in displaying localized searches are having a profound impact on locally-focused businesses and CitrusBlast is helping them to leverage these changes to build their bottom line. This is especially significant as more Internet connections are coming from mobile devices,” Bean continued.

OrangeSoda partners with many leading small business aggregators and large media companies which resell their services under their own brands. The San Diego Union-Tribune will be the first of their partners to launch CitrusBlast with rollout in February 2011.

“We have worked with OrangeSoda for a number of years on our SEM efforts, and they have proven to be one of our strongest partners. We believe that CitrusBlast will create new revenue streams for the San Diego Union-Tribune,” said Mike Hodges, Vice President Interactive, San Diego Union-Tribune.

About OrangeSoda

Founded in 2006, OrangeSoda offers online marketing to local businesses with a unique blend of intelligent service and simple technology. OrangeSoda provides the best return on marketing investment, by blending social, mobile and search with insider analytics on how consumers use the Internet to find local business offerings. With its proprietary advertising technology and service platform, OrangeSoda enables its partners including CityGrid Media, YPG, and Freedom Communications Inc., to provide the best social, mobile and search services to their customers.

“This is the third paid search spend modeler released by AdGooroo, following up on the 2009 release of Budget Analyzer U.S., now widely used by agencies, researchers and others to better understand the search advertising landscape,” said AdGooroo Founder and CEO Richard Stokes. “Now users can discover the same type of digital marketing insights in the U.K. paid search market and precisely pinpoint the brands, industries and budget figures needed to bolster their Digital Marketing Intelligence or target offers to appropriate advertisers.”

As a Digital Marketing Intelligence tool, Budget Analyzer U.K. tracks entire industries to report spending insights and trends. Users can model an entire industry’s search advertising spending activity, determine which advertisers have boosted or scaled back search spending, or track a wide range of variables by advertiser or industry.

As a prospecting tool, it uses filtering technology to pinpoint companies by estimated pay per click (PPC) spend, recent changes to paid search spending, changes in click volume, minimum/maximum monthly paid search click levels, organic traffic, industry vertical and other criteria. When used in conjunction with Industry Insight, Budget Analyzer U.K. also provides users with names and contact information that correspond with top advertisers in its database.

Budget Analyzer U.K. includes a currency converter, enabling analysis in dollars or pounds. Currently, AdGooroo has three Budget Analyzer patents pending.

About AdGooroo

AdGooroo provides online marketers and agencies actionable, on demand Digital Marketing Intelligence tools that proactively monitor an industry’s advertising landscape to help them build a long-term competitive advantage. Based in Chicago, AdGooroo provides Digital Marketing Intelligence to Internet marketers through its suite of products, including SEM Insight, Display Insight, Industry Insight, Trademark Insight and Link Insight. AdGooroo tools leverage access and automation to provide advertisers with lists of competitors’ top keywords, ad copy, campaign statistics and more. Top agencies, brand advertisers and researchers leverage AdGooroo Digital Marketing Intelligence tools. For more information, visit AdGooroo.com.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today introduced Adobe® Search&Promote, powered by Omniture®, a new site search and merchandising application that helps marketers anticipate visitor search intent and promote the most relevant products and content across desktop and mobile website searches.

Online marketers face a common, industry-wide challenge – website abandonment. Since search is the primary form of navigation on many websites, it is often the first step a potential customer takes toward meeting his or her online goals – especially on mobile-optimized websites. When visitors cannot easily find what they are looking for early into their website visit, they may leave to search elsewhere for what they need. As a result, key metrics such as online engagement, conversion, average order value (AOV) and visitor retention can be negatively impacted.

“Every onsite search query is an opportunity. Each search is a customer telling you what they want, what they are interested in, or what they want to purchase or download,” said Brad Rencher, vice president and general manager, Omniture Business Unit, Adobe. “With Adobe Search&Promote, our customers can use search and navigation as a way to dynamically deliver the right content, products and offers to the right visitors. Each search becomes an opportunity to optimize how visitors browse, find, compare and select relevant products and content across screens and devices – driving visitors to convert at a higher rate and leave much more satisfied.”

Adobe Search&Promote is a highly scalable site search and merchandising application for businesses that require a high level of marketer control, metrics-based relevance and personalization. It is ideal for media and entertainment, retail, travel and hospitality and financial services websites that offer a large amount of content and products online. The solution can handle millions of pages, products and high search traffic volume, removing concerns of hardware procurement and provisioning, and offers real-time indexing to ensure visitors have access to the most up-to-date content. Built-in analytics provided by Adobe SiteCatalyst®, powered by Omniture, enables marketers to automate and fine-tune search and ranking results based on key metrics such as conversion rate, page views and customer ratings. This also enables businesses to monitor conversion rates from search terms and the paths visitors take to understand what visitors are finding and not finding in order to improve their site experience.

“The next-generation of site search technology will need to step into the role of helping businesses redefine what the experience of relevance is for their visitors,” said Hadley Reynolds, director, Search and Digital Marketplace Technologies, IDC. “Managers measure the health of their online businesses through specific KPIs. They need the emerging capabilities of data-driven search to refine and automate users’ search results and present content and suggestions that meet visitors’ demands and can process at scale the increasing volumes of website traffic. Driving advanced relevance through a combination of analytics, merchandising rules and visitor intent will differentiate a business’ Web presence from the competition and lead to improved results. The savviest marketers are moving fast to capture this advantage.”

Adobe Search&Promote also integrates with other applications within the Adobe® Online Marketing Suite, powered by Omniture:

Adobe® Test&Target™, powered by Omniture, allows Search&Promote users to test various search experiences or marketing or results pages against one another to determine the highest performers. The application also facilitates the targeting of search results or pages to visitors based on past purchase data or prior category affinity
Adobe® Recommendations, powered by Omniture, can be easily incorporated into search results to provide product or content recommendations related to visitors’ searches based on a “people who searched for this, bought that” algorithm
The Adobe® Scene7® cross media platform automates the delivery of richer product search results, offering shoppers the ability to closely examine products in more detail through interactive zoom, 360-degree spin, alternative image sizes from thumbnail to full-screen and multiple views. Enhancing visual search provides shoppers with more detailed product images and the confidence to help make purchase decisions faster
Supporting Quotes

Eric Myers, director, interactive media & marketing, Highlights for Children

“We need to be able to respond to changing visitor interests, activity and seasonal buying patterns on a whim. Search&Promote provides our team with an intuitive Web-based marketing console that offers many different levers for us to easily merchandise and refine our prime content, promotions and products.”
Michael McCamish, director of websites, Gaylord Hotels

“We are always measuring everything that happens on our website in order to continuously make it as relevant as possible for our visitors. Search&Promote will give us easy access to our SiteCatalyst metrics. It is important for us to take into account KPIs such as conversion and make use of the search application’s visual relevance tuner to influence search results based on a perfect combination of KPIs and natural relevance. This will ultimately help us deliver a better user experience by enabling our visitors to find what they are seeking, much quicker.”

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Omniture, Search&Promote, SiteCatalyst, Test&Target and Scene7 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

The U.S. mobile penetration levels are at the 90 percent mark. An increasing number of mobile subscribers are using various content services and applications on their devices, which opens up newer avenues for mobile advertising. Penetration of next-generation mobile handheld devices such as Smartphones and tablet PCs have opened up newer possibilities in mobile advertising. Adoption of mobile advertising by the nation’s largest mobile operators and innovative MVNOs as well as entry of the online advertising leaders is a testament to the perceived potential of the market opportunity.

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled U.S. Mobile Advertising and Search Markets provides market trends, forecasts, and predictions for 2010 and beyond. The study also provides value chain and revenue share analyses. In this research, Frost & Sullivan’s expert analysts thoroughly examine the following: smartphone and feature phone applications, next-generation devices, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, mobile banking, and mobile payments.

Market Overview

Next-generation Connected Mobile Devices with Rich Media Advertising Capabilities Stoke Growth in Mobile Advertising

Increasing penetration of advanced mobile devices is perhaps the biggest driver for mobile advertising, helping the industry on two important fronts. Firstly, greater uptake of mobile data services – including the mobile Web, mobile applications, mobile video, and others – opens up new forms of inventory on a per user basis and from an overall growth perspective. Secondly, and perhaps equally important, is the ability of these next-generation devices to support new technologies and user experience paradigms that helps in delivering an improved, interactive mobile advertising experience such as rich media advertising, HTML 5.0, location-based services, and others. In-application mobile advertising has emerged as a strong contender in the mobile advertising markets – mainly driven by smartphone in-application opportunity, notes the analyst of this research service. Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android market have already demonstrated the viability of smartphone in-application mobile advertising. The smartphone environment creates a superior mobile advertising experience that encompasses rich media support, location awareness, m-commerce capabilities, and others. Leading advertising platform vendors offer mobile advertising across multiple channels, with mobile Internet and in-application advertising emerging as the most common among holders of multiple types of inventory.

The ability to embed Web views within applications unleashes several innovative possibilities for rich media advertising in mobile applications. Within applications, advertising solution providers can also leverage on additional functionality/information such as location, accelerometer, and others that are exposed by the operating system software development kit (SDK). The strong performance of in-application advertising can be attributed to the high-quality experience it delivers when compared to that of a browser. Emergence of application analytics to measure the advertising and application performance helps advertisers and application developers improve the performance of their consumer offerings and optimizes the advertising and application performance. A large majority of applications are available free of cost to the end user and this has significantly generated newer types of advertising inventory in the U.S. mobile advertising markets.

The biggest challenge is to educate the brands and advertising about the possibilities in mobile advertising. Managing the expectation of the key stakeholders is also important to ensure sustainable growth. Prolific growth in the mobile data ecosystem, along with multiple specialized industry participants targeting different advertising services, has made it difficult to have standardized frameworks for mobile advertising. Specialized industry participants have been the early innovators in this space; however, this has also resulted in disparate processes and approaches to mobile advertising leading to greater demand for working together with the existing platforms to enable a unified, consistent advertising workflow. The online advertising industry benefitted significantly due to the third-party ad serving technologies and greater automation for campaign management, says the analyst. For example, industry solution providers are already integrating with the dominant online ad campaign planning and delivery platforms to incorporate a mobile advertising element. Additionally, all major mobile advertising networks work collaboratively to deliver the best advertising experience to advertisers and agencies as well as publishers and mobile operators.

Market Sectors

Expert Frost & Sullivan analysts thoroughly examine the following market sectors in this research:

Prepaid and postpaid mobile
SMS and MMS
Mobile Internet
Forecasts
iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian
Technologies

The following technologies are covered in this research:

Smartphone and feature phone applications
Next-generation devices
Mobile advertising and mobile marketing
Mobile banking and mobile payments

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Market Trends and Strategic Evaluation and Analysis

3. Total U.S. Mobile Advertising and Search Market

4. Messaging-based Mobile Advertising Market

5. Mobile Internet-based Display Advertising Market

6. Mobile Video Advertising Market

7. In-application Mobile Advertising Market

8. Mobile Search and Other Performance-based Mobile Advertising Market

9. Impact of Next-generation Connected Tablets on Mobile Advertising

10. Key Industry Participants

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9a03fc/u_s_mobile_advert

SEATTLE – BlueKai, the world’s largest data auction marketplace for all audience data and online marketing’s largest source of user intent data, announced a partnership with Efficient Frontier, a leading global performance marketing company with an integrated optimization platform across search, display and social.  Under the agreement, Efficient Frontier will participate in a beta program where client keyword lists will be submitted to BlueKai and matched against intent data segments.  Efficient Frontier will then use this set of intent data to drive targeting for display advertising against the qualified audience.  Buying BlueKai Intent™ by keywords will enable search marketers to identify in-market audiences – defined by existing search keyword lists – and reach them outside the walls of search engines with any media partner and at significant scale.

“This new keyword based intent offering from BlueKai will give us a simple and effective way to reach consumers with display ads using relevant search data,” says David Karnstedt, President and CEO of Efficient Frontier.  “BlueKai data has always been associated with high quality in-market shoppers and we are excited to partner with them to help our clients take the depth, accuracy and successes of keyword targeting and apply it to the world of display.”

BlueKai Intent™ is the largest source of audience data revealing auto, retail, travel and financial intenders at scale. BlueKai provides access to 160 million unique consumers who are ready to buy, by aggregating real-time in-market actions such as product comparison, loan calculations, auto configuration and keyword searches on vertical and commercial sites.  By processing billions of data points daily, BlueKai has classified hundreds of thousands of keywords into organized, hierarchical categories and offered intent data to advertisers at large scale. This has enabled the display and video ecosystem to unleash unprecedented targeting capabilities.  Through the Beta program, marketers can now access these behaviors through keyword lists that reach beyond the walls of search engines.  Efficient Frontier is the first of beta participants to make this new offering available to select search marketing clients.

“It’s indisputable that intent data drives performance and keyword search is a clear indicator of someone’s intent to purchase.  That’s why we’re taking that additional step by making it easy for a marketer to use their well crafted keyword lists in their display buys,” says Omar Tawakol, CEO of BlueKai.  “This really starts to break down the wall between search and display and we’re excited to partner with Efficient Frontier, a market leader in search and now display and social media advertising, to bring this innovative capability to their clients.”

With BlueKai Intent™, search marketers can utilize their existing search keyword lists and create a BlueKai data audience based on those keywords.  BlueKai’s data-centric approach gives advertisers the flexibility to transport their search intelligence and reach their audience across their preferred media partners.  Furthermore, BlueKai analytics provide valuable intelligence on additional in-market attributes on any search audience; giving marketers actionable data segments for audience.

At the center of the digital data economy, BlueKai (www.bluekai.com) created the world’s largest data auction marketplace for all audience data.  BlueKai aggregates valuable shopping and research activities across the Internet to build the largest source of intent data on over 160M shoppers across 7 key verticals including auto, travel, finance and retail.  BlueKai now sees 200 million unique consumers each month and manages over 750 million data events per day.  In strategic partnerships with top data aggregators, the BlueKai Exchange collectively offers over 30,000 data attributes across in-market, demographic, geographic, lifestyle, and B2B categories to increase performance and scale for direct response and branding campaigns.

BlueKai is designed with consumer transparency and control in mind. The BlueKai Registry enables consumers to see what marketers know about them, edit their online preferences and gain rewards in charitable donations. The privately-held company is based in Bellevue, WA and is a recipient of the AlwaysOn 2009 OnMedia 100 award as a Technology Innovator in Advertising.

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US released the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report for the first half of 2010. Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. were at $12.1 billion in that period, setting a new half-year record that represents an 11.3 percent increase over the first half of 2009. This is also the highest second-quarter revenue on record, up 13.9 percent over the same period of 2009.

Display-related advertising—which includes banner ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorships—totaled more than $4.4 billion in the first six months of 2010, showing a significant increase of close to 16 percent over the same period in 2009. Digital video continues to experience record growth, this year achieving the highest half-year performance ever and up 31 percent over first half 2009. Search advertising remains the largest percentage of overall interactive spend at 47 percent, representing more than $5.7 billion for the first six months of 2010, up 11.6 percent from the same period in 2009.

“Consumers’ appetite for immersive online experiences is limitless as technological innovation and creativity give rise to new forms of entertainment and information in the digital age,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “This report highlights marketers’ ongoing adoption of interactive media to build brands—and that’s only going to continue.”

“Interactive advertising revenue is on a strong upward trajectory,” said Sherrill Mane, SVP, Industry Services, IAB. “Nearly all types of ad formats are showing positive movement and marketers across all advertising categories, most notably consumer packaged goods and pharmaceuticals, are increasing their investment in digital media.”

“With the strongest first half on record, 2010 has so far indicated that Internet advertising is back, and better than ever,” said David Silverman, PwC Assurance partner. “While the recession clearly affected short term growth in 2009, with double digit growth in both search and display during the first six month of 2010, the long term prospects continue to be strong.”

The following data highlights key first six-month revenue data breakouts; dollar figures are rounded.

($ millions if not indicated):
Advertising Formats: Search and Display-related ads continue to be leading formats.

FH 2010                                   FH 2009
Search                 47% ($5,747)                                   47% ($5,148)
Display Related:                 36% ($4,356)                                   34% ($3,759)
-Banner Ads                 23% ($2,744)                                   22% ($2,394)
-Rich Media                 6% ($743)                                   7% ($704)
-Digital Video                 5% ($627)                                   4% ($477)
-Sponsorship                 2% ($242)                                   2% ($184)
Classifieds                 10% ($1,262)                                   10% ($1,116)
Referrals/Lead Generation                 5% ($642)                                   7% ($728)
E-mail                 1% ($120)                                   1% ($149)

Industry Concentration: Percentages of revenues by the top 10, top 25 and top 50 have remained consistent.
FH 2010                       FH 2009
Top 10                       70                       71
Top 25                       82                       82
Top 50                       90                       89

The IAB sponsors the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which is conducted independently by the New Media Group of PwC. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues because the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, free e-mail providers, and all other companies selling online advertising. The full report is issued twice yearly for full and half-year data, and top-line quarterly estimates are issued for the first and third quarters. PwC does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information.

A copy of the full report is available at: http://www.iab.net/AdRevenueReport

About PwC

PwC (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 163,000 people in 151 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.

© 2010 PwC. All rights reserved. In this document, “PwC” refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership, which is a member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each member firm of which is a separate legal entity.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net http://www.iab.net.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) introduced new Search enhancements that will help millions of people be entertained, productive, and informed anywhere they are across Yahoo!. Leveraging Yahoo!’s rich content and robust technology platforms, these new Yahoo! Search features will help people get to the entertainment and news content they care about on all connected devices — and do more with the things they find.

“Our goal is to understand what people care about and to make it fun for them to explore the most personally relevant, interesting, and informative content so that they can get things done faster and stay in the know,” said Shashi Seth, senior vice president, Yahoo! Search and Marketplaces. “Yahoo!’s new immersive Search is a cornerstone of the overall Yahoo! experience, creating more ways to connect people with whatever and whoever interests them.”

To start using the new enhancements, go to Yahoo.com and search for topics such as “Lady Gaga” or “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” The features include 3D multifaceted results and tools that let people:

- Cut to the chase – Intelligent shortcuts for movies, musical artists, celebrities and news topics conveniently organize the most important details such as images, articles, videos, tweets, event listings, and ratings. They also provide quick and easy ways to purchase movie or concert tickets while searching.
- Find favorite movies and TV shows – The first in a series of unique “quick apps” from Yahoo! Search, a new Web app for Netflix provides an easy way for Netflix members to add DVDs to their Queue right from the Search results page. Additionally, members can start to instantly watch movies and TV shows with one click on the app’s “play” button.
- Watch what’s happening now – Continuing to bring Search to more people in more places across Yahoo!, the company is helping people feed their curiosity by displaying image slideshows right above the standard results for interesting topics from Yahoo!’s Trending Now lists on Yahoo.com and elsewhere.
- Lean back and browse more pictures – An immersive new Yahoo! Image Search delivers engaging slideshows with public photos from Flickr and Yahoo!’s leading content sites, as well as the ability for people to view personally meaningful public Facebook albums from friends when they sign-in and connect their Yahoo! accounts to Facebook.
- Search on the go – Android and iPhone users can now get faster, more sophisticated Search results, thanks to the latest HTML5 technology. Rich content on entertainment, finance, and local topics is surfaced in more unique and compelling ways for high-end mobile devices.

Working toward its vision to be the center of people’s online lives, Yahoo! is dedicated to re-imagining Search by creating new ways to bring people closer to what they need and want on the Web. Today’s visually stunning new Search experiences throughout the Yahoo! network, along with innovative technology enhancements and quality improvements for rich local and shopping searches, all supplement organic algorithmic Search listings from the recently transitioned Microsoft search platform. Yahoo! expects current and future innovations to redefine Yahoo! Search and drive greater consumer engagement and loyalty.

New features began rolling out to Search users across the U.S. today, and Yahoo! expects to launch them for additional global markets in 2011.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).

Based on the impact two industry milestones had on advertisers – Yahoo’s introduction in 2007 of Panama and Microsoft’s transition in 2009 from MSN Live to Bing, GroupM Search projects a three-week period of volatility post-transition before costs begin to settle. At the campaign level, advertisers can expect an average increase of 64 percent over current Bing CPCs for unbranded keywords and 78-percent for branded keywords during this time. Once the marketplace settles, CPCs on Bing will rest at 13 to 23 percent above current Bing CPCs for unbranded and branded keywords, respectively.

“Any time you interject change into the auction you invite pricing pressure,” said Chris Copeland, chief executive officer of GroupM Search. “In this case, we see historical evidence that suggests regardless of the bid tools and the preparation, a period of short-term volatility will exist.”

The study was completed by GroupM Search’s Predictive Insights unit, a team comprised of econometric statisticians and mathematicians with expertise cultivated in the area of search marketing. GroupM Search looked at current and historical paid search campaign data to estimate cost implications and how long it will take advertisers to return to equilibrium after this shock to the market. The study included campaign data of 12 market-leading clients who have maintained a steady presence on both Yahoo and Microsoft’s search networks dating back to 2007.

The insights from this study are important for advertisers because it allows advanced preparation for what to expect from this transition.

“If three-week volatility and CPC increases can be countered through better understanding of competitive sets, sophistication of those advertisers and what strategies they use today, then this research will have served our client base well,” said Copeland.

One of the most important insights from the study is the understanding of the number of advertisers with paid search campaigns unique to Yahoo that potentially will now be running on the Microsoft adCenter platform. Within the search marketing campaigns analyzed, on average only 27 percent of the advertisers’ competition for branded and unbranded keywords were running on both Yahoo and Bing. GroupM Search projects that advertisers unique to Yahoo moving to adCenter could lead to a 74-percent increase in competition levels on Bing than exist at present.

This increased competition will be the greatest factor for the amplification in paid search costs, the study revealed. In a pay-per-click auction system, such as paid search, the number of competitors matters greatly in the final price of the item because each competitor vies for its desired position.

“The industry has long known the variances of performance between Yahoo and Bing. What we found and what we believe has the biggest material impact for advertisers are the vastly different competitive sets between the two,” said Copeland. “When you put such a large set of new advertisers of varying sophistication into the mix, you are going to see a less stable CPC marketplace.”

On the heels of the Yahoo and Microsoft Search Alliance transition, however, comes the peak of the holiday season when paid search sees its greatest surge in advertisers and CPCs. With this unique timing, the marketplace could experience bidding variables it hasn’t seen before and it could be early 2011 before everything settles and the “new CPC” is realized.

Copeland added, “It is essential for all parties to get this right and we support the decision to go forward ahead of the 2010 holiday season. However, this predicted fluctuation, combined with holiday bidding strategies, means it could be three to four months before the new normal is set.”

An abstract detailing the study can be downloaded from the GroupM Search Blog, SearchFuel.

About GroupM Search

GroupM Search is the search marketing specialist division of GroupM, the media buying and planning arm of WPP responsible for more than 1/3 of the world’s media buying. GroupM Search provides industry-leading search marketing strategies, technology development, research, staffing and training to GroupM communications planning agencies, including: Maxus, MediaCom, MEC and MindShare, as well as the direct-to-client search marketing agencies Outrider, Catalyst Online and Quisma. More than 700 search marketing strategists comprise GroupM Search’s global network spanning 40 countries. In 2008, GroupM Search was named the 2008 Search Marketing Agency of the Year by OMMA Magazine and MediaPost. Global search marketing perspective from experts across GroupM Search can be found on the industry blog, SearchFuel (www.searchfuel.com). URL: www.groupmsearch.com

HYDERABAD, India – Ybrant Digital, the end-to-end provider of digital marketing solutions, announced the signing of the stock purchase agreement to acquire Lycos Inc., the leading brand of search based internet properties and services, from Daum Communications of Korea.

“Brand Lycos needs no introduction, we are excited to bring in the Lycos properties into our fold,” said Suresh Reddy, Chairman and CEO, Ybrant Digital. “The quality of content and tools offered by Lycos has always attracted the best of the consumers across the world. Our goal is to combine the benefits of Ybrant’s global network with what Lycos has to offer in creating a compelling global destination for our advertising clients worldwide. Coupled with our offerings for advertisers, we do present new products to our local users worldwide.”

“Ybrant is the absolute perfect partner for us,” said Jungwook Lim, CEO of Lycos. “Combining Ybrant’s cutting edge digital solutions for both media buyers and sellers with Lycos’ innovative resources and media will bring tremendous value to both our consumers and clients.”

Daum reorganized the business of Lycos in 2009 and has turned Lycos profitable. As a result of the sale of Lycos, Daum will be able to devote its energy and corporate resources in order to find new potential growth business and future-oriented pipeline such as mobile, LBS, SNS and Search. “As a result of the sale of Lycos, Daum will be able to devote its energy and corporate resources to core domestic businesses including search, mobile services and map,” said William Chao, CEO of Daum Communications Corp.

About Ybrant Digital

Ybrant Digital offers Digital Marketing solutions to businesses, agencies, and online publishers worldwide.

With over 20 billion impressions a month, our network serves leading brands such as SAP, Porsche, Ford, UPS, and Swissair.

Ybrant partners with some of the top online publishers such as MSN, Yahoo!, Viacom, SuperCook, Homestore, Move, and 24.7Real Media.

We have direct access to over 120 top Ad Agencies and this makes Ybrant a network of choice for the online publishing community to maximize their revenue potential.

Ybrant Digital has a global presence, with offices in 20 countries including North America, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Serbia, Israel, India and Australia, and representatives in Scandinavia, Poland, Italy and Greece.
www.ybrantdigital.com

About Lycos

Lycos’ award-winning products and services include tools for video viewing and sharing, social networking, blogging, web publishing and hosting, online games, e-mail, and search. Lycos consistently averages 12 – 15 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S., and is a top 25 Internet destination worldwide, reaching nearly 60 million unique visitors globally. The Lycos Network of sites and services include Lycos.com, Tripod, Angelfire, HotBot, The Lycos 50™, Gamesville, WhoWhere, Lycos Mail, and Webon. Integrated, these sites help individual users retrieve, manage, consume and create information tailored to meet his or her personal interests.

http://www.lycos.com/

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Yield Software, a leading provider of next-generation online marketing technology, announced that it has integrated its flagship Yield Web Marketing Suite for Advertisers and for Agencies with Marchex Call Analytics (NASDAQ:MCHX). Advertisers and digital media agencies can now track and optimize sales and conversions from search engine pay-per-click (PPC) ads that result in a telephone call as opposed to an online transaction.

“For many online advertisers, a call to a telephone number is the conversion event inspired by their search engine ad,” said Matt Malden, founder and CEO of Yield Software. “By integrating with Marchex, the leader in call analytics, advertisers or their agencies managing campaigns in the Yield Web Marketing Suite are now able to effectively track and evaluate the efficacy of their PPC ads with a call conversion event.”

Advertisers increasingly find search engine marketing is effective at identifying and targeting users at the peak of their product interest. In many product and service categories, and for most businesses, a phone call is the best way to answer questions or complete transactions.

While PPC advertising has been historically associated with the ability to effectively track ROI on campaigns, those who’ve relied on telephone calls as the conversion event have often been frustrated at the inability to attribute those calls to the advertising source. The Yield Software–Marchex integration eliminates this ROI tracking gap for online advertising.

“As specialists in search and directional marketing for small and mid-size businesses, a disproportionate number of our clients rely on calls as their conversion event for PPC advertising,” said Michael Cody, Vice President of Directory Assistants Inc., a Yield Software client using the Yield Web Marketing Suite for Agencies. “Now we’re able to effectively manage PPC campaigns across Google, Yahoo! and Bing search engines on behalf of our clients while accurately attributing each conversion – no matter how those might occur – to the right campaign source.”

Using built-in reporting tools and analyses in the Yield Web Marketing Suite, both advertisers and agencies now have greater visibility into the impact of their marketing initiatives and can ensure they effectively leverage search engine marketing as a key component of their marketing mix.

The integration is available as part of the Yield Web Marketing Suite for Advertisers and the Yield Web Marketing Suite for Agencies. For more information, email sales@yieldsoftware.com.

About Yield Software

Yield Software (www.yieldsoftware.com) delivers next-generation online marketing technology. Its flagship product, the Yield Web Marketing Suite, is a fully automated, totally integrated search marketing system that optimizes paid search, natural search rankings and landing pages.

The overall industry average click fraud rate was 18.6 percent. That’s up from the 17.4 percent reported for Q1 2010 and the 12.7 percent rate reported for Q2 2009.

In Q2 2010, the countries outside North America with significant CPC traffic producing the greatest volume of click fraud were Singapore, Pakistan, Japan, Ukraine and China respectively.

“Over the past several quarters, we’ve seen the overall click fraud rate slowly trending higher,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “The main reasons appear to be the continued sophistication of botnets and malware prevalent in the fast-growing search marketing space. We advise online marketers to be watchful of their campaigns as they spend more on search advertising in the coming quarters.”

Since 2006, Click Forensics has published online advertising industry data collected from the first independent third-party Cost Per Click (CPC) and online advertising fraud detection service. The service monitors online media traffic across over 300 ad networks as well as billions of clicks from top search engines, comparison shopping engines, social networks, leading publishers and advertiser web sites – providing the most accurate view of online advertising audience quality.

For more details and to read the full report, visit http://www.clickforensics.com/resources/click-fraud-index.html.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics® is the industry leader in online ad verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online search and display advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

ATLANTA – US paid search spend increased 14% in Q2 2010 from a year earlier, following an 11% year-over-year increase in Q1. The first two quarters of the year have marked the strongest period of growth for paid search since Q4 2008, indicating that online PPC spend is bouncing back from the recession-level growth declines experienced throughout 2009. These findings come from a report released by SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search optimization and online media attribution solutions managing more than $450 million in PPC spend annually.

Other notable findings in the report include:

- Market less reliant on retail sector for growth: Retail paid search spend grew 7% YoY, less than the overall industry growth, marking the first quarter in more than a year where non-retail spend grew more than retail PPC spend.
- Bing gains YoY, but growth slows heading into the summer: Spend on Bing increased 26% YoY, but declined -9.6% from Q1, the engine’s second quarter of QoQ declines. The engine dropped slightly to 6.2% share of search spend in the U.S.

“Search has bounced back from recession level lows and is poised for a very strong second half,” said Roger Barnette, CEO of SearchIgnite. “We’ve seen a marked increase in activity across our clients this year, with non-retail marketers bolstering their search investments for the first time since 2008.”

The complete Q2 report can be downloaded at: http://about.searchignite.com/en/research/u-s-paid-search-spend-continues-bounce-recession.

This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. Previous quarterly reports can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/searchigniteresearch.

About SearchIgnite

SearchIgnite is the leading provider of search optimization and digital media attribution solutions that help major marketers achieve their search marketing goals quicker and spend their advertising budgets smarter. The company’s media management technology offers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on paid search campaigns in one central dashboard, as well as gather insights into the relationship between media channels including PPC, SEO and display. For more information, visit us at www.searchignite.com or follow us on Twitter @searchignite.

Marchex extends its call advertising leadership and highlights multi-billion dollar market opportunity

SEATTLE – Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX), a call advertising and small business marketing company, announced the Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange, a performance-based call advertising product that connects advertisers to customers through phone calls driven from online, mobile and offline marketing channels. Initially introduced to select customers in 2009, Marchex has seen significant early adoption of this product.

“Pay-For-Call advertising is the natural next step in the evolution of performance media. It is the last mile for advertisers, literally connecting them to their prospective customers through the phone. Each iteration of advertising products and business models – from pay-per-view, to pay-per-click, to pay-per-conversation – brings advertisers closer to customers and the actual transaction while increasing efficiency and ROI,” said Pete Christothoulou, Chief Operating Officer at Marchex.

The Pay-For-Call Market:

According to BIA/Kelsey, advertisers spend more than $35 billion per year driving phone calls. These dollars are spent on multi-channel marketing products across Yellow Pages, radio, television, print and other media forms.

While performance-based call advertising is in its early stages of adoption, Marchex predicts that the market will grow rapidly over the next several years due to several factors:

a. Explosion of Digital Supply. While the number of opportunities to place digital media dollars to drive calls is relatively small today, it will increase markedly over the next several years. Acceleration of mobile advertising, the transition of directory assistance to ad supported, the entrance of ad-supported models by PC-based phone call providers and the efforts of directories to better monetize their listings will usher these changes into the industry rapidly.

b. Technology Evolution. Technologies have emerged and will continue to develop that cost-effectively serve, track, optimize and filter phone calls, while providing more customer intelligence than other mediums, such as caller geography, demographic data and information extracted from call recordings.

c. Performance Models Drive Results. As more digital media opportunities and technologies emerge, performance-based models are following. Performance-based business models, such as paying only for qualified phone calls, are materializing and driving high advertiser return on investment (“ROI”), while reducing monetary risks. According to Marchex internal data, over the last nine months, many advertisers using its Pay-For-Call Exchange have experienced higher ROI than leading pay-per-click programs, with conversion rates for certain customers as high as 50 percent.

Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange Overview:

The Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange combines a robust telephony platform with campaign creation expertise and call filtering technologies to create, manage and optimize advertiser campaigns across more than 50 publisher partners in online, offline and mobile media. Additionally, advertisers have access to rich call analytics and customer intelligence, including caller geography and call recordings.

Advertisers that have joined Marchex’s Pay-For-Call Exchange have experienced significant ROI, including an average call conversion ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent for many advertisers, with some seeing as high as 50 percent; typical consumer engagement on the phone averages more than eight minutes, with certain categories and advertisers experiencing up to 12 minutes; and typical advertiser budget increases have averaged 200 percent of their initial commitment. Additionally, companies that have joined Marchex’s Pay-For-Call Exchange have been able to monetize their inventory more effectively.

While still in its relative infancy, Marchex has built a significant, growing customer and partner base for its Pay-For-Call Exchange, including leading digital agencies such as Razorfish, one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world; ADT, the world’s largest electronic security company; PRIMEDIA, a provider of online, print and mobile platforms that provide real estate rental listings; and Jingle Networks, the nation’s leading advertiser-supported directory assistance service at 1-800-FREE-411.

Customer and Partner Feedback:

“The Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange is one of the fastest growing marketing programs for us, and it’s been a great complement and expansion to our digital programs,” said Danny Huynh, Director of Search Marketing, Razorfish. “It’s quickly becoming a mandatory marketing program for our direct response clients, and one where we see opportunities to grow our participation significantly.”

“We are very focused on identifying and executing against the most effective and efficient marketing programs available,” said Frank Rivera, Director of Digital Marketing, ADT. “As consumers are exposed to more communication channels and touch points, we have to diversify our tactical efforts for conversions beyond the click through innovation such as the Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange. We are seeing efficiency in helping us leverage marketing across online, offline and mobile.”

“In these early stages, the Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange has been a successful marketing program for us, helping us drive more leads to our apartment advertisers,” said Tracy Dodd, Director, Interactive Marketing, Consumer Source Inc., a PRIMEDIA company. “I’ve been impressed not only by Marchex’s ability to generate incremental customers at scale very quickly, but also with their level of service and expertise in this medium.”

“Marchex has quickly become one of our largest customers and is definitely the fastest growing,” said John Roswech, President of Jingle Networks / 1-800-Free-411, a Marchex Pay-For-Call Exchange publisher. “Their unique collection of call-focused assets and resulting ability to drive advertiser results is proving to be a competitive advantage.”

About Marchex:

Marchex’s mission is to unlock local commerce everywhere by helping advertisers reach customers wherever they may be – in mobile, offline and online channels, including on our own local and category Web sites.

Our performance-based call advertising products, Marchex Pay-For-Call and Marchex Call Analytics, are reinventing how businesses acquire new customers through the phone. Our award-winning Small Business Marketing products empower local businesses to efficiently monitor their online presence, communicate with their customers, and acquire new ones. Every day, our products support tens of thousands of advertisers and partners, ranging global enterprises to local businesses.

For more information about Marchex, please visit www.marchex.com.

“We’ve achieved more than 400 percent traffic growth over the last year, and the biggest key to continuing growth for our company is ensuring our search marketing efforts match that type of growth,” said Jerry Ropelato, chief executive officer of TechMediaNetwork. “We are pleased to have such an experienced search marketing expert as Eric to lead these efforts, so our users can efficiently find our content to educate themselves about technology and help them make informed purchasing decisions.”

TechMediaNetwork has achieved 445 percent traffic growth in the past 12 months, according to comScore’s Panel-only Key Measures Report from February 2009 to February 2010. TechMediaNetwork ranked No. 6 on comScore’s Panel-only February 2010 Tech-News Category report.

“TechMediaNetwork is a very unique network that can serve the technology information needs of consumers and advertisers,” said Mr. Richmond. “They have an excellent search engine optimization track record, and as we build our team, we’ll be able to expand the search engine optimization efforts and capitalize on the latest trends in social networking to extend the value we provide to our users.”

Prior to 360i, Mr. Richmond was vice president and director of strategic accounts at RichFX – an application service provider (ASP) that provides marketers a way of making fully interactive versions of their print catalogs. In this role, Mr. Richmond was responsible for managing relationships with the company’s marquee accounts: Wal-Mart Stores, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Safeway and Williams Sonoma.

Mr. Richmond has also been vice president, global account director for Viewpoint Corp.; vice president, interactive services and acting Global CIO for the 33 worldwide offices of Grey Interactive and Grey Ventures; and vice president, digital technology for APLDigital, the interactive arm of IPG’s Ammirati Puris Lintas.

TechMediaNetwork plans on expanding its search marketing and social media team in the next few months by hiring as many as 15 additional employees with experience in search optimization, data analysis and social media. These jobs will be available in both the Utah and the New York locations.

TechMediaNetwork is a network of world-renowned technology and entertainment sites, including TopTenREVIEWS.com, SPACE.com, LiveScience.com and Newsarama.com. To learn more about TechMediaNetwork, visit: www.techmedianetwork.com. For more information about TopTenREVIEWS, visit: www.toptenreviews.com. For more information on LiveScience, visit: www.livescience.com; SPACE.com, www.space.com; and Newsarama, www.newsarama.com.

TechMediaNetwork is a trademark of TopTenREVIEWS Inc. All other names are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

“Search Engine Academy focuses on teaching how to move beyond SEO ‘tips, tricks and best practices’ and empowers students to create successful SEO strategies with accuracy and exactness based upon mathematical methods of optimization. Students gain a true understanding of how search engines work and what makes a web page relevant,” said John Alexander, Search Engine Academy co-founder and director. “Armed with this knowledge, students are able to achieve their SEO goals in the least amount of time while knowing exactly what works and why.”

One key differentiator for Search Engine Academy is the small size of its classes, which are limited to 20 students and filled on a first come, first serve basis. This ensures instructors are able to give each student individual attention and the support needed to help them achieve their own unique goals. Instructors perform individualized web site audits for each student and give them daily progress evaluations. In addition, students have the opportunity to earn certification that is recognized and approved by the US educational system for Continuing Education Units. Following the 3-day and 5-day workshops, students continue to benefit from Search Engine Academy’s six-month SEO focused mentoring program and its online resource center.

Gail Wright, a Search Engine Academy graduate and webmaster for a publicly traded company noted, “To keep my SEO skills up to date, I have attended several Search Engine Academy workshops including the ultra-advanced SEO training. I learn so many new concepts in every class; each one is different and gives me the skills I need to be successful in the ever-changing world of search engine optimization and web marketing.”

“Once people equip themselves with the latest SEO skills, they have multiple career options. Search Engine Academy workshops are available throughout the US, Canada, Asia and Australia. This makes getting educated as well as staying up to date on the latest methodologies easy for students everywhere,” said Robin Nobles, co-founder of Search Engine Academy.

About Search Engine Academy (SEA)

Search engine optimization pioneers Robin Nobles and John Alexander have set the industry standard for SEO education with first-to-market online training and on-location workshops. In 2005, they brought together some of the industry’s leading SEO professionals to launch Search Engine Academy and deliver individualized, hands-on SEO workshops in business communities throughout the world.

Search Engine Academy was the first to offer certification for SEO training and today is one of the few organizations to offer certification that is recognized and approved by the US educational system for Continuing Education Units. The Academy’s 2-day, 3-day and 5-day workshops are held in cities across the United States, Canada, Asia and Australia. To find the Academy nearest you, please visit www.searchengineacademy.com.

Highlights of the Q4 2009 Search Advertising Report

- Fourth quarter is traditionally strong for Google and we expect this to be the case again this year.
- Not surprisingly, the Retail industry was particularly robust. We measured a 12.5% Q/Q increase in ad spend. Winning categories included traditional retailers, clothing, shoes, and furniture. Consumer electronics, office products, and home decor were down substantially in terms of ad spend.

Perhaps because of this strong growth, Google permanently suspended more than 30,000 low-quality advertisers in early December. AdGooroo also measured a corresponding decrease in overall ad coverage during this time.

This seven page report includes additional discussion and a number of other informative charts and tables.

Download link:
http://succeed.adgooroo.com/Q409_Search_Advertising_Report.html

AUSTIN, Texas – Click Forensics®, Inc., a leading provider of online advertising verification solutions, opened the beta testing program for a new platform that will enable online display advertisers to make audience impression filtering and ad serving decisions in real-time. The technology, designed to complement existing brand safety solutions, also features analytics to measure the effectiveness of display ad campaigns at reaching their desired audiences. Online advertisers, agencies and ad networks using the platform will benefit by reducing ad spend wasted on unwanted and ineffective impressions, which will improve overall campaign ROI. Organizations interested in participating in the beta program, can visit www.clickforensics.com/display.

The first new features will be commercially available in Q1 2010, with new functionality added regularly. The new Click Forensics platform is designed to bring a new level of transparency to the display advertising market, similar to what the company’s search ad verification platform has delivered in the search marketing space for years. This includes tracking and blocking impression inflation, including malware schemes used to inflate click through rates (CTRs) on display ads.

“As companies look to expand investments in display advertising through online networks and exchanges, they need ways to ensure they’re reaching their intended audiences for media buys,” said Paul Pellman, CEO of Click Forensics. “It also means they need to watch for ad impression inflation and outright fraud, which can cost them more money than necessary. Our new platform helps advertisers and ad providers do just that by taking what we’ve learned in search and applying it to display.”

The Click Forensics display ad verification platform is designed to solve problems online advertisers face when purchasing inventory through any of the newly available channels, such as ad exchanges, demand side platforms (DSPs) and blind ad networks. This includes helping marketers to verify the delivery of purchased impressions, such as how many impressions they received, to whom they were delivered, and whether they were viewed by a human for an appreciable time period. By using the Click Forensics platform, advertisers and agencies will be able to pre-filter individual unwanted impressions in real-time and verify that campaign objectives are met by delivering better targeted impressions.

“We’re excited to work with Click Forensics on the development of this new offering to help us deliver more precise targeting and results for client ad campaigns,” said Matt Greitzer, vice president of search marketing and head of ATOM Systems at Razorfish. “The company’s expertise and experience vetting ad quality across billions of search advertising clicks is a huge advantage in handling the demands of display advertising verification.”

As the leader in search advertising audience verification, Click Forensics is uniquely positioned to bring additional transparency to the display advertising community. Over the past four years the company has amassed data on billions of clicks and ad impressions, which it uses to develop sophisticated machine-learning algorithms that discover click fraud, malware sources and botnets; filter unwanted audiences; and measure the value of audiences that view ads. With the ability to collect and manage massive amounts of data and process billions of impressions per day, the new Click Forensics platform for display advertising is designed to meet the scalability and performance demands of real-time impression filtering and verification.

For more information on joining the Click Forensics, visit www.clickforensics.com. Follow us on Twitter: @ClickForensics.

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics® is the industry leader in online ad verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online search and display advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks, including companies such as Progressive Insurance, GenieKnows, Adknowledge, eZanga, Moxy Media, Turn, Traffic Engine, Vegas.com and many others. The company also regularly publishes industry data on online advertising audience quality. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Reston, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study on growth in the global search market in 2009. The study revealed that the U.S. remains the largest search market worldwide, while Google Sites retains a commanding position in the global search market.

“The global search market continues to grow at an extraordinary rate, with both highly developed and emerging markets contributing to the strong growth worldwide,” said Jack Flanagan, comScore executive vice president. “Search is clearly becoming a more ubiquitous behavior among Internet users that drives navigation not only directly from search engines but also within sites and across networks. If you equate the advancement of search with the ability of humans to cultivate information, then the world is rapidly becoming a more knowledgeable ecosystem.”

Top Search Markets Worldwide
The total worldwide search market boasted more than 131 billion searches conducted by people age 15 or older from home and work locations in December 2009, representing a 46-percent increase in the past year. This number represents more than 4 billion searches per day, 175 million per hour, and 29 million per minute. The U.S. represented the largest individual search market in the world with 22.7 billion searches, or approximately 17 percent of searches conducted globally. China ranked second with 13.3 billion searches, followed by Japan with 9.2 billion and the U.K. with 6.2 billion. Among the top ten global search markets, Russia posted the highest gains in 2009, growing 92 percent to 3.3 billion, followed by France (up 61 percent to 5.4 billion) and Brazil (up 53 percent to 3.8 billion).
_______________________________________________________________________
Top 10 Countries by Number of Searches Conducted*
December 2009 vs. December 2008
Total Worldwide, Age 15+ – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore qSearch

Searches (MM)
Dec-2008      Dec-2009     Percent Change
Worldwide                  89,708        131,354        46%
United States              18,688         22,741        22%
China                      11,778         13,278        13%
Japan                       6,213          9,170        48%
United Kingdom              4,623          6,245        35%
Germany                     4,079          5,609        38%
France                      3,362          5,425        61%
South Korea                 2,796          4,039        44%
Brazil                      2,454          3,763        53%
Canada                      2,900          3,710        28%
Russian Federation          1,735          3,333        92%
_______________________________________________________________________
*Searches based on “expanded search” definition, which includes searches at the top properties where search activity is observed, not only the core search engines.

Top Search Properties Worldwide
Google Sites ranked as the top search property worldwide with 87.8 billion searches in December, or 66.8 percent of the global search market. Google Sites achieved a 58-percent increase in search query volume over the past year. Yahoo! Sites ranked second globally with 9.4 billion searches (up 13 percent), followed by Chinese search engine Baidu with 8.5 billion searches (up 7 percent). Microsoft Sites saw the greatest gains among the top five properties, growing 70 percent to 4.1 billion searches, on the strength of its successful introduction of new search engine Bing. Russian search engine Yandex also achieved considerable gains, growing 91 percent to 1.9 billion searches.
_______________________________________________________________________
Top 10 Search Properties by Searches Conducted
December 2009 vs. December 2008
Total Worldwide, Age 15+ – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore qSearch

Searches (MM)
Dec-2008      Dec-2009    Percent Change
Worldwide                    89,708        131,354         46%
Google Sites                 55,638         87,809         58%
Yahoo! Sites                  8,389          9,444         13%
Baidu.com Inc.                7,963          8,534          7%
Microsoft Sites               2,403          4,094         70%
eBay                          1,327          2,102         58%
NHN Corporation               1,892          2,069          9%
Yandex                          992          1,892         91%
Facebook.com                  1,023          1,572         54%
Ask Network                   1,053          1,507         43%
Alibaba.com Corporation       1,118          1,102         -1%
_______________________________________________________________________
*Searches based on “expanded search” definition, which includes searches at the top properties where search activity is observed, not only the core search engines.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

CHICAGO – AdGooroo (www.adgooroo.com), a leading provider of online marketing competitive intelligence and keyword tools, unveiled its Hijacking Report, an advanced feature of Trademark Insight, which enables search marketers to identify and take action against other advertisers illegally using their domain name in ad copy.

“AdGooroo’s Trademark Insight has helped clients identify advertisers using their terms or trademarks in ad copy for years,” said AdGooroo Founder and CEO, Rich Stokes. “As we round the corner into 2010 and marketers resolve to more aggressively protect their brands, the hijacking report helps them reign in illegal use of domain names in search ad copy and display URLs. Advertisers can now automatically identify and stop the black hat affiliates and competitors who deceive consumers by passing themselves off as legitimate merchants.”

With the Hijacking Report, marketers streamline a process, previously too daunting to attempt manually, filtering out all ads that contain their domain name for further analysis. Marketer-controlled parameters then filter out any ads deemed safe by the marketer, leaving only the illegitimate affiliates and advertisers trying to pass themselves off as the official site and making it easy for rightful advertisers to take action.

Along with the new report, subscribers will continue to have access to all the benefits of Trademark Insight. This includes monitoring trademarks on six search engines in 30 countries and tracking all competitors bidding on trademarked terms to prevent competitive bidding and unauthorized usage of trademarked terms.

To learn more about AdGooroo, Trademark Insight or the Hijacking Report, visit www.adgooroo.com.

About AdGooroo

AdGooroo provides online marketers and agencies actionable, on demand competitive intelligence tools that proactively monitor an industry’s advertising landscape to help them build a long-term competitive advantage. Based in Chicago, AdGooroo provides competitive intelligence to search engine marketers through its tool suite, including AdGooroo Express, SEM Insight and Trademark Insight. AdGooroo tools leverage access and automation to provide advertisers with lists of competitors’ top keywords, ad copy, campaign statistics and more. Top agencies and brand advertisers leverage AdGooroo competitive intelligence tools. For more information, visit AdGooroo.com.

CHICAGO – Today at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Chicago conference, experts from Clix Marketing, Click Forensics, Pepperjam and Page Zero Media will participate in a panel discussion titled: “Ads in a Quality Score World.” Panelists will explore the impact that the quality of online advertising campaigns has on overall ROI and performance. This includes a detailed overview of various ad quality factors as well as tips on increasing the perceived relevancy of campaigns.

Search Engine Strategies (SES) is the leading international conference series for webmasters, digital agencies, online marketers and corporate decision makers. Over the years SES has guided search marketers of all skill levels through the fast changing and complex world of search.

Panel Participants:

Moderator: David Szetela, CEO, Clix Marketing
Steve O’Brien, Vice President of Marketing & Sales, Click Forensics
Kristopher Jones, President & CEO, Pepperjam
Andrew Goodman, SES Advisory Board & Principal, Page Zero Media
When:

Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 12:45-2:00pm

Where:

Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605

About Click Forensics, Inc.

Click Forensics is the industry leader in audience verification and traffic quality improvement for the online advertising community. Click Forensics provides audience verification and traffic quality management solutions for leading online advertisers, publishers and ad networks, including companies such as Yahoo!, Progressive Insurance, GenieKnowsMedia.com, Experian, Nextag, Moxy Media, Turn, Traffic Engine, Vegas.com and many others. The company also publishes data on online advertising audience quality, including the Click Fraud Index®, the top independent source of industry click fraud data. Click Forensics is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is privately held with funding from Sierra Ventures, Austin Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Stanford University. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings is available at www.ClickForensics.com.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Yield Software (http://www.yieldsoftware.com/) announced the launch of the Yield Web Marketing Suite for Agencies and the introduction of a range of new services at ad:tech New York 2009 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

By combining and automating the three key elements of search marketing – paid search, natural search and landing page optimization – within a single, secure system, the Yield Web Marketing Suite for Agencies enables agencies to lower costs, increase efficiency and improve margins.

The system addresses the unique needs of digital, new media and interactive agencies, enabling them to optimize search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns across Google, Yahoo! Search and Microsoft’s Bing. For agencies offering services for just one of the three elements of SEM – pay-per-click (PPC) campaign management for instance – the Yield Web Marketing Suite for Agencies enables them to expand their offering to include search engine optimization (SEO) and landing page optimization (LPO) with little or no staffing consequences.

“As a small agency, we know that every single minute counts,” said Dan Kaplan, principal at PeriscopeUp, a search engine marketing agency serving small and medium-size businesses. “By automating much of the day-to-day minutiae associated with SEM through the Yield Web Marketing Suite, I’ve been able to maintain maximum control over my clients’ PPC and SEO campaigns – and deliver the results they need – while keeping our agency lean, efficient and profitable.”

In addition, Yield Software announced the introduction of a full range of services. These services include Yield JumpStart and Yield Managed Services packages designed to meet both the one-time and longer-term needs of businesses and agencies short on time or resources.

“Since our launch last spring, we’ve been very responsive to the input and needs of our customers,” said Matt Malden, founder and CEO of Yield Software. “Our new product for agencies and service packages each have been designed with this input in mind.”

Yield Software offers new subscribers a free 15-day trial. No downloads or systems integration work are required. Following the trial period, pricing starts as low as $129 per month. For more information or to subscribe to the free 15-day trial, visit www.yieldsoftware.com.

About Yield Software, Inc.

Yield Software develops powerful technology that automates, simplifies and integrates key Web marketing strategies. The Yield Web Marketing Suite is a secure, cloud-based system that relies on advanced algorithms and a simple, intuitive interface to optimize paid search, natural search, and landing pages for improved return on Web marketing investment. www.yieldsoftware.com – Web Marketing Made Easy.

As the recession forces many customers to buy less—and be pickier about what they do buy—search is becoming ever more important to marketers. It is the best customer acquisition tool online. The Search Marketing Trends report analyzes the factors

The Search Marketing Trends report analyzes the factors that are driving consumers, followed by marketers, to online search engines.

When money is tight, consumers are constantly looking for deals. And, today, that means they are going online to search for better prices, selection and services. If they find them—forget brand loyalty—they will switch to new products or vendors in a clickbeat.

Marketers have four basic search options: paid search, contextual advertising, paid inclusion—all three are types of advertising—and search engine optimization (SEO).

While paid search gets most of the attention and money, marketers are increasingly turning to SEO to acquire new customers.

All four options will experience increased spending through 2013. By then total US search marketing outlays will reach nearly $23.4 billion, and marketers will be spending more on SEO than on contextual advertising.

Key questions the “Search Marketing Trends” report answers:

What elements of search marketing perform best in a recession?
Why will SEO get more attention over the next five years?
How does search marketing complement e-mail marketing?
Which metrics make the most sense for search marketers?
How can Web analytics help marketers make better buying decisions?
How do users’ search habits influence where marketers should focus their search activities?
And many others…

Executive Summary

US Search Engine Marketing Spending, by Type, 20082013 (millions)

Key Questions

Key Numbers Search Marketing Trends

Search Tactics: Paid and Organic

US Search Engine Marketing Spending Share, by Type, 20082013 (% of total and millions)

Types of SEM Programs Engaged in by Search Advertisers Worldwide, by Company Size, December 2007January 2008 (% of respondents)

US Search Engine Marketing Spending, by Type, 20082013 (millions)

US Search Engine Marketing Spending Growth, by Type, 20082013 (% change)

Agencies

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Spending in North America, by Tactic, 2007

Average Amount that Clients of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Agencies Worldwide Spend on Search Engine Marketing Programs, 20052007 (% of total and thousands)

Attitudes of US Online Marketers Toward Paid Search* Marketing vs. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), 2008 (% of respondents)

ROI in 2009 for Select Online Marketing Tactics According to US Online Marketers (% of respondents)

SEO Features

Growth of Organic vs. Paid Clicks for US Online Retailers, by Retail Category, Q2 2008 (% change vs. Q2 2007)

Search Results Most Relevant to Query* According to US Internet Users, by Type, 2004 (as a % of respondents)

Attitudes of US Internet Users Toward Sponsored Links that Appear in Their Search Results, September 2008 (% of respondents)

Types of Ads/Promotions that US Internet Users Find Acceptable or Annoying, SeptemberOctober 2008 (% of respondents)

Most Important Marketing Tactics According to US Marketing Executives, 2008 & 2009 (% of respondents)

Attitudes of Search Marketers Worldwide* Toward Search Engine Optimization During the Economic Crisis, 2008 (% of respondents)

Search Marketing Objectives

Objectives of SEM According to Search Advertisers Worldwide, by Company Size, December 2007January 2008 (% of respondents)

Branded Trademark Search Among US Internet Users Exposed to Online Display Ads, 2008

Advertising Goals for 2009 According to Marketers Worldwide, by Level of Importance (% of respondents)

Metrics and Analytics

Average US Search ClickThrough Rate (CTR), by Search Engine, Q4 2007Q4 2008

Average US Search Cost per Click (CPC), by Search Engine, Q4 2007Q4 2008

Metrics Used by Search Engine Advertisers and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Agencies Worldwide to Measure Success of SEM Campaigns, December 2007 (% of respondents)

Projections

US Paid Search Metrics, 20082013

US Paid Search Metrics, 20082011

Search Analytics

Marketing Technologies/Services that US CMOs Use or Plan to Use, October 2008 (% of respondents)

US Online Marketers Who Have Set Aside a Budget for Select Online Marketing Tactics, 20062008 (% of respondents)

Companies and Agencies Worldwide* that Have a Companywide Strategy that Ties Data Collection and Analysis to Business Objectives, MarchApril 2008 (% of respondents)

Purpose of Web Analytics in Organizations According to Web Analytics Users Worldwide*, OctoberDecember 2008 (% of respondents)

Usage of Predictive Analytics Among Search Marketers Worldwide, by Performance Level, SeptemberOctober 2008 (% of respondents)

Areas of Knowledge that Web Analytics Users Worldwide* Would Most Like to Improve, OctoberDecember 2008 (% of respondents)

Analytics Solutions Used by Web Analytics Users Worldwide*, OctoberDecember 2008 (% of respondents)

Search Analytics Programs Used Most by US Search Marketers, May 2007 & May 2008 (% of respondents)

Search Analytics Programs Used by Search Marketers Worldwide*, 2008 (% of respondents)

The Search Audience

Daily Online Activities of US Internet Users, AprilMay 2008 (% of respondents)

US Search Engine Users* and Search Ad Users**, 20072013 (millions)

US Search Engine Users* and Search Ad Users** as a Percent of Total Internet Users, 20072013

US Search Engine User* and Search Ad User** Growth, 20072013 (% change)

US Search Engine Marketing Spending per Search Engine User, 20082013

Growth of US Search Engine Marketing Spending per Search Engine User, 20082013 (% change)

Search Engine Usage

Search Queries per US Internet User, 20062011

Comparative Estimates: Top Five Search Engines in the US, Ranked by Share of Searches, December 2008

Search Advertising Spending by US Companies, by Search Engine, Q4 2007Q4 2008 (% share)

US Customer Satisfaction with Web Portals and Search Engines, Q2 2002Q2 2008 (based on a 100point scale*)

Reasons that US Internet Users Would Switch Search Engines, by Search Engine Used Most Frequently, November 2008 (% of respondents)

Conclusions

Endnotes

101258 | 101259 | 101260 | 101261 | 101262 | 101263

Key eMarketer NumbersSearch Marketing Trends

US Search Engine Marketing Spending, by Type, 20082013 (millions)

US Search Engine Marketing Spending Growth, by Type, 20082013 (% change)

US Search Engine Marketing Spending Share, by Type, 20082013 (% of total and millions)

US Search Engine Marketing Spending per Search Engine User, 20082013

Growth of US Search Engine Marketing Spending per Search Engine User, 20082013 (% change)

101321

Comparative Estimates: Top Five Search Engines in the US, Ranked by Share of Searches, December 2008

Related Information and Links

Related Links

Contact

Report Contributors

To order this report:

Search Marketing Trends: Back to Basics

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0128125/Search-Marketing-Trends-Back-to-Basics.html

The Nielsen Company reported their MegaView Search data for the top U.S. search providers for August 2009. Nielsen MegaView search data includes total searches, unique searchers, and search share, among other search figures.

The report ranked Local.com as the 10th largest search engine in the U.S. and the company’s month-over-month growth was 2.9 percent.

“Achieving this ranking by one of the world’s leading marketing and media information companies validates Local.com’s leadership position in this sector,” said Bruce Crair, Local.com president and COO. “Local.com serves over 20 million consumers each month with a valuable search experience that offers a quick, easy and efficient way to find and connect with local businesses, products and services.”

Local.com reached record traffic of 63 million monthly unique visitors (MUVs) on the Local.com site and network during the second quarter of 2009, up 5% from 60 million MUVs during the first quarter of 2009, and up 31% from 48 million MUVs during the second quarter of 2008. Organic traffic also reached an all-time high, exceeding 29 million monthly unique visitors on the Local.com site and network during the second quarter of 2009, up 61% from 18 million during the second quarter of 2008.

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions. The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit www.nielsen.com.

About Local.com®

Local.com (NASDAQ: LOCM) owns and operates a leading local search site and the largest private label, local search network in the United States. The company uses patented technologies to provide over 20 million consumers each month with the most relevant search results for local businesses, products and services on Local.com and over 700 regional media sites. Businesses can target ready-to-purchase consumers using a variety of advertising products. To advertise, or for more information visit: www.local.com.

Organic traffic includes all non-search engine marketing (SEM) sourced traffic. Except Nielsen reported data, all site traffic and usage statistics are from third-party service providers engaged by the company.

NEW YORK – MediaWhiz (www.mediawhiz.com), a leading performance-based online marketing company announced that it has been ranked by comScore as one of the nation’s largest ad network providers for July 2009. ComScore is considered the industry’s most respected and most commonly used online advertising measurement tool. The MediaWhiz suite of results-driven services serves more than 3,000 advertisers across dozens of verticals. The MediaWhiz network of online marketing partners leverages the power of over 500 top comScore online publishers to drive better returns for its clients marketing spend.

“We’re pleased that this significant national market ranking confirms the strides MediaWhiz has made in becoming a leading player in the online media buying landscape,” said Jonathan Shapiro, CEO of MediaWhiz. “The premium display media buying space is complex and our clients appreciate our strategic approach in which we help them engage their target audience more effectively and efficiently to drive better marketing results.”

About MediaWhiz

Founded in 2001, MediaWhiz, one of the pioneers of performance marketing, has grown steadily to become an industry leader in the online marketing space. MediaWhiz combines five primary results-driven services: Lead Generation, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Display Advertising, and Search Marketing into performance marketing programs that generate more high quality customers for its clients. More than 3,000 advertisers across dozens of verticals leverage the innovative solutions and online advertising expertise of MediaWhiz to improve their performance and ROI. The MediaWhiz advertising network consists of over 30,000 top online publishers, who leverage MediaWhiz to maximize the profitability of their Web traffic. MediaWhiz has approximately 140 employees between offices in New York (corporate headquarters) and Ft. Lauderdale.

In 2008, MediaWhiz was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America and, in 2007, two MediaWhiz executives were chosen as finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007® Awards. For additional information, please visit us at http://www.mediawhiz.com, or call 888-866-WHIZ.

NEW YORK – Search marketing is difficult and complex, but now there’s help from an unexpected source: The Clickable Search Engine Marketing Gurus. These evangelists make their debut after one year of undercover service, helping struggling marketers tackle real-world search problems in popular online communities and on the Official Clickable Blog. To commemorate their unveiling, Clickable released a free anthology of their teachings, and launched the Clickable Community Forums.

The Guru Book

The Guru’s Guide To Better Search Engine Marketing is an anthology of practical tips and best practices that demystifies search and helps marketers succeed. Just like Clickable’s award-winning products, the Guru’s Guide is simple and accessible to beginners, yet equally valuable for advanced search-marketing professionals. The electronic version of the Guru’s Guide is available for free from Clickable, and the hardcopy version is available from LuLu.com for $9.99 (Amazon and Kindle versions available August 2009). Bloggers and reporters interested in reviewing the book may request a complimentary hardcopy.

The Guide is the result of hundreds of good deeds the Gurus have carried out with the marketing community. Key sections include: defining search-marketing strategy; writing effective ad copy; managing keywords and placements; geo-targeting; managing quality scores, bids and budgets; and structuring your accounts. Clickable will update the Guru’s Guide periodically to evolve with the dynamic search industry.

The Clickable Forums

Along with the Guru’s Guide, Clickable launched the Clickable Community Forums, where search marketers can get help and connect with one another, as well as the Clickable Gurus and product team. The Forums are filled with valuable questions and answers on search-marketing best practices, Clickable products and customer-support programs. Best of all, anybody can become a member and take advantage. Clickable customers will find that the Forums integrate seamlessly with their product experience.

Become The Next Clickable Guru: Contest

Clickable also announced its first contest to identify the next Clickable Guru. To enter, search-marketing professionals must submit samples of their best articles. Possible topics include: original spin on search-industry news, tactics for optimizing campaigns, or tips on building better keyword lists. There are many benefits to participating in the Guru program, including a stipend and influence on Clickable, one of the most exciting online advertising startups. Visit the Clickable Forums Guru Discussion for more information.

About The Clickable Gurus

Clickable assembled the Gurus in order to give back to the search-marketing community, as well as gain frontline insights that help Clickable make better search-management tools. The inaugural team of Clickable Gurus includes talented search experts from both within and outside of Clickable: Andrew Bernero, Hanny Hindi, Trace Johnson, Ehren Reilly and Tony Soric.

The Clickable Gurus uphold nine core principles:

* Be a trusted advisor
* Engage authentically
* Maintain a steady rhythm of good deeds
* Help marketers at all skill levels
* Offer simple solutions and objective advice
* Use real, personal profiles
* Always disclose affiliation with Clickable
* Never shill, but welcome newcomers to Clickable when appropriate
* Channel learning to help improve Clickable

“Developing products that make advertising simple requires connecting with customers and building a reputation as a trusted advisor,” said David S. Kidder, co-founder and CEO of Clickable. “Clickable’s Search Marketing Guru program is a core component of living up to that ideal. The Gurus help us engage with the marketplace and incorporate insights and transparency into everything we do and build.”

About Clickable

Clickable is a platform that makes online advertising simple, instant and profitable. It empowers beginners through professionals to maximize their advertising investment – from the first dollar to the millionth and beyond. Clickable makes you more efficient, effective and confident. That’s why customers often say: “Clickable is like having a trusted advisor always by your side ensuring success.” To learn more, visit www.clickable.com.

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. – Advertise.com, a premier platform for search and display and CPA marketing, announced it has created eight new positions in response to increased demand for its current offerings, as well as anticipated demand for new services the company will shortly be rolling out. Advertise tapped both industry veterans and fresh talent in its latest expansion, reflecting the online ad industry’s continued strength despite softness in print, television and other advertising sectors. Advertise.com is a premier platform for search and display marketing that enables advertisers to reach a wider audience through an exclusive network of search engines and publisher properties.

Bucking a recent report from UCLA, which predicts continued sluggishness in California’s economy and rising unemployment rates, Advertise.com is growing to meet demand for its services and need for increased customer support. New hires will help Advertise.com manage its momentum after the company’s recent re-branding and launch at Ad:tech, San Francisco, and will provide support for new products in the CPA and Display Ad divisions. In addition to the Client Service Representatives, Advertise.com expanded its management team. New members include:

* Maricel Maling Dehne, CPA Operations Manager – Previously an Advertise.com Search Affiliate manager for more than two years, Maricel brings her extensive background in the CPA space and will lead CPA operations.
* Ulysses Davalos, Ad Operations Manager – Ulysses brings 10 years of experience as an Ad Operations Manager in the online space to Advertise.com and will take on the responsibility of managing the quickly expanding Display and Banner Division.
* Sheryl Madden, CPA Advertiser Account Manager – Sheryl will utilize her previous Account Manager experience to assist Maricel Maling Dehne in building out a unique high quality advertiser network.
* Dan Yates, Large Ad Agency Account Manager – Bringing his five years of advertising agency experience to Advertise.com, Dan will be responsible for managing the company’s growth and relationships with large ad agency clients.

“Given Advertise.com’s mission to serve as the destination location for a wide variety of online marketing solutions, we saw the economic situation as an ideal opportunity to get closer to our advertisers and publishers and introduce new services,” said Daniel Yomtobian, founder and CEO of Advertise.com. “We are excited about both our near and long term prospects, and strengthened our staff with great new hires to further support and address the needs of our customers.”

Advertise.com’s hiring push comes just two months after the launch of the Advertise.com name, which encompasses well-known brands such as ABCSearch, the largest privately held pay-per-click (PPC) search engine and a world leader in online cost-per-click (CPC) advertising and award-winning social search engine, Scour.com.

ABOUT ADVERTISE.COM

Advertise.com is a premier platform for search and display marketing that enables advertisers to reach a wider audience through our exclusive network of search engines and publisher properties. We have been leading the charge in online advertising since 2001, connecting thousands of advertisers with millions of consumers every day – now delivering more than 10 billion ad impressions each month. [1]

Offering a range of high-quality pay-per-click advertising, contextual targeting, and banner ad opportunities, Advertise.com is focused on providing the most effective, most affordable, and easiest-to-use search-and-display advertising platform in the industry.

[1] Advertise.com Metrics Impression Count, March 2009

Partnering alongside Google, Royal Mail, HSBC and the Institute of Export to offer the new ‘Export Box’ package, Search Laboratory will provide the mechanism for businesses to drive traffic to their website and find new customers worldwide.

Search Laboratory’s Managing Director, Ian Harris, says: “A slow domestic market, a weak pound and the availability of grants make this an ideal time for companies to start trading internationally”.

Export Box has been developed by Applied Language Solutions and has been designed as an easy, low cost, low risk introduction to exporting products and services.

Dan Cobley, marketing director, Google, said: “Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly as people turn to the web to find products and services at the best value, especially when times are tough. The fantastic thing about the web is that anyone with a computer and an internet connection can tap into a global market from day one, opening up new revenue streams for their businesses. Export Adviser and Export Box will hopefully give SMEs a big helping hand as they look to export for the first time.”

Search Laboratory’s expertise is in developing multilingual pay-per-click campaigns including search phrases and landing pages, to attract customers who speak other languages. This is not as simple as translating search words into another language, since local and cultural differences mean that potential customers searching the Internet will often use key words that differ from literal translations. A French person searching for car hire, for example, will use a range of phrases not typical in English.

“The best translated version of a top keyword for an English campaign may not be a good keyword in a French campaign,” says Ian Harris.

Search Laboratory has developed pay-per-click and search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns for a wide range of customers, including: Novell, Jet2, TSG and the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Yield Software (http://www.yieldsoftware.com) has announced the launch of the Yield Web Marketing Suite, introducing a simplified way to drive new internet traffic and revenues at a low overall cost. The company will be demonstrating its new cloud-based application at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, which opened March 31st and continued through April 3, 2009 at the Moscone West Convention Center.

The Yield Web Marketing Suite is built with small and mid-size businesses in mind, responding to a long-standing need to remove the inefficiencies inherent in managing comprehensive search marketing efforts. By combining and automating the three key elements of search marketing — paid search, natural search and landing page optimization — within a single, secure system, the Yield Web Marketing Suite enables novice to advanced marketers to work with the three major search engines — Google, Yahoo! Search and Microsoft’s Live Search — via a simple and user-friendly interface.

“Search marketing is the most effective way to attract new traffic and revenue, especially in such a tough economy when ad budgets are lean,” said Matt Malden, co-founder and CEO of Yield Software. “We spent more than two years building a system that works day and night to help our customers optimize all their search marketing programs so they don’t have to — making the whole process much more efficient.”

Search marketers — who can include small business owners, operational managers at growing companies, and dedicated marketing professionals — are concerned with getting their paid ads placed in the right position on search engine results pages at the right price. At the same time, they want to ensure their company ranks high in the natural (and therefore free) search results. In addition, they are concerned with ensuring clicks on each of those links lead to landing pages that convert prospects to paying customers. Each of these activities can be complex and time consuming, and often requires constant supervision in order to achieve success.

“Huge inefficiencies have emerged as the search marketing field evolved,” said Malden. “Because each of the major search marketing components have been treated as separate and distinct disciplines, and with the rise of three separate search engines claiming nearly 100% of the search advertising market, businesses have been forced to piece together a range of tools and third-party experts to address the totality of their Web marketing needs, none of which interoperate or play well together.”

The Yield Web Marketing Suite automates, simplifies and optimizes each of these Web marketing components within a single system. Features, which are fully integrated, include:

Paid Search

* Enables pay-per-click (PPC) campaign set-up for one, two or all three of the major search engines, including geo-targeting
* Determines, establishes and constantly optimizes keyword bids to meet targeted outcomes within budget constraints
* Optimizes bids and budget allocation based on traffic, conversion or conversion value

Natural Search

* Continually analyzes Web pages for conformance to search engine optimization (SEO) best practices
* Provides an easy-to-understand description of each best practice
* Provides clear instructions for addressing and resolving any areas of improvement

Customer Landing Pages

* Enables the creation of multivariate landing page experiments using a simple visual interface to dynamically test different versions of each page
* Provides easy step-by-step instruction for implementing experiments
* Automatically displays the most successful versions of a landing page more frequently, optimizing conversion rates over time

“I’ve been involved as a beta user of Yield Software and these guys have done a great job of making a hard problem seem easy,” said Dan Kaplan, principal at PeriscopeUp, a Web marketing consulting firm. “They make it easy to use and get started, even for people who have little experience in search engine marketing, and it gives me the flexibility, as a professional, to apply my knowledge on top of their optimization algorithms. It also saves me a ton of time.”

While marketing budgets overall are greatly diminished versus a year ago, search engine marketing (SEM) is expected to hold its own and may even show a slight increase in 2009, according to recent research released March 19, 2009 by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). SEMPO expects SEM spend to nearly double by 2013 from $13.5 billion in 2008 to $26.1 billion.

Yield Software is offering all new subscribers to its Web Marketing Suite a free 30-day trial. Because the system is a Web application, no downloads or systems integration work is required, and there are no contracts so subscribers are able to cancel their subscriptions at any time. Following the 30-day trial period, promotional pricing starts at $129 per month.

For more information or to subscribe to the free 30-day trial, visit www.yieldsoftware.com/web2.

About Yield Software, Inc.

Yield Software develops powerful technology that automates, simplifies and integrates key Web marketing elements. The Yield Web Marketing Suite is a secure, cloud-based system that relies on advanced algorithms and a simple, intuitive interface to optimize paid search, natural search, and landing pages for improved return on investment. www.yieldsoftware.com

- Lenco Mobile Inc. (LNCM.PK) Completes the Purchase of Online Marketing Assets from Superfly Advertising, Inc. (SPFL.PK)
Lenco Mobile Inc. announced that it had completed the previously announced purchase of the online advertising arm of Superfly Advertising Inc. (Pink Sheets: SPFL). Announcing the transaction, Michael Levinsohn, CEO of Lenco Mobile Inc., said that the newly acquired business would be rebranded under the Lenco name and housed in a wholly owned subsidiary of Lenco Mobile Inc., to be known as Lenco Media.
Less than a month ago, Lenco Mobile Inc. announced that it was to acquire the online arm of Superfly Advertising Inc. The transaction was subject to the renegotiation of certain financing arrangements with Superfly Advertising Inc. “The newly acquired business is strategic and complements our mobile marketing platforms,” said Levinsohn. Lenco Media will offer clients a full range of software and network infrastructure related to the operation and management of online affiliate advertising networks and online lead generation. The products offered by Lenco Media also include search marketing, list management and online brand building platforms which are used by advertisers to enhance their online marketing activities.

* Wednesday, February 25 at 1:00 p.m. ET at the Jefferies 5th Internet and Media Conference;
* Thursday, February 26 at 11:40 a.m. PT at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference; and
* Tuesday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. PT at the Morgan Stanley 2009 Technology Conference.

Presentation materials and webcast links to the presentations will be available on the Investor Relations section of www.valueclick.com.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and email technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, Smarter.com, CouponMountain.com, and PriceRunner. For more information, please visit www.valueclick.com.

DALLAS – On February 19, 2009, Christine Churchill and Shelley Ellis will be speaking to the members of the search marketing community of North Texas at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas starting at 6:30 p.m.

Titled “Keyword Research – For Beginners to Experts” this 90 minute presentation will review the tools, tips and strategies for keyword usage within search marketing, online advertising and traditional media.

“Keyword research is not only an integral part of search marketing, it also has ramifications in other forms of marketing – both online and offline,” said Tony Wright, president of the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association. “Christine and Rhonda have put together an in-depth review of keyword research that will appeal to novices and experts alike.”

Christine Churchill is the President of KeyRelevance, a recognized expert in the field of Search Engine Marketing. She is a strong advocate for ethical search engine marketing, and was a member of the founding Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). A frequent speaker at industry events and a prolific writer on search marketing, Christine currently serves as the Chairman of the Dallas-Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM).

Shelley Ellis is the owner of Shelley Ellis Consulting and is at the forefront of exploring the vast potential of using Google’s content network for tapping into online conversations to increase sales and boost profits for companies of any size. With over nine years of paid search experience across a variety of industries, Shelley is a pioneer and a recognized expert in advanced content targeting strategies. Shelley also serves on the board of the Dallas-Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM).

“As demand increases in 2009 for search marketing, keyword research will be at the forefront of every company’s marketing campaign,” says Tony Wright. “These two speakers are recognized experts in this field and bring a perspective on how to apply keyword research not only to search marketing, but to all forms of advertising and marketing,” adds Mr. Wright.

Cost for the meeting is $30 for non-DFWSEM members and $10 for DFWSEM members. Registration for both members and non-members can be made at http://dfwsem.memberlodge.org/. Corporate and individual memberships are also available there.

About the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM)

The Dallas-Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Organization (DFWSEM) is dedicated to education and promotion of the Dallas-Fort Worth search engine marketing industry, conversing various topics related to search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click search (PPC), as well as other emerging media. The group meets monthly at the Renaissance Hotel in Richardson, Texas, and is open to anyone interested in search engine marketing, including in-house marketers, independent consultants, and agencies.

Initially founded in 2003, DFWSEM is the oldest and longest running local search engine marketing group/meetup in the country. Member agencies include DexterityMedia, Vizion Interactive, iCrossing, Range Online Media, Key Relevance, MarketNet, AffGoo, Creative Support, Did-it, SearchDex, WrightIMC, and Bridgepose. For more information, visit http://www.dfwsem.org.

DFWSEM is sponsored by Lead Maverick (http://www.leadmaverick.com).

Sponsoring DFWSEM

DFWSEM Association members cumulatively represent over $100,000,000 in annual search engine ad spend, and sponsorship is a great way to get your message in front of this group of decision makers and key influencers. To find out how to sponsor a monthly meeting or other opportunity, contact Tony Wright at tony.wright@wrightimc.com.

DFWSEM Speakers Bureau

Many members of DFWSEM are actively speaking at various interactive marketing conferences, including SMX, Search Engine Strategies, ad:tech, and WebmasterWorld, among many others. If you are looking for someone to speak about search engine marketing related topics, or would like to interview a member, feel free to contact the group for more information at 214.210.6793.

The DFWSEM Association welcomes requests to speak to the group at info@dfwsem.org.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) announced it has added three new publishers to its premium health and wellness online advertising network, including eMedTV, HealthCastle.com and Hearthstone Communications.

The new publishers join an elite group that already includes Britannica Health, HealthGrades, Healthy.net, Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, OrganizedWisdom.com, Wrong Diagnosis and more than 50 other high quality health and wellness information sites. Collectively, sites in the AdRx Media network have a potential reach of more than 21 million unique visitors per month (comScore Media Metrix, December 2008), making it one of the largest advertising supported health entities online.

eMedTV (www.emedtv.com) features tens of thousands of articles and videos designed to educate patients about health topics and healthy living. HealthCastle.com is the largest online nutrition community run by Registered Dietitians. Hearthstone Communications operates several sites focused primarily on women’s health issues, including Pregnancy-Info (www.pregnancy-info.net), Fibromyalgia Symptoms (www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org) and GYNOB.com.

“As we continue to expand the AdRx Media network, these premium publishers add to our potential reach and the ability to more narrowly align advertisers with the content they want to be associated with,” said Denise Zaraya, director, AdRx Media. “Their vast experience and expertise within the health community, their commitment to excellence, and their high volume of quality traffic are aligned with our vision to create the leading premium health and wellness ad network.”

About AdRx Media

AdRx Media is the largest premium vertical online advertising network of its kind, specialized in providing health and wellness advertisers with a way to connect with consumers while they are engaged in seeking information about health related issues on targeted sites beyond the largest health properties. AdRx Media aggregates condition-specific inventory across the Internet’s top health and wellness publishers, which collectively reach more than 21 million consumers per month, giving advertisers the ability to reach all of their health targets in one single, transparent buy. AdRx Media is a product of the ValueClick Media division of ValueClick, Inc.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and e-mail technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner and Smarter.com. For more information, visit www.valueclick.com.

NEW YORK – Ai Media Group, the innovative search marketing firm based in New York, announces the addition of its new CEO, Andy Fenster. Mr. Fenster’s experience in the marketing and advertising industry includes his previous employment as Vice President and Controller of Big Flower Holdings, a $2.5 billion dollar advertising and marketing services company based in New York.

Mr. Fenster also spent 12 years at The New York Times Company serving in executive financial positions, including Corporate Executive Director and Assistant Corporate Controller. He also formerly served as a Senior Manager at Deloitte & Touche. He received an MBA from Rutgers and a BA from Hamilton College.

“We are thrilled that Andy has joined us to help meet the increased demand for the proven solutions that Ai Media Group provides to agencies and clients,” says Sergio Alvarez, Chief Operating Officer of Ai Media Group. “Andy will bring his in-depth knowledge and experience in finance and accounting to our organization and greatly assist in building strategic relationships as we continue to move forward.”

“I am looking forward to working with the team at Ai and adding my skills in the financial arena to our formidable team. As we enter 2009, Ai is well positioned to generate continued growth and offer better advertising solutions, despite a challenging economic environment,” said Mr. Fenster.

This recent growth can be traced in part to Ai Media Group’s cutting-edge search engine marketing services, which have been advanced by its strong working relationship with Google. Google offers a specialized team to support Ai Media Group accounts and enhances Ai Media Group’s unique proprietary platform.

About Ai Media Group:

The exemplary skills of Ai Media Group professionals have been at the forefront of search marketing, from digital advertising to Yahoo Yellow Pages, to bridging the gap into algorithmic search. Ai Media Group professionals have a proven record of providing measurable results to thousands of advertisers. The company’s mission is to educate the marketplace on the newest offerings and to act as consultants in order to enhance business decisions with strategic business intelligence. Ai Media Group’s entire staff is well-versed on all aspects of search and is comprised of the industry’s most knowledgeable and experienced specialists. For more information, visit http://aimediagroup.com/.

LONDON – SES London, the leading global search marketing conference series announced today that a unique roundtable session will open proceedings on day two of the conference.

Brett Tabke, founder of WebmasterWorld, Rand Fishkin, founder of SEOmoz.com, Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land, Jill Whalen, founder of HighRankings.com and Kevin Ryan, Chairman of the Search Engine Strategies Board of Advisors will, for the first time, join together for the Keynote Orion Panel, SEO, Where to Next?!, a special strategy session moderated by SES host, Mike Grehan, Global KDM Office at Acronym Media.

The all star line-up has collectively been responsible for generating £billions of business for some of the world’s most recognised brands through expert consultancy and creative digital marketing solutions. The Orion Panel on 18th February will enable members of the audience to share issues and problems faced by their own businesses with practical advice provided by the best and most respected minds in search on how SEO will develop this year. It’s a not to be missed session for any businesses looking to build an effective marketing plan to maintain stability and growth through a tough year ahead.

Each member of the panel has been monitoring the flow of conversation in the SEO world for up to ten years and has heard opinions on everything from Black hat/White hat SEO, dynamic delivery, Flash, Google index updates and universal search.

Matt McGowan, Publisher of the conference series in addition to its sister sites ClickZ and Search Engine Watch said:

“This panel has been brought together for the first time to give delegates the unique opportunity to seek business advice from the world’s most experienced experts in digital marketing. The key questions on everyone’s lips this year will undoubtedly be “where is SEO going? How will the market develop? And how can developments in SEO help my business?” The expert panel will discuss these issues, then throw the session over to the audience to help individual cases with valuable and practical advice for their business.”

SES London is Europe’s leading event for education in online marketing and advertising, including Search (SEM/SEO). Marketers, consultants and industry leaders from the world’s leading businesses gather to review the very latest search engine marketing and optimization techniques.

With more than 50 sessions and 60 expert speakers covering hundreds of topics on how Search Engine Marketing can grow your business, SES London is the definitive opportunity for delegates to learn most everything they need to know to help them maximize their business’s return on search engine marketing and optimization. SES attracts the recognised leaders in search marketing providing the largest forum for delegates to communicate and network with expert practitioners.

SES London will feature a number of sessions designed to help marketers maximize success in a Web 2.0. Intermediate workshops and panel debates consider applications such as video, podcasts and blogs while more advanced marketers can attend sessions on search advertising tools and advanced paid search tactics.

With all sessions uniquely ranked according to content and degree of understanding, SES London is a crucial event for beginners as well as experienced search marketers who return year after year to keep up to-date with new innovations.

The conference will be hosted by SEM expert Mike Grehan.

SES London will be held on 17-19 February 2009 at the Business Design Centre in Islington. See www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/london.

For more information about Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo Conference & Expo, the premier event for search engine marketing and optimization 2009 visit http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/london.

About SES

Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, LegalTech, Post, Real Estate Forum, Risk, Search Engine Strategies and The American Lawyer. For more information, visit http://www.incisivemedia.com.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – ValueClick, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: VCLK) technology division, Mediaplex, today announced the release of its Dynamic Behavioral Targeting suite, which was developed to eliminate wasteful marketing spend and enable advertisers to cost-effectively achieve true one-to-one messaging. This solution enables clients to determine exactly who they want to target based on previous behavior and then deliver the most relevant message to those individuals immediately. The suite also includes dynamic optimization, dynamic rich media creative, and reporting to further improve the performance of client marketing programs.

A prominent application of dynamic behavioral targeting occurs when advertisers need to tie in available product inventory with current promotions. The synchronization between offers and available inventory allows advertisers to react immediately with the best offer to ensure opportunities aren’t wasted and maximum revenue potential is realized.

“Our clients understand the value of one-to-one messaging for developing deeper relationships and creating customer loyalty, but are increasingly challenged because these programs can be time-intensive and cost-prohibitive,” said Ann Hoey, general manager of Mediaplex. “Our dynamic behavioral targeting suite empowers clients with the tools they need to achieve tailored messaging while eliminating wasteful marketing spend.”

“Through the application of Mediaplex’s dynamic messaging technology we are able to ensure our clients that the pricing in their advertisements is always accurate and inventory they are promoting is always available,” said Irene Zalami, Account Director of Web Liquid. “The latest enhancements to dynamic messaging will go a long way toward guaranteeing a positive user experience as well as allowing us to deliver high conversion rates.”

Mediaplex’s Dynamic Behavioral Targeting Suite includes:

Dynamic Behavioral Targeting – Enables advertisers to differentiate and segment qualified customers from prospects based on their prior activity, and serve the most appropriate message using dynamic, real-time creative. This means advertisers can truly deliver the most relevant offer at the right time, in real time.

Dynamic Optimization – Allows marketers to define their own optimization criteria and then measure and evaluate the performance of the dynamic creative to automatically serve the best performing creative. This saves advertisers’ valuable impressions and effectively reduces overall waste in marketing spend.

Dynamic Rich Media Creative – In addition to taking in data from external sources and changing standard banner advertisements immediately based on those data, Mediaplex’s offering allows advertisers to serve up personalized, relevant communications inside any rich media advertisement as well.

Dynamic Reporting – Mediaplex reports provide granular insights into the performance of each individual creative offer. This level of reporting detail gives advertisers ROI metrics down to each individual offer, giving the advertiser the right level of data insights they need to make informed decisions regarding best performing creatives and offers.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and email technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner and Smarter.com. For more information, visit www.valueclick.com.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – ValueClick Media, a division of ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK), announced several enhancements to its Precision Retargeting™ product and the availability of a white paper entitled “Improving Performance with Retargeting,” which can be downloaded at www.valueclickmedia.com.

Precision Retargeting™ is a core component of ValueClick Media’s Precision BT™ suite, which launched in July of this year. Precision Retargeting™ offers the ability to anonymously re-engage specific audiences based on their prior interest or interaction with a marketer’s brand.

Compared to other providers, ValueClick Media’s behavioral targeting suite stands out, in that it offers all of the following retargeting features:

* Recency – Allows the ability to control the timeframe in which consumers are retargeted, based on how recently they were exposed to an ad or took a particular action on an advertiser’s site. For example, a hotel chain that has identified bookings drop off significantly after three days of first visiting the site can retarget only consumers who have been there within the past three days.
* Frequency – Allows the ability to retarget consumers based on the number of times they visited an advertiser’s site or interacted with a marketer’s message. For example, an electronics retailer may infer that consumers who visited the television section of its site more than five times are nearing a purchase decision and can tailor messages only to those individuals.
* Exclusion – Allows the ability to exclude a specific group from being retargeted with additional advertising. For example, a department store running a campaign for men’s clothing can avoid retargeting visitors to the women’s section of its site. Or a credit card company can exclude individuals who have already completed an application.
* Personalization – Allows the ability to dynamically customize creative messages based on a wide range of information known about each visitor. For example, visitors to an automotive site could be shown an ad containing a picture of the exact vehicle they expressed interested in. Combined with geo-targeting, the creative could also include the name and location of the nearest dealer.
* Seamless integration with third-party ad serving – Allows the ability to retarget visitors who have searched or clicked on media delivered outside of the ValueClick Media network. For example, visitors who clicked on a search link but did not purchase within two days could be retargeted by ValueClick Media.

“These features add a new dimension to retargeting that will provide sophisticated marketers with more flexibility and more ways to achieve maximum performance from their online advertising investments,” said Bill Todd, general manager of ValueClick Media. “They also represent the ongoing investment in our Precision BT suite and another example of how our use of data and technology differentiates ValueClick Media from other ad networks.”

In tandem with the announcement of its new retargeting features, ValueClick Media has published a white paper entitled “Improving Performance with Retargeting.” Available at www.valueclickmedia.com, the paper provides a comprehensive guide to the critical success factors and specific types of retargeting, supported by both aggregated data and specific examples of advertisers who have been successful using retargeting on the ValueClick Media network.

Precision Retargeting™ is one of two products available in ValueClick Media’s Precision BT™ suite and is used to present highly relevant ads to consumers who have previously demonstrated interest by visiting or taking action on a marketer’s site when they later visit any of the 13,500 sites in the ValueClick Media network. ValueClick Media’s pioneering behavioral product, Precision Profiles™, was announced in July and leverages ValueClick Media’s access to a critical mass of online behavior to provide the newest and most sophisticated form of predictive behavioral targeting available today.

About ValueClick Media

Over the past ten years, ValueClick Media has helped thousands of marketers build awareness, generate leads and drive sales. Clients benefit from access to ValueClick Media’s scalable, data-driven global network platform and access to the industry’s newest behavioral targeting technology. With access to 80 percent of the U.S. Internet audience through its display advertising, video, e-mail, lead generation and search channels, ValueClick Media partners with its clients to accomplish any brand or performance-based online advertising objective.

About ValueClick, Inc.

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and e-mail technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner and Smarter.com. For more information, visit www.valueclick.com.

LONDON – Greenlight’s brand defense platform, SearchSentry™, has been highly commended at the inaugural E-consultancy Innovation Awards 2008. The product was entered into the Innovation in Paid Search and PPC category.

Specialist search marketing agency Greenlight developed SearchSentry™ in May 2008 in response to Google’s decision to allow UK and Ireland advertisers to bid on trademarked keywords. The platform works to protect brands online by monitoring competitor and affiliate activity by providing brand managers with detailed information on who is bidding on their brands. It then mines the data collected so that a plan of action can be drawn up to help brand managers defend and control their brand.

This most recent success is the latest in a string of awards for the agency. Last month, Greenlight was ranked 14th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50, which lists the fastest growing technology companies in the UK. In addition, Greenlight came 21st in The Sunday Times Technology Track 100 2008 and came 88th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA.

Greenlight works with over 50 of the UK’s leading brands, providing specialist SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (Pay Per Click) services, for the likes of Asda Walmart, Lastminute.com and Alliance & Leicester. Recent wins include NatMags and ghd.

Warren Cowan, CEO and founder of Greenlight said: “SearchSentry™ has been an incredibly successful tool. All of Greenlight’s technologies are developed in-house and we are really proud to add this one to our growing portfolio. It is great to be recognized in this way, especially when it is by a well regarded digital resource like E-consultancy.”

About Greenlight

Greenlight is an award winning, specialist search engine marketing agency providing targeted and accountable organic and paid search solutions. The agency has helped numerous companies to succeed in search marketing over the years by improving its clients’ positioning and website visibility in the top search engines, and driving traffic to their websites.

Greenlight provides a full range of search marketing services from offices in London and New York, including search engine optimisation, pay per click management, link building, consultancy and SEM training.

Clients include FTSE, NASDAQ and NYSE listed companies as well as charitable organisations and government bodies. Greenlight works with SMEs, global brands and top interactive agencies across vertical markets as diverse as publishing, financial services, retail, travel, hospitality, property and entertainment.

LONDON – Incisive Media announced the agenda for the Search Engine Strategies London 2009 Conference & Expo, the premier UK event for search engine marketing and optimization. To view the agenda, visit www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/London.

SES London will be held on 17-19 February 2009 at the Business Design Centre in Islington.

The SEM and SEO conference is being organized by Kevin Ryan, recognized globally as a leading authority on search engine marketing, and hosted by SEM expert Mike Grehan. All sessions are uniquely ranked according to content and degree of understanding, which is why SES London is recognized as a crucial event for beginners as well as experienced search marketers.

With businesses facing difficult challenges and having to make tough decisions in the current economic climate, SES London 2009 has developed a programme designed to help search engine marketing decision makers maximize their search engine marketing and optimization projects. In addition to the popular and must-have sessions covering online marketing, the agenda has been devised to help businesses explore, understand and consider new marketing opportunities. Intermediate workshops and panel debates with leading experts will consider a range of applications, including:

* Online video. As more people are watching, sharing, and finding online videos, this session will provide tips on how to navigate the new wave of online video.
* Mobile search. This session will enable search industry professionals to understand opportunities in mobile search.
* Blogs and feeds. Attendees will learn more about the unique advantages blogs and feeds offer to search engine optimization.
* International search marketing. Eastern and Western companies are pushing out internationally, but does anyone really understand the marketplace? Leading experts will discuss the marketplace and the impact it is having on the world.

The full agenda can be seen at www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/London/agenda.html.

Kevin Ryan, Chairman of the Search Engine Strategies Board of Advisors, said, “Businesses must not lose sight of the importance of online marketing. It’s highly targeted and accountable with scope for tremendous return on investment. We have developed a programme for London which not only advises on the fundamental levels of search marketing but also helps attendees understand the applications made possible through Web 2.0. We have selected leading experts to help delegates make informed and considered decisions about the future of their business marketing strategy.”

Register early and save money. For more information about Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo 2009, visit http://www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/London

For sponsorship and exhibition information, please call Chris Lucas at +44(0)20-7316-9609 or +44(0)7834-849-957. Outside of Europe please call Matt McGowan at +1 (212) 925 6990.

About Search Engine Strategies

Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include commercial real estate, financial services, legal services, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Real Estate Forum, Search Engine Strategies and The American Lawyer. For more information, visit www.IncisiveMedia.com.

NEW YORK – Search Engine Strategies (SES), the leading digital marketing conference series geared toward search engine marketing (SEM) and optimization (SEO), announces that Kevin Ryan, chairman of the SES Advisory Board will bring his principled approach and insights in online marketing to ad:tech New York, an interactive marketing conference, taking place this week. The panel, “Search Marketing Tactics and Strategies: Best Practices Across Current and Emerging Digital Search Platforms,” will profile some of the most useful online advertising marketing tactics and best practices across current and emerging digital platforms.

Conference coordinators from the SES advertising marketing conference are preparing for the Midwest’s only search marketing conference and expo, taking place at the Chicago Hilton on December 8-11, 2008. SES Chicago (http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/chicago) will feature an intriguing lineup of sessions and new content covering search marketing, interactive advertising, social media and the best kept secrets in search. Led by the industry’s most notable visionaries, SES Chicago draws thousands of marketers each year, and boasts a 98 percent satisfaction rate from attendees.

This year, SES Chicago offers up-to-the-minute, practical information in over 60 sessions that marketers can use immediately to grow their businesses through search marketing and interactive advertising. Additionally, the interactive advertising conference is followed by a full-day of search engine training sessions. These thorough workshops take place in a small classroom setting, giving attendees the opportunity to work closely with instructors, who provide the practices, applications, and hands-on exposure needed to become – and remain – a top performer in the field.

SES Chicago attendees who stay one day or the entire week will walk away with the knowledge and skills needed to be a successful search engine marketer, and will enhance their professional know-how by keeping their marketing acumen up-to-date with the latest developments in search engine marketing and optimization.

For information on SES Chicago or to view the 2008 Chicago conference schedule, see http://searchenginestrategies.com/chicago.

About SES

Search Engine Strategies (SES) is the leading global conference series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEM). SES, ClickZ, Search Engine Watch, and their associated conference series ClickZ Events are part of the Interactive group of Incisive Media.

About Incisive Media

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include commercial real estate, financial services, legal services, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Real Estate Forum and The American Lawyer, in addition to ClickZ, Search Engine Watch and their associated conference series. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

At 4:30 p.m. ET, chief executive officer Tom Vadnais and chief financial officer John Pitstick will host a conference call and Webcast to discuss the Company’s results.

Analysts and institutional investors may obtain the conference call dial-in information through StreetEvents (www.streetevents.com) or through ValueClick’s Investor Relations department at 818-575-4677. The live Webcast of the conference call will be available on the Investor Relations section of www.valueclick.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available through November 5 at 888-203-1112 and 719-457-0820 (pass code: 7487512). An archive of the Webcast will also be available through November 5.

About ValueClick

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) is one of the world’s largest online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and robust revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and e-mail technology, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, PriceRunner and Smarter.com. For more information, visit www.valueclick.com.

INDIANAPOLIS – ExactTarget, a leading provider of on-demand email marketing solutions, and MarketingSherpa, a marketing research organization dedicated to researching what works in marketing, jointly announce today the launch of the Email Marketing Intelligence Webinar Series, an eight-part, complimentary event designed to provide email marketers with actionable insights from MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide. The webinars will analyze and interpret research on a wide variety of email marketing topics including budgeting, segmentation, tactics, conversion, delivery and open rates.

“We are proud to partner with MarketingSherpa and its experts who represent some of the digital marketing industry’s brightest minds,” said Tim Kopp, chief marketing officer for ExactTarget. “Given the current economic conditions, companies are looking to increase their email marketing ROI, and this webinar series will provide actionable intelligence that marketers can use immediately to optimize their email programs.”

“Our research tells us that marketers are seeking cost efficient ways to maximize impact and build relationships in what is likely to be a difficult stretch in the global economy,” says Stefan Tornquist, MarketingSherpa’s Research Director. “We are happy to be able to offer our research-based insights in the hopes that attendees to these webinars can leave with practical ways to improve their e-mails’ effectiveness responsibly and efficiently.”

During each webinar, thought leaders from MarketingSherpa and ExactTarget will offer insight derived from the 2009 Email Benchmark Guide and invite live participation from attendees. The webinars will also be archived and available online to provide marketers with on-demand replays at their convenience.

Some of the topics addressed in the webinars include:

- Top 5 Takeaways from MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Email Benchmark Guide
- Making the Sale: Response and Conversion
- Building Relationships Through the Holidays
- Email Testing and Analytics
- Design and Rendering
- Deliverability
- International Email

In addition, all webinar attendees will receive a $100 discount on the purchase of MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide and a $400 discount to attend MarketingSherpa’s Email Summit in March 2009.

The Email Marketing Intelligence Webinar Series kicks off on Thursday, November 6, 2008, with the last one scheduled for February 19, 2009. Webinars will start at 2 p.m. EST/11 a.m. PST.

For more information or to sign up to attend the webinar, please visit: www.emailintel.com.

About ExactTarget:

ExactTarget, Inc. is a leading provider of on-demand email marketing software solutions. The company’s suite of on-demand one-to-one marketing applications enable clients to send business-critical and event triggered communications to increase sales, optimize marketing investments and strengthen customer relationships. ExactTarget offers four editions of its on-demand software application along with integrated solutions such as ExactTarget for AppExchange and ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. ExactTarget offers a range of optimization services including support, implementation and training, integration, deliverability, account management, design and deployment and strategic consulting. ExactTarget’s software powers permission-based email communications for thousands of organizations including CareerBuilder.com, Expedia.com, Florida Power & Light, Gannett Co., Inc/USA TODAY, the Indianapolis Colts, The Home Depot, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Liberty Mutual Group, Papa John’s and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, please visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.

About MarketingSherpa, Inc:

Headquartered in Warren, R.I., MarketingSherpa (marketingsherpa.com) is a research firm publishing practical Case Studies and benchmark guides for its 237,000 weekly readers in the marketing profession. Topics covered include practical how-to and exclusive data and proven tactics in business-to-business marketing, ecommerce marketing, email marketing, search marketing, telemarketing, media relations, landing page design, marketing measurement and online subscription marketing. The firm also operates three annual Summits attended by thousands of marketers. Founded in March 2000, the firm has been a member of the MECLABS family of research firms since November 2006.

ATLANTA – U.S. search marketing spend showed strong growth in the third quarter of 2008, up almost 27% compared with Q3 2007. The findings come from a new quarterly study released today from SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search management and auction campaign optimization technology managing more than $350 million in paid search annually.

Spend from existing search marketing advertisers (“Same Advertiser Spend”) is up year-over-year (“YoY”) in Q3 across all engines by 26.9% in the U.S., a slight increase from the YoY growth seen in Q3 2007 over Q3 2006. Quarter-over-quarter spend growth was also strong and consistent with Q2 vs. Q3 2007.

The report revealed other notable findings on the current state of the search landscape:

* Volatile Quarter for Retail Spend: Retailers increased their search spend over Q3 2007, up 1.5% year-over-year, but intra-quarter figures show that retail search spend is declining. Q3 also saw a slight uptick in conversion rates, although average order value (“AOV”) is on the decline.
* Search Engine Market Share: Google continued to increase its dominance in the search market rising to over 72% of search ad dollars. Yahoo! lost slight market share in Q3, but is up several points from Q3 2007.

“Paid search spend continued to hold strong in Q3, despite the economic climate,” said Roger Barnette, President of SearchIgnite. “The strength of this ad market in today’s economy suggests that paid search continues to be a highly profitable and efficient digital marketing channel for brands.”

This report, the latest in a series of quarterly SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search Google, Yahoo!, and MSN from January 1, 2006 through September 30, 2008 across more than 500 marketers, all of whom are clients of SearchIgnite directly or via its sister company 360i.

Previous SearchIgnite reports can be found at: http://www.searchignite.com/about_research.aspx.

About SearchIgnite

SearchIgnite is a powerful search management and auction campaign optimization technology that simplifies large cross-engine search campaigns, providing marketers and advertising agencies with one central platform for managing, optimizing and tracking complex keyword portfolios in real time. Marketers who use SearchIgnite have full transparency and control over their campaigns with flexible bid management capabilities including manual bidding, rules-based bidding and portfolio optimization. Leading marketers and agencies depend on SearchIgnite to simplify and maximize the performance of their paid search campaigns. SearchIgnite is part of Innovation Interactive, a digital marketing services company. For more information, please visit http://www.searchignite.com/.