January 25, 2007

From the SEW Blog:

• Brand Advertisers Not Warming Up to Google
  It seems many brand advertisers are not happy with Google's attempts to appease them. Google's overtures to brand advertisers are being resisted by Madison Avenue brands for a simple reason: Google insists on trafficking and reporting all the ads itself.
• Google Video Searches Integrate YouTube Content
  Since closing its acquisition of YouTube in November, Google has not done much to integrate or lay out its plan to differentiate Google Video and YouTube. That changed today, when Google started showing YouTube video results in the Google Video search index.
• SEMPO Grows Up
  Where early days were marred with infighting and criticism, and recent years have been marked by growth, SEMPO in 2007 is looking forward to a year of growth and stabilization.
• The Blogosphere Sounds Off on Hyper-Local
  The Web has commoditized national news. The only way to differentiate it is to have a specific angle of coverage at which you excel, unique voices that demand a premium, or to leverage a position that can't be replicated by aggregators: local.
• Microsoft Selling Ads on Live Online
  Microsoft is touting its Live Online ads with some interesting marketing-speak: "Would you be interested in being one of the first-ever advertisers on one of the world's largest Web sites? And reaching an elusive, affluent audience?"
• AdSense Launches Ad Placement
  Publishers can allow advertisers to select channels inside their sites and get more specific in their selection of pages.

Headlines & News from Elsewhere:

• Why Convergence Is Inevitable, ClickZ
• Google AdSense Tests New Features, Search Engine Land
• Not All Traffic Is Created Equal, Publishing 2.0
• Writing Search Engine Friendly Titles, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Lowdown on Web Designers and SEO, Online Marketing Blog
• Industry Moves: AOL Appoints Ted Cahall As Platforms Head, paidContent
• Branded Content and Targeting Your Social Media Marketing Initiatives, Search Engine Journal
• Forrester Creates a Model to Measure Blogging ROI, Micropersuasion
• Paid Links That Are Truly Undetectable, SEOmoz