Google to sell blogads?. What is Google doing with Blogger. Dow Jones says "Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch online newsletter, said one possibility is for Google to post small ads related to the themes of specific Weblogs that use the Blogger software. For example, Google might display travel-related links from advertisers that wanted to reach Web surfers visiting a travel blog... [Blogads.org -- where money meets the blog]

 

This angle makes economic sense to me. Google didn't buy Blogger for the current revenue!

J:L

Overture Acquires Alta Vista

Overture Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:OVER), the world's leading provider of Pay-For-Performance search to Web sites across the Internet, and AltaVista Company, a pioneer in Web search technology, and a majority owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq:CMGI), today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which Overture will acquire AltaVista's business for $140 million in cash and stock.

Oh, what a dance this is becoming. Any bets on when Overture will enter the blogging arena?

J:L

Google + Blogger = Mainstream Weblog Acceptance? [Online Journalism Review]

Bloggers reactive positively.

Red Herring Founder Unveils 'Super-Blog' for Business Geeks [Fortune]

AlwaysOn, Anthony Perkins' latest venture, aims to completely rethink technology and business publishing. There are three categories of bloggers on the site: ordinary members, who after two weeks already number 5,500; about 100 volunteer "correspondents;" and industry celebrities, who Perkins will interview periodically. (Doerr’s screed against expensing stock options elicited 15 posts, mostly disagreeing with him.)

Google Goes Blog-Crazy [Fortune]

As Internet trends go, the practice of publishing Web logs, or "blogs" for short, has followed the usual trajectory. In 1993 having an e-mail address was edgy, but by 1995 it was fairly common. So it has been with blogs, which started to really enter the cultural consciousness last year. <more of Forbes article>

J:L comment:

In terms of marketing communications, blogs are where email was in 1995-96 with two notable exceptions:

1) In the mid-90's very few companies had embraced the Internet and only the very early adapters like Sun, Dell and IDG Communications were effectively using responsible email as a marketing communications medium. Today, it is a rare exception for a company to have an active web site less than 3-years old.

2) Spam was already an issue when the first fully permissioned email marketing started being distributed...and the spam issue has only grown. The nature of blogs and blog-thinking is a counter to spam. Blogs transfer the balance of power to the viewer and, while I am sure that someone will invent "blog-spam," the audience has the power to easily reject and cause the blog-spam to fall on deaf ears.

Business blogging is just getting started and promises huge benefits to businesses that enable their thought-leaders and knowledge-workers to speak in a blog voice and communicate at the speed-of-blog.

Google has raised the bar on blogging with the purchase of Pyra. Here come the B-blogs, business-blogs, knowledge blogs, k-logs, event blogs....are you blogging yet?

John Lawlor - Boca Raton, FL 2003-Feb-18

MediaPost: CNET Networks Re-launches ZDNet

CNET has announced the re-launch of its ZDNet website with an eye toward being a relationship portal for buyers and sellers of IT products than its previous information centric incarnation.

[MarketingFix]

Google continues its push into the content business with the purchase of Pyra Labs' Blogger.com 'push-button' Web publishing platform. [internetnews.com: Internet Advertising Report]

Keyphrases (those phrases that potential customers are using to find products or services on search engines) are the building block of any search engine marketing strategy. It is essential that they are chosen carefully, or else the remainder of the campaign, no matter how effective the implementation, will likely be in vain. [Search Engine Guide]