Digital

• Digital

  Holiday Search Means Front-Loaded Spending: Performics

  For going on two years now, Performics, the search marketing agency owned by DoubleClick, has been reporting a quarterly index of what it calls the Performics 50, a basket of 50 actively managed client search marketing accounts from a range of industries. It’s an interesting and revealing look at the true cost involved in search marketing, and the latest report, covering the final quarter of 2006, finds that those costs grew rapidly in the run-up to the last holiday shopping season—substantially ahead of any corresponding increase in sales.

• Digital

  Users Open Up to Pandora’s Music Search

  Sometimes, search runs the risk of taking itself much too seriously. If you yearn to put some glide back into your online stride, it might be time to turn to Pandora, a music search site that basically wants to be your college roommate.

• Digital

  Martha Stewart Relaunches Web Site

  Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. unveiled a new flagship Web site. The new outlet offers content from several of the company’s magazines, as well as her television show. It also features a revamped search figure.

• Digital

  Going Mobile: Zannel.com Takes Entertainment Video on the Go

  Viral entertainment network Zannel.com is taking the “Hammer & Coop” video series to mobile phones in the Menlo Park, CA-based company’s first consumer branded content deal.

• Digital

  Direct Pet Inks Cross Promotion Deal with VetLocator.com

  Direct Pet Health Holdings Inc. has signed a cross promotion agreement with VetLocator.com to share marketing lists and coordinate advertising and Web site traffic.

• Digital

  AOL Makes Users Targetable with Google Ads

  AOL and Google will announce today a deal to let advertisers place Google AdWords pay-per-click ads only on the AOL network.

• Digital

  Google Tests Voice-Recognition Phone Directory

  Search engine Google announced Friday that it was opening to the U.S. public a test of a phone directory service that will let users find information on local businesses.

• Digital

  Inet Interactive Acquires Two Sites

  Inet Interactive, a Web-based marketing company, has acquired two online directories from TechPad Agency LLC for an undisclosed sum.

• Digital

  Analytics a Top E- Marketing Challenge, Says Survey

  Segmentation/personalization, inventory assortments and data/analytics were cited as the top three concerns this year for online merchants seeking to improve conversions and return on investment, according to a survey from the E-Tailing Group.

• Digital

  How to Champion Natural Search Optimization

  A reader asked: “How can a CEO/CMO with no particular experience in natural search optimization, who would be a willing champion given the opportunity, refocus or restructure an organization to make that happen?”