Channel | Digital

After selling various types of jewelry through sites like Amazon and Shop.com, Troy Lemaire decided to start his own Web site, putting faith into a very specific niche

After 10 years in the corporate world, Michael Chick wanted out. He and his wife Susan put their heads together and decided to go into business for themselves, launching eggheadkids.com, a Web site offering toys to help children develop their brains while they're having fun.

Bringing a founder back into the fold seems to have done well for Apple and is at least being given a chance to work at Dell. Now Yahoo! has joined the ranks of those companies looking to a once and future leader for guidance through tough times.

A ploy to promote Google

Less than a week after a Yahoo! shareholder meeting blamed CEO Terry Semel for failing to keep the perennial second-ranked Web portal/ search engine abreast of Google, Semel has stepped aside and will let Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yang take over the company's leadership.

Whatever you do, don't call direct marketing an industry around DMA president John Greco. "It's a process, in which we interactively engage with buyers, collect information and improve experience," he said during a welcoming speech at the Direct Marketing Days New York conference.

Direct marketers are facing a dialog that may cause them to squirm in their seats. With the rise of social networks, they are increasingly having to listen to, and cede control of their messaging to, consumers.

(Promo) This month, the Coca-Cola Co. plans to launch a social community for teens via mobile phones for its Sprite brand.

Pet Food Direct Inc. has received an infusion of $10 million in investment capital from LLR Partners Inc., a private equity investment firm based in Philadelphia. The money has been designated to finance growth initiatives for the online direct marketer.

The latest online advertising projections from JupiterResearch predict total online advertising spending will grow to just shy of $20 billion by the end of this year and increase to $35.4 billion by 2012.