2 replies to this topic

[Jill]

I'm moderating the SEMNE panel tonight in Providence, RI on the future of search marketing. The panel is comprised of a mixture of in-house search marketers and agency side ones.

If were there, what questions would you ask the panel.

I want to be prepared in case nobody at the event has any questions!

[oneofthe3lions]

I would imagine there would be many questions beginning to form about mobile search. Not something I have looked at yet at all but by all accounts will be the fastest area of growth on search, in some niches anyway, over the next cple of years or so.
Should we be making mobile only versions of our sites or something?
Are there mobile engines like 'virgin' or someone that have mobile search technology in place and is used a lot as oppose to google?

[nethy]

'Search Marketing' particularly ppc as business tool at the heart of business strategies. It is a set of tools that was (practically*) unavailable to most (because of lack of technology, consumer readiness, management/consultant knowhow etc. etc.) 15, 10 or even 5 years ago** in the way that it is now.

It is now ayt the core of many business models & strategies.

Any such major development in business has winners, losers & many types of business models & even major companies that succed because of it. Many of these are companies, industries & business models that would not have existed otherwise (a historical analogy would be the music industry & radio or 'household brands' and television advertising).

My question would be 'what has changed?' (in the context of the above statement). What are the major companies that now exist because of SEM or opportunities created by SEM . What are the new business models? What are the new industries(excluding SEM consulting obviously)?

Basically, what impact has all this had on the business world now that SEM is maturing (BTW it looks like Google ad revenue growth may finally be hitting a ceiling)?


* By 'practically' I mean that even if a senior manager says 'lets do SEM' it is likely to fail or not start.
*I know that many, including Jill have been involved in 'search marketing' for over ten years. But, I think that most will admit that that was a different beast then. The monetization of SEO results, the value of traffic, the cost of traffic, the amount of traffic available and ultimately the number of sales, leads, referrals or any other activity that has value to businesses generated online back then was a fraction of what it is now.