Traffic to e-commerce sites in the US is increasingly coming from search engines, with Google sending the lion's share, according to new stats from Hitwise.

In the UK, Google enjoyed a massive 78% UK market share last week, even though, of all the rival search engines, Yahoo has made the biggest gains, with its share rising by 13%, though it still commands just 8.6% of the UK search market.

Following the Alpha Dog

As you may be aware, on May 16, Yahoo started to require short descriptions for PPC ads while the long description (190 characters) became optional. This change is preparing the way for a more significant change later this week (beginning of June) when ad descriptions longer than 70 characters may automatically be cut off in Yahoo! Sponsored Search results. The 190 character descriptions may still show for some of Yahoo's partner network sites although which specific ones were not disclosed.

These changes may hurt click-through rates but most seasoned marketers who have dealt with Google AdWords long enough have mastered the art of short writing for maximum click-rate. The real "hurt" in my opinion as a once devout user and evangelist of Overture.com, is the continued "bow down and submit" stance of Yahoo to Google.

Bid4Spots' Dave Newmark Speaks On eBay Deal

Last week, Encino-based Bid4Spots (www.bid4spots.com) turned heads with a deal with online auction giant eBay, as word of a partnership to provide eBay's emerging Media Marketplace with radio auction services spread. Bid4Spots provides a reverse marketplace for selling unsold radio inventory--where radio stations, not advertisers, do the bidding--and the lowest CPM wins. The firm's radio auctions are actually opposite of eBay, where prices are bid up--radio stations bid who will provide the most exposure for the lowest price. To get the details of the eBay deal, we spoke with Dave Newmark, CEO of Bid4Spots, to get a bit more about the relationship with the firm and eBay and how the firm's business is shaping up. Dave also gave us his thoughts on where this puts eBay versus Google's effort in the radio industry, and the interest of the online players in radio advertising.

Are Your Current Internet Marketing Strategies Bringing In The ...

( EMAILWIRE.COM, May 19, 2007 ) Suwanee, GA -- Right now money making ideas on the Internet are fairly quiet. Of course, technology is still constantly changing on the Internet. However, the money making strategies out there are being fine tuned instead of introducing totally new strategies. For example, using video is currently a way to make money on the Internet. How Internet businesses use video is being examined. People want to know exactly how much money they can make by using a video promotion strategy. When internet Marketer looks at the various promotion strategies make sure to figure out if the strategy drives traffic to their website and converts that traffic to cash. If the strategy is technologically savvy, but doesnt convert to cash then dont focus on it. They want a strategy that brings the most traffic to their website and also converts that traffic to cash.

Google buys FeedBurner to boost RSS services

MIAMI (06/01/2007) - Google Inc. has acquired FeedBurner Inc., a provider of publishing and advertising services for blogs and content syndication feeds. FeedBurner's technology will boost Google's ad network and Web publishing services, Google said. Terms of the deal, which has closed, weren't revealed. FeedBurner will continue operating as it has until now, so existing customers shouldn't experience any interruptions in service. New customers will be able to continue signing up for FeedBurner services as well. Meanwhile, Google will work to integrate FeedBurner's technologies with a number of its own products. The volume of Web content and advertising delivered via RSS and Atom feeds has increased significantly in recent years, and Google feels that by acquiring FeedBurner it will be able to capitalize on this growth and expand its advertising reach.