Internet Marketing News

Brand advertising is winning more online converts.
While part of the initial appeal of online advertising was its potential for direct user responses, a greater number of advertisers are embracing the more general approach of brand advertising online. A survey from January 6 of this year shows bigger spending increases planned for brand advertising than for direct response advertising, even though measuring the impact of brand advertising is more elusive.
eMarketer

Mobile growth a highlight of holiday shopping statistics.
IBM found that 14.6% of sessions on retail websites this past holiday season were initiated from a mobile device, a number which is up dramatically from 2010's figure of 5.6%. Mobile devices accounted for 11% of actual sales, double 2010's figure of 5.5%. In all, online sales for December 2011 were up 7.5% over December 2010 sales.
Search Engine Watch

Yahoo tabs former PayPal president to attempt turnaround.
Yahoo has hired Scott Thompson as its new CEO, replacing Carol Bartz. As head of PayPal, Thompson oversaw the growth of the user base from 50 million to over 100 million. Thompson has both a technology and a financial background, which should be useful in Yahoo's situation, though critics point out that like Bartz, he lacks a strong media background.
Search Engine Watch

Web strategy analytics experience good growth in 2011.
Internet marketing has not only generated new lines of advertising and PR business, but it is also the source of a growing trend towards spending on web strategy and metrics analytics. Search Engine Watch projects that annual global spending on technology and services in this realm could be as high as $4 billion. Spending on web analytics staff, third-party agencies and vendor revenues showed an estimated 12% growth in 2011.
Search Engine Watch

Article spinning floods the Internet, but to little benefit.
Automated programs that create clones of online articles using simple techniques like inserting synonyms -- a practice known as 'article spinning' -- have watered down the quality of Internet content, but seem to have little benefit. They are a flop with readers, who quickly turn away from awkwardly worded and unoriginal content, and they are also a flop with search algorithms, which are increasingly on the lookout for such tactics.
Search Engine Journal

Flipboard encounters problems upon launch of iPhone application.
Flipboard, already popular with iPad users, launched a new app for iPhones in early December. Flipboard allows users to aggregate content from multiple formats into a customized, magazine-style format. Unfortunately, its popularity proved too much to handle, as Flipboard crashed soon after the launch of the new app. Flipboard is still available to users for free, and though the company has relationships with 60 different content providers, it has not yet settled on a profitable business model.
Search Engine Journal

Infographic shows the strengths and weaknesses of daily deals for advertisers.
A new infographic from BuySellAds breaks down some vital statistics on daily deal coupons. Among the strengths: 44% of online consumers use or search daily deals sites, and roughly 60% of subscribers to major deal sites use their coupons. The weaknesses center around being additive to business: only 17% of merchants were satisfied with the repeat business after running a deal on Groupon, and only 22% of consumers spend significantly more than the value of their coupons.
Search Engine Land