I've heard this argument before. My grade ten IT teacher assured us that within five years (and this was four years ago) we would no longer be purchasing CDs. With advent of broadband we were going to see purchases of music and movies online, streamed to computer or another device. I've always thought this was relatively unlikely. I may be in minority, but I really like CD and DVD cases. There's something a bit more tangible to them, more of a feeling of value for money. Plus they look kind of good lined up on a shelf like some new-age library.

Having thought about it for a while now I have no doubt that Internet is set to become a major distributor of media. When you think about it, it makes sense. Low to no production and distribution costs; you just provide a download location when people send you money. Cutting out 'middle man' has always been an effective way to save money, and in this case you're cutting out shop owners, couriers and manufacturers. This should lead to substantial drops in prices (and loss of jobs... but... I have no defence for that. You're just going to have to find yourselves a new career. Sorry. On positive side your entertainment costs will go down, so you won't need job quite as much...).

...this is one question that constantly comes to my mind, whenever I visit a portal and see a neatly designed slug or a really tempting subject line waiting to be read, only to give an impetus to guy responsible for campaign, giving him an extra number in campaign's open rate.

This gives me food for thought whether Internet Marketing is here to stay or is it just a passing cloud. Whatever, case may be, Internet Marketing is one segment that has been growing enormously, making its way world over, breaking all boundaries. One advantage Internet enjoys compared to Television, Newspaper ads is fact that while you sit in New York, you can think of a simple marketing campaign targeted towards Thailand, which is on other side of world. Now, no other kind of media will allow you this direct access. Yes, there are ways to do it, however, when you think of a direct Internet Marketing campaign, then I haven’t seen anything like this before.

This brings us to obvious question. Will Internet marketing survive or will it stagnate as it reaches a saturation point. Well, last we saw was when dotcom bubble burst and instantly millionaires were back to where they started, not to forget millionaires it did make during hay days. However, a few companies braced themselves up for bleak period that lay ahead of them, only to realize that wait was worth it. The companies that survived dotcom burst have now become household names for many.

Not to forget fact about Google's IPO, and other search engines brought to light power of Internet, which was when people started taking this media seriously. What was known as taboo long ago, thanks to instant awareness of anonymity & convenient access to pornography, has now become a part of business meetings of companies, and fact that a certain amount of their marketing expenditure is set aside towards Internet Media is proof enough.

So, what we see here was first, a mad gold rush towards Internet, which later collapsed. The few companies that survived, coupled with aggressive marketing methods adopted by Search Engines "Google" per se, coupled with various policies and increased awareness of SPAM.

In other words, negative of Internet has helped to bring it to place where it belongs now. Quite frankly, how many people were aware of SPAM, until issue was raised and taken seriously to extent that Government had to approve it? Not to forget fact that Google, which was just another site quite some years ago, has now established itself as premier search engine on Internet.

Getting nostalgic, I remember first site I visited when I was introduced to Internet way back in mid nineties. Yahoo! Well, it seemed a bit absurd of a name for me, but I remember, Yahoo at that time, humble in its own way, just staring out of computer screen. Coming back to present, feeling you get when you look at Yahoo! is that of aggressiveness and dominance, sitting there, commanding respect.

The future of Search Engine Marketing

Coming back to present, and thinking about future, I see a major scuttle between BIG 3 of Internet (Google, Yahoo! and MSN) battling it out for supremacy. And when BIG 3 are involved, then why should millions of other sites not be left behind? In terms of Search Engines and various marketing vehicles available, we should not be surprised to see an improvement in terms of keyword relevancy.