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It’s the day before Thanksgiving, where you show up at the office, but you’re really thinking about tomorrow’s good meal. You’ve worked hard to set up those search marketing campaigns to run strong on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

So, I really hate to bring you the bad news, but keeping it from you would be a disservice.

Let’s just rip off the bandaid.

First up, eMarketer has lowered its projections for online advertising spending for 2009. The new growth number is 8.9%, down from 14.5% projected in August. They’re also expecting a long recovery, projecting 2010 growth to be just 10.9%. In five years, things will still be slower on the uptake (than in recent years). Projections for 2013 growth are at 13.5%. Silver lining: some of the tapering off is likely due to market saturation and not just the economy.

Next, eBay’s traffic is declining. In January of 2007, eBay saw 62 million unique visitors. Last month, they saw just 49 million. Sure, not all of that was due to the economy, but dipping below 50 million can’t be good for eBay.

I saved the worst for last. comScore has released data showing that online consumer spending for the first 23 days of November was down 4% from last year. That’s not a slow down in growth people, that’s flat out shrinkage.

But I’m not a total Scrooge. Unemployment numbers were better than expected this week. And at least one Slate columnist explains why fears of another Great Depression could be overblown (let’s hope he’s right!).

As we overdose on turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, let us not forget the ultimate strategy for marketing, business and life in general: Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Related Reading:
Selling SEO During an Economic Downturn
E-commerce Growth Slows to Just 1% in October 2008
Online Advertising Networks Struggle As Industry Growth Slows

Seems Microsoft is moving to finalize the renaming of Live Search to Kumo, according to LiveSide.net. The possibility has been discussed at various times this year.

Renaming and branding moves by search engines have not had much luck. Ask.coms removal of Jeeves seemed to hurt them, FindWhat and eSpotting merger and rename to Miva definitely impacted the companies, so there is data for not making the changes.

True GoClick to Overture went okay - but then they had a great product in a growing market - just like BackRub and Google…. but that was really prepublic launch.

If the move goes through will be well worth tracking.

Microsoft’s adCenter is launching a new offer for Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) members: $1000 in free clicks. Campaigns created through the promotion will be placed on Live Search and the MSN portal. Those who wish to become SEMPO members to take advantage of the offer must join the organization by December 31, 2008.

“SEMPO members, both agency and corporate search marketers, represent some of the most knowledgeable and innovative search marketing leaders in the industry,” said Valerie Bolduc, senior global product marketing manager, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions, Microsoft. “Working with SEMPO provides Microsoft with the opportunity to engage and learn from the search marketing community, which enables us to enhance our products and offerings to better serve our mutual customers.”

SEMPO President Jeffrey Pruitt noted, “SEMPO’s continued growth is tied to the strong support of its sponsors. Microsoft has long been our lead sponsor and advocate on several fronts including the SEMPO Training Institute, as well as for special programs like the adCenter search advertising promotion. Our industry association greatly appreciates Microsoft’s strong commitment and ongoing participation.”

Related Reading:
SEMPO Institute to Develop Career Opportunities for Young Chicagoans
New SEMPO Chairperson Dana Todd Has Big Dreams for Organization
SEMPO Selects Officers for New Board of Directors

Even after you’ve won the client’s business and run a successful program, you still have to show the client what you did for their money. In today’s SEM agency issues column, “Great Expectations: How to Communicate SEO Value,” William Flaiz points out that communicating the value your search program provided is not to be taken lightly. It could mean the difference between a renewal and a one-off client project.

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Yahoo! Shopping has launched a deal finding portal called Yahoo! Deals. You can access the portal at deals.yahoo.com.

It culls sales on various products across the web from sites such as Woot!, Amazon, and Deal News. It also finds coupons and storewide savings from a plethora of online retailers.

Yesterday, we talked about how women are looking to cut back on their holiday shopping. This is a great tool to help them maximize their shopping dollars.

Here’s a screenshot. Check out the site and come back and tell us about your first impressions in the comments.

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Search Engine Strategies Chicago starts in four weeks on Dec. 8, 2008. Since SES Chicago is the only SEM conference in the Midwest, it is expect to attract more than 2,000 attendees, or “delegates.”

But as Butch Cassidy frequently asked the Sundance Kid, “Who are those guys?”

In the past, there was anecdotal information about the quality of attendees who came to Search Engine Strategies Chicago. And as a frequent speaker, I would often ask for a show of hands to get a sense of the percentage of first time attendees and SES veterans.

But now, there is survey data that provides a clearer picture of the demographics of delegates from last year’s event. And I suspect it’s the kind of information that exhibitors and sponsors of the SES expo have been asking for:
• 87% of delegates are new to SES, 13% are alumni;
• 85% of delegates approve or recommend purchasing decisions;
• 52% of delegates have a high level of experience within search marketing;
• 36% of delegates are from a company of 100+ employees;
• Nearly 1,300 unique companies attended SES Chicago 2007, 27% of these companies sent two or more staff.

In addition, 41% of the attendees are in marketing or management; 27% are in web design or e-commerce; 23% are in corporate management or owners; and 9% are non-marketing professionals. And 57% approve or specify purchases, 28% make recommendations, and only 15% have no involvement in purchases.

That’s why you’ll see 40 sponsors and exhibitors at the Search Engine Strategies Expo. Savvy search engine marketers understand the value of quality attendance.

As Bill Muller, the VP Marketing for iProspect, has said, “SES is a terrific event series, one that we plan to be at in New York, San Jose, and Chicago.” Or as Ginny Redgate, VP Marketing for Hitwise, has said, “SES provides us great brand visibility within the search marketing community as well as quality leads. It is a great place for us to connect with our clients.”

I don’t think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid could have said it better.

Wordtracker has launched “Keyword Questions,” a free tool that let’s webmasters and SEOs find the specific questions that
people type into search engines. The answers to these questions can provide interesting web copy and could pick up a lot of search traffic.

According to Ken McGaffin, Chief Marketing Officer of Wordtracker, “People have a ton of questions about all sorts of things and people will go straight to a search engine to find the answers. Just enter a keyword and we’ll give you up to 100 questions that people have asked.”

The tool works by pairing the keyword with one of six question words: Who, what, where, when, why and how. It then conducts a broad match from Wordtracker’s database.

For example, someone with a coffee website, could enter “coffee” and find questions like “who invented the coffee maker”, “why use cold water when brewing coffee”, “how to make iced coffee” and “how to clean a coffee pot”.

Or, a flower shop could enter “sorry” and find questions like “how to say sorry to your girlfriend” or “how to say sorry after huge argument.” Hey, this is just an example. I’m happily married.

Or, a website on UFOs might be interested to know that the most popular questions on UFOs include “how to fake UFO photographs” or “how to build a UFO.” Sorry, the tool doesn’t suggest, “Where is Area 51.”

In a press release, McGaffin said, “This is a fun tool that is a great source of inspiration for web content writers. You need never be short of creative ideas again.”

I interviewed Ken at Search Engene Strategies London 2008 in February. And he shared some of the latest trends of search term research back then. And I expect to see him again at SES London this coming February 17-19, 2009, to get an update.

Ken McGaffin, WordTracker, SES London 2008 Keyword Research

U.S. business-to-business search engine Accoona has been acquired by Denmark-based business-to-business search engine Masterseek. Accoona launched in 2004 and has seen much of its success in China.

“We have worked intensely for the last two weeks in order to get all of the legalities and finances in place for the takeover and there is still a great deal of work in front of us to integrate and re-launch the search service,” states Rasmus Refer, founder of the Masterseek Corp.

Accoona will be re-launched (again) with integrated Masterseek data in the U.S. and China. Then it will be launched in Europe. The target date for the European release is January 2009.

Google is ending its search advertising partnership with Yahoo. It was never even implemented. Concerns over antitrust issues rose fast and furious since Google + Yahoo = an enormous chunk of the search ad market.

Groups of advertisers spurred on by Microsoft lobbied the Department of Justice to oppose the deal. But they might have just facilitated the search market going from 5 major engines to 4, providing less competition.

Yahoo is in dire straits and desperately needed this influx of cash. It’s looking more and more likely that their stock could drop (fairly or unfairly) to single digits, at which point Microsoft could get a great deal on a company they once offered $31 a share for.

Take that number 4 and reduce it to 3 if a Yahoo-AOL merger occurs before the (inevitable?) acquisition.

Both Google and Yahoo are saying that the cancellation of the deal won’t affect their commitment to search innovation.