thinks

Number 5 on Yahoo’s Top 10 news searches for 2007 was Oil and Gas Prices (Google reports its details differently, focusing instead on fastest rising/falling, not total volume). Additionally, “Yahoo! Searches found that people searched for ways to help the environment, on a global and personal level.”

So, will environmental concerns hurt e-commerce or business overall? Not likely. What it may do though is keep folks closer to home, which in turn likely will drive further increases in local search. How well do you show up in search? Does your business use its locale to its greatest advantage?

Seth Godin encourages businesses to see these types of “problems” as opportunities. And this looks like a great opportunity.

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business, google, local, local business, marketing, yahoo

What’s it going to take for the mobile web to catch on? Om Malik gives a view of the underlying business of mobile data vs. the mobile web. Well worth the read. He’s certainly right in talking about the adoption of mobile broadband cards. I practically sleep with mine these days. But I think the phone will improve, too. As many of Om’s comments note, the iPhone changes the experience dramatically. Additionally, they’re easier to tote, cost less, and far more common. Once screens adopt more iPhone-like capabilities and networks improve - and Verizon’s recent “bring your own device” plan is a step towards that - expect consumer adoption to grow.

Is the picture of the mobile, local web (the backyard web) beginning to take shape? With over 3 billion mobile phones in consumers’ hands and with increasing access to valuable mobile services, like Google’s new geolocation services, it seems likely consumers will start expecting tools like these. How ready is your business to have your customers find you via their mobile?

It sure looks like it. SearchEngineLand notes, “As US Economy Weakens, Ad Spend Steady Online But Drops In Traditional Media.” The most telling quote: “One bright spot for TV was spot TV business in small markets…” Marketing is taking on an increasingly local flavor, offline, as well as online.

SearchEngineLand reports Idearc Media - the publisher of Verizon’s phone books , and the owner of Superpages.com - acquired the domain LocalSearch.com and have made a “…strategic investment in AmericanTowns.com.”

Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal asks if “…a massive local search land grab in action between companies like Idearch, Marchex, Dex and Local.com” exists. Um, yes, Loren. Yes it does.

Fear is a great motivator for companies. These folks clearly fear for their business. As consumers increasingly go online to find information the Yellow Pages once owned exclusively, the market for local search grows as do the opportunities for businesses drive business from their local market via the web. The next few years should shake up local business the way that e-commerce changed retail five years ago. Should be fun.