Multi-channel retailers increased their U.S. paid search spend in Q4 08 by 12 percent compared to Q4 07.

Consumers continued to convert online at a steady rate, although they spent 10 percent less on average per transaction compared with the prior year, according to a report from SearchIgnite.

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With the inauguration of President-Elect Obama just days away, small business owners affected by recession see restoration of the country’s economy as his top priority, but many lack faith in him to improve matters, according to a poll of 50,000 small business clients by email and direct mail marketing company VerticalResponse.

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The folks over Bruce Clay have released two new SEO tools and the best part is that they're free.

The first one is called the Search Engine Optimization/KSP tool. It helps you know how competitive the keyword term or phrase is that you wish to optimize for. Just type in the keywords and the results appear in a chart below. Here's a screenshot of how it works.

The second tool is the SEMToolBar. It's only available for Internet Explorer. Use the search box with the toolbar to conduct a search for the keyword or phrase you're interested in. Once the regular results load, wait a few moments as the toolbar performs its magic. Underneath the results, you'll see a variety of competitive intelligence data including page rank and inbound links.

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Last week, Google used its Google Moderator product to call upon users to give them ideas for improving Google Mobile. It allowed people to submit ideas and vote others up or down. This would give Google an idea of the ones that were most in demand.

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Well, that didn't take long.  On August 26th, Mark Zuckerberg made a post on the Facebook Blog noting that his social network had attracted 100 million users.  Now the CEO's back, saying that Facebook has hit the 150 million-user mark.

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Facebook is starting off the new year with a bang. Today, the social network announced that it has reached the 150 million user mark. Members speak in 35 different languages and represent 170 countries and territories.

But how many of those users are active? Facebook says half of them use the social network every day. That's remarkable.

Writing on the Facebook blog, founder Mark Zuckerberg said, "The full potential of the web is to make the world more open, so everyone has a voice and can share what is important to them. With 150 million voices and counting, we can't wait for the rest of 2009, and we look forward to offering even more ways for you to connect with the people who matter most."

This should make Microsoft happy as well. Last year, they struck a deal to become the search engine for Facebook.

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Google is now making it easier to find directions to businesses via Google Maps for Mobile. Now users can get directions by entering the name of the business in the start or end point fields. Google illustrates this with a Starbucks example on the Google Mobile Blog:

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If you've ever typed in the name of a business into Google Maps for Mobile, you may have been a bit frustrated. Google would return results of street names that contained the search term you typed in instead of finding the business itself.

That all changes today. With a new update to their servers, Google Maps for Mobile is smarter. Type in Starbucks and find a local Starbucks store.

If you're using a smartphone such as a BlackBerry, Nokia S60, T-Mobile G1, or iPhone, you do NOT need to download anything new to see the change.

If you don't have Google Maps for Mobile downloaded on your phone but would like it, click here. Warning: it won't be available for all devices.

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