As a sports fan I don’t get to write much about sports and Internet marketing. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why that is but I’ll work on that later. What we have covered extensively here at Marketing Pilgrim is the decline and fall of the Printed Empire; the newspaper. Today, in fact stands to be a rough day again as the Boston Globe workers agrees to more cuts to keep the paper in print.

Yahoo is welcoming several new members to its Newspaper Consortium. These are Freedom Communications’ flagship newspaper, Orange County (Calif.) Register and The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo.; the North Jersey Media Group’s The Record and Herald News; and The San Diego Union-Tribune.

On Friday, the Interactive Advertising Bureau announced that the US had reached $5.5 billion in online ad revenue for the first quarter. This was down a bit from last year, but that’s not too bad considering the state of the economy. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find other ways to advertise your business that are as cost-effective.

WebProNews recently spoke with Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and SmallBusinessSEM.com Blogger Matt McGee about local search and its impact on business owners. The local search game has changed over the years, and even more so within the last couple months. Do you think a Google search is the most important place to be found in local search? Share your thoughts.

As you are probably aware, Google offers local business ads, which are essentially AdWords ads associated with specific business locations. They appear on Google Maps, Google, and across Google’s ad network.

Earlier this year, Google announced the addition of four new links for these ads – "Get Directions," "Street View" where available, "Save to My Maps," and "Send." The links were introduced as an effort to help people better locate the business that was being advertised.

Microsoft has introduced a new version of MSN City Guides in a move the company calls "one step in a long term plan to help users stay in the know wherever they are."

The new MSN City Guides makes ample use of Live Search and Live Search Maps as well as video and social media. Users can share information through Windows Live and Facebook. Microsoft says this makes event organization easy.

The New York Times is running an article looking at "hyperlocal" web sites as replacements to traditional newspapers. The catalyst for the concept is obviously the fact that some newspapers have been dying off, at least in print form.

Google has introduced local search results based on generic search terms such as "restaurant" or "dentist."

Users do not have to specify a location to see the local search results displayed. Google says it has just finished its global rollout of local search results on a map which will now appear even when a location is not included.