WebProNews

If someone standing next to you gets hit with a pebble, the logical response is not to panic.  Panic should only occur if lots of large, heavy rocks come afterward.  Now, although this scenario may exaggerate the matter, the pause after the first stone bears a resemblance to the situation faced by search marketers.

Search spending slowed in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Didit's CEO, Kevin Lee.  Henry Blodget reports, "Q4 search spending by DidIt's clients grew about 30%, below Kevin's expectations for mid-30s growth."  Eh - 30, 35, whatever, you might say.  Hence the pebble analogy.

Yet the economy wasn't nearly as bad in the fourth quarter of 2007 as it's starting to look now.  If search spending dips accordingly, well . . . it could be time to invest in the equivalent of head-to-toe armor.

To address another issue brought up in the Didit report - the idea that a decent ROI will keep people interested in search marketing - Blodget writes, "In our opinion it is irrelevant that search engine marketers closely tie spending to ROI: Less consumer spending means fewer searches means fewer clicks means less revenue."

So with these less than cheery bits of information, we wish everyone a good weekend.