Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler
Auction Drop-Off Stores
I love the way the Internet spawns new businesses and new industries. Search and Paid Search were created in the 1990s with Paid Search becoming the killer application of the Internet in the previous few years.
Search Engine Optimizers came along in recent years and one such SEO was recently sold for $150 million. The work of SEOs will only gain importance in coming years so there is no telling how big this part of the Search industry will become.
Now turn to eBAY and the birth of online auctions. We all know the eBAY story and how its growth has spawned a whole variety of vertical auction competitors. One of the outgrowths of the online auction business is the rapid increase in the number of auction drop-off stores. Jupitermedia's Frank Fortunato has an interesting article on the auction drop-off business. Reading this article makes me wonder if UPS or FedEX (which recently bought Kinkos) will soon be buying out one of the larger auction drop-off players.
In your post, you mentioned "The work of SEOs will any gain importance in coming years so there is no telling how big this part of the Search industry will become."
I agree with this statement 100%. A couple weeks ago, I heard that eBay pays its affiliates around a total of $180 million a year. I can almost bet most of the return of that investment comes from the ability to work these independent top SEO experts that prefer to work from home with the liberty of managing their own time and not having to report to a boss that understands a fraction of their knowledge. My source mentioned that the #1 eBay affiliate makes about $2.5 million per month, all from SEO. Quite amazing for what some people say "search engine optimization is more like art, rather than rocket science". I believe it's a combination of many elements, primarily business intelligence, strategy, marketing and a good technical background. Certainly, with the right placement and maintenance it's a long term asset for any given company that has a website.
Saludos,
Nacho. PS. Thank you for taking part of your valuable time to share your thoughts in your blog. It's an outstanding read :-)