It’s probably not too late to register for Frost & Sullivan’s 2nd Annual Internet Marketing Strategies 2006, this Thursday and Friday in Phoenix. The event has a good line-up of sessions and I’ll be offering my 2 cents on the “Organic & Paid Search Strategies: Which to Use and When” panel.

If you plan on attending the event and would like to get together for a chat, I’ll be offering one-on-one consultations and demo’s of SEMLogic. Drop me an email if you’d like to get together.

I had a chance to chat with PRWeek for their recent issue. In it, they look at the future of SEO and how personalization, tagging and Google Base might change the way search marketers think.

Looks like this news is posted just about everywhere, but just in case you missed it – Google retakes first place in the 2005 global poll of most influential brands.

ClickZ has details of a new study that suggest more marketers are shifting marketing dollars from mass branding to targeted online channels.

Winterberry Group found since 2003, above-the-line (ATL) spending has grown an average 5.5 percent per year, while below-the-line (BTL) spending, led by search, e-mail and online advertising, grew 7.8 percent annually. These growth rates are expected to continue through 2007, the study predicts. The annual growth forecast for the entire industry between 2003 and 2007 was 6.9 percent.

CNet has a round-up of stories discussing Google’s refusal to hand over search data to the government.’

I don’t think the data itself is anything to worry about – although the precedent that would be set, is something to be concerned over – still I bet Microsoft and Yahoo wish they hadn’t already complied.

Do you use Amazon.com? Like the personalized recommendations it often gives you? Then you’ll love the new recommended section on Google News.

Greg Linden has all the details, including:

Google News can suggest news stories just for you. If you have Personalized Search enabled, you can sign in to your Google Account to get recommended news stories based on your past news selections.

Google News can … compare your tastes to the aggregate tastes of other groups of similar Google News users. Simply put, we recommend news stories to you that have been read by many other users who’ve also read similar stories as you in the past.

BWeek (again) looks at how a small search engine in Korea is positively whooping some Mountain View butt.

NHN’s Naver.com search engine trounced Google’s offering. Google’s 4-year-old Korean-language search service accounts for less than 2% of search page views and search-related ad revenues in Korea. Under CEO Kim Beom Su’s adroit direction, NHN sold about $228 million in online ads last year, nearly 40% of the country’s total.

Why is Naver so popular? Read the article and find out.

Shout-out to DJ Tom Foolery.