Marketing Pilgrim

At this time of year big news stories are hard to come by, so we’ll just have to go with a pretty juicy rumor.

According to Valleywag, Google’s face of innovation, Marissa Mayer, could leave the company this year:

Top Googlers, overheard at a holiday party, chattered about Mayer’s departure as a matter of if, not when. And in some ways, it’s surprising she’s stayed as long as she has.

No real court would ever allow the above as evidence, but in the court of public opinion, a rumor like this may as well be a smoking gun!

Now, here’s a question for you–all in fun, with no claims on my part–who will leave Google first? Marissa Mayer or Matt Cutts?

While not a shock considering the way this past quarter has been going for the economy in general, the Wall Street Journal reported online sales declines for ecommerce for the first time ever during this past holiday shopping sales.

The numbers aren’t dramatic but some would say that just the fact that they were negative is enough. Online spending from November 1 through Christmas Eve was down 2% compared to 5.5% to 8.5% for retail as a whole. This is the first time that online sales for the holiday season have not grown. Normally we are talking about how ridiculous complaints are of growth numbers that are the envy of all (what only 15% growth, why not 35%?) but now the industry must examine how the current economy is finally impacting online business.

By Trisha Lyn Fawver

Will they or won’t they sell social news site Digg?  It’s been on the rumor mill for years, whether it’ll sell to Yahoo or Google, no one can tell.  But I can tell you one thing – you can’t sell a sinking ship, and with Digg’s Miserable Business as reported at Silicon Alley Insider – they might need to launch a life boat or two.

I’d hope a site with the advantage of having over 20 million unique visitors each month would be apt enough to monetize the site wisely, but it seems with their recent losses in the millions of dollars, they’re certainly not making themselves attractive for any acquisition offers.  Here are the numbers BusinessWeek got a hold of:

We interrupt your candy-eating, football-watching, lazyboy-reclining, holiday to remind you that you have until Dec 31st to register for my Online Reputation Management Workshop and save $200!

But wait! Order now and use the discount code “trackur” to save an additional $100!!!

My Online Reputation Management Workshop takes place at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, January 14th, 2009. It’s the day after the Affiliate Summit finishes, so why not stay on for the extra day?

The workshop is limited to just 25 attendees, each receiving training in the following areas of expertise:

• Managing your Google reputation
• Reputation management and public relations
• Managing your reputation on industry review web sites
• Managing your brand via blogs

Around this time each year, I like to huddle around the fire with loved-ones and look back on the most popular Marketing Pilgrim posts of the past year. So, grab some hot chocolate, and let’s get lost in this fairytale, shall we?

1. 200+ Internet Marketing Gurus on Twitter – the only credit I can take for the #1 most popular post of 2008, is that I agreed to publish it! Brian Chappell kicked off a list of marketing “gurus” on Twitter and we invited you to leave a comment with your Twitter handle. 635+ comments later, and the post is still going strong!
2. Social Media Monitoring Tools: 26 Free Online Reputation Tools – still going strong from its original 2007 publishing date, this post demonstrates the increasing demand for social media monitoring tools.

Let me be one of the first to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!

It’s time to start tracking Santa Claus!

Related: Tracking Santa Claus for Christmas 2009