Steve Rubel is liking Rollyo a new product that lets you compile your own search index.
Rollyo is a very smart idea. Any individual can set up a custom searchroll that searches within anywhere from one to 25 different sites.
Very cool if you’re interested in compiling your own index of topic-specific sites. Look for Google to steal the idea soon. 
It took a lot of coffee to get my presentation completed in time for next week’s eComXpo. On one hand, the timing is great – what with the launch of Fortune Interactive. On the other hand, the timing sucks – what with the launch.
Anyway, I’m excited to be part of my first virtual trade show and I enjoyed preparing my session “Understand Your Future Audience Now – How Blogs Can Help You Refine Your Search Marketing Campaign”.
The event is sure to be a hit and a bargain at just $29.95. You don’t even have to change out of your Pooh-Bear pyjamas – I know I won’t be.
According to a new Reuters story, “blogging” and “podcasting” are not yet common vocabulary for most people.
A survey of British taxi drivers, pub landlords and hairdressers — often seen as barometers of popular trends — found that nearly 90 percent had no idea what a podcast is and more than 70 percent had never heard of blogging.
Should we be concerned? Depends on who your target audience is. For me, I’m not exactly trying to reach taxi drivers, pub landlords or hairdressers with my marketing.
ClickZ reports on a new initiative by Yahoo to encourage marketers to use search for branding.
The company has been quietly beta testing two new tools with 10 to 15 of Yahoo!’s top advertisers and agencies for the past two months. Buzz Index — not to be confused with the company’s existing consumer-facing tool of the same name — is a keyword discovery tool with attached demographic data, and Search Share of Voice is a metric analogous to the traditional marketing measurement. The tools are expected to be ready to be offered to a broader base of advertisers in the coming months.
A smart move to ensure the growth of paid search. Instead of search marketing being considered only for ecommerce situations, Yahoo can now tap into all the money being spent on branding and company awareness.
Andy Beal is no longer associated with Fortune Interactive. View Andy’s consulting services.
It’s been more than two months since I left WebSourced, but today I can finally reveal my next venture. Fortune Interactive.
I’ve pasted the press release below and the News & Observer has additional details. Thanks to all my friends and peers for their support and encouragement. I know that you hate me again – now that I am a competitor once more.
Search Engine Marketing Experts Andy Beal and Michael Marshall Launch Fortune Interactive LLC
Search engine marketing agency utilizes proprietary artificial intelligence; makes customer satisfaction top priority
Lee Odden points to the latest MarketingSherpa report on search marketing and highlights a compelling stat.
There’s some pretty compelling data regarding outsourcing your SEO as well. For SEO, overall site traffic lift six months after optimization was:
Agency optimized 110% increase
In-house optimized 38% increase
by 
