Hey, everybody!  Did you know that it's Google's 9th birthday today?  Did you catch the pinata on their logo today?  I had to "google it" to figure out what the graphic was supposed to represent.  And, tee hee, I got the answer on a Yahoo! answer forum.

Marketing makes my eyes light up, Susan.  We are huge fans of Google around here for so many reasons.

If you're talking about organic rankings, Paul, that's great!  Consider doing a little sponsored advertising, too.  It's a great strategy for bringing additional, qualified traffic to your site and increasing your organic rankings even more (the search engines reward you for traffic on your site and reward you even more if the traffic stays).

You got it, Ron!  Google is getting all the bases covered.  They even put their sponsored ads (the PPC stuff) on gmail, or so I've heard.  You have to admire them for thinking big and broad.

I wouldn't be surprised, Karen, to find out that it has already happened.  We just haven't been told yet.  In fact, call me paranoid but I took my Google toolbar off my computer because I read that they are gathering consumer information through it.  I'm a big Google fan, but I try to be a smart consumer, too.

Aw shucks, Dominic.  Thank you!  And greetings from Westchester 90045.

Gee, Craig, I didn't get the "9" part!  Isn't community great!  Our sum is much smarter than our parts.  =-)

P.S. Craig -- you might think Yahoo! is more relevant, but a significant chunk of the rest of the population isn't agreeing.  Don't focus your marketing efforts on what you think is right.  That can get lonely.  You can't fight city hall and you can't argue the statistics.

Thanks, Jared!  I think I tried that, but maybe not.  Google has me so brainwashed, I may have just started with a query.

Keli, it's just my personal opinion, but I do believe that MLS's are doomed to go the way of the T-Rex.  We pay alot of attention to MLS trends because our primary technology is IDX, and almost all I see is a lot of small picture policies designed to preserve the MLS, not serve members and their greater, collective marketing good.  Oh, did I just say that???  I see some exceptions and I don't follow every market, but I do follow the industry news.  SoCalMLS in particular has always impressed me with bigger picture thinking.  I guess my real response to your question is that the MLS's are vulnerable.  Pay attention to anything like Google Base that may become more relevant.

Mike, you underestimate the value of your time.  Are you familiar with the concept of opportunity costs? =-)

Thank you, Stephen, Chuck, Thom & Stefan for stopping by!  I've been sooo sick.  We just started kindergarten with my only child.  Who knew there would be so many new germs to get used to!  =-)

Stephen, I've already seen that Google takes really good care of their consistent advertisers with respectable budgets.  It's everybody else that is going to have to absorb those rising costs.

Chuck, it's good to recognize that your own preferences and tastes shouldn't dictate your marketing strategy.  I heard somewhere that when they do, you have a hobby, not a business.  =-)

Thom, it gets addictive to play the ranking game.  Not so different than AR, huh?

Stefan, a big factor is the amount of traffic you're bringing to your site.  If the search engines see traffic, they equate that with relevancy to consumers.  This is extra true if your traffic is coming and staying awhile.  Email me if you want me to look at your site for stickiness.