America Online’s ad revenue fell 20% in the first quarter year-over-year. Undoubtedly, this is another troubling sign that AOL’s transformation into an advertising-supported business isn’t a good idea.

Time Warner Inc. is seeking to spin off the Internet company and is looking for any alternatives that might change the situation. Whether AOL is being actively shopped around has not been confirmed yet, as representatives of the Time Warner Inc. are still deciding what would be best in a time of global crisis.

On the other hand, things haven’t been that bad for other companies that make their money off advertisers. In the case of Google Inc., which generates most of its money from online ads, there has been a growth in revenue of 6% in the first quarter, while Yahoo Inc. had a 13% increase revenue in this first quarter.

AOL has consistently underperformed in online advertising since early 2007, we’ll see if they’ll be able to come up with a different strategy.

In the latest study about online sales from Q1 by Forrester Research and Shop.org, there is a significant increase in online sales of 11%. A least, 58% of the people changing their online strategies have increased their online sales.

Consumers are buying more items online than in stores and has been the main reason of for the surge of sales.

If these first quarter numbers are any indication, it looks like a lot of people will keep buying online instead of going out to the stores. With the economic crisis people are spending more time at home and surf the web more often.

The European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) has recently released its research about the internet-ad budget spent in 2009.

The report expressed that 70% of advertisers claim that their allocated online ad spend is increasing in 2009, which, undoubtedly, is an excellent omen in these days. Thanks to this continuing growth in the digital sector, advertisers expect an increase of 21% in 2010.

The EIAA’s Marketer’s Internet Ad Barometer was issued by the EIAA to provide an updated  insight into how advertisers plan to change their strategies in 2009 and beyond to keep growing in the market.

The EIAA also commented on the report that advertisers’ budget are continuing to be moved from traditional media  to the digital industry.

Top 5 Hotels In Cuba

Cuba offers many great, luxurious Cuban hotels- here are just a few that come highly recommended:

1- The Hotel Saratoga

The Hotel Saratoga in picturesque Old Havana. Overlooking the intersection at Paseo del Prado and Dragones Street, it faces the Capitolio building with an astonishing view of the world renowned Partagas Cigar Factory and the Gran Teatro de La Habana. Each room is equipped with a minibar, security box, private bathroom, telephone, and satellite television. While perhaps standard in American hotels, these are rare conveniences in Cuba. The hotel itself provides a laundry service, car rentals, cyber cafe, room service, a swimming pool, a bar, and an in-house babysitter. The Saratoga has recently been refurbished in the neo-classical style, with a mezzanine bar and a spectacular rooftop pool that allows views of the old town and port.

2- Melia Habana Hotel

Business visitors will enjoy accommodations at the Melia Habana hotel in the heart of Miramar, the center of Havana’s business trade. In-house food facilities are extensive, offering a Miramar restaurant buffet, as well as a la carte restaurants featuring Cuban, Italian, and Barbeque cuisine. Hotel features include a fitness room, tennis court, beauty salon, medical services, events hall, sauna, swimming pool and internet access.

3- Parque Central

Hailed as the most luxurious international hotel in the city, Parque Central offers modern facilities in the heart of historic Old Havana. The terrace holds a tropical bar with a swimming pool.

4- Hotel Nacional de Cuba

Hotel Nacional de Cuba is situated atop a prominent promontory overlooking the pristine coastline. Amenities include restaurants, convention halls, car rentals, currency exchanges, fitness rooms, massages, laundry services, medical services, a pool, a cigar shop, and virtually every convenience a visitor could ask for.

5- Santa Isabel

Santa Isabel holds its traditional, historic charm and features, despite being recently renovated and reopened in the 1990s. Features include an in-house babysitter, cyber café, bar, car rental, restaurant and art gallery.

Brought to you by Floridita Travel

A recent study shows that the majority of marketers haven’t changed their online marketing strategy in response to the global crisis.

Eloqua, a marketing automation company, found that 61% of firms use the same strategy that they used to before the recession.

Brian Kardon, chief marketing officer at Eloqua, said: “Never before has it been more important for marketing organizations to invest in solutions that enable them to better understand and track their prospects.”

Mr Kardon among others ecourages Internet Marketers to change up the approach and to test new tactic and ideas if they want to reach new audiences who are turning to the web to make savings on products and services.

According to a new report from ZenithOptimedia, internet marketing will grow by 8.6% this year, a change that will be seen throughout 2009.

The online intelligence provider AdGooroo in its latest Search Engine Advertising Update has announced that Yahoo’s first page has an increase of 10% in ad placements.

AdGooroo has also released the news that Yahoo was the only search engine to have a significant increase.

The founder of AdGooroo, Chief Rick Stokes, said that this is an amazing opportunity for Yahoo to keep growing, especially after the past months where the search engine was losing money.

Stokes also commented that Yahoo was gaining market share and may allow it to better leverage a search deal with Microsoft.

This might be the time to seal the deal with Microsoft and keep growing, if that’s what Big Purple is interested in doing.

Accordingly to the latest quarterly report, the SearchIgnite reported an increase of 11% in paid search marketing. The average conversion time has grown amazingly for when consumers click an ad and make a purchase on the marketer’s site, a 32.4% increased year over year.

The President of SearchIgnite, Roger Barnette, said marketers reduce paid search spend by 14% in January, but this volatility is mostly due to the fact that marketers today have less visibility into their own marketing budgets.

He also said that “this shows that relative to other channels, marketers continue to find that search is the most profitable”. Despite the economic crisis, paid search advertising is still proving to be a top channel for driving sales.

Yahoo was the only search engine to see their first page advertisers rise in February, up 10% according to online intelligence provider AdGooroo.

Microsoft, in the same month, saw a drop of 30% compared to the previous month.

Rich Stokes, founder of AdGooroo, said: “Previously, Yahoo was losing market share to Microsoft, so having this information is place may allow it to better leverage a search deal with [Microsoft],” he said. “These data may also suggest that the time to strike a deal is now.”

The report also spotted trends in the travel market, where travel companies are raising their online ad budgets. They are matched only by used car sellers who rank in the top 25 first page advertisers by search engine.

Read more at DMNews.com

After fruitless negotiation in 2008, there’s apparently still hope for a partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft.

Though neither Yahoo nor Microsoft have made any statement about this possible partnership, a person familiar with the negotiations confirmed that the negotiation is imminent to New York Times.

This partnership is said to allow Microsoft to expand into Yahoo’s users and advertiser’s base, which could seriously threaten their number 1 competitor, Google.

The spokesman said that the strategy of paring up is centered in the idea that “Microsoft would sell search ads for Yahoo, and Yahoo, in turn, would sell display ads on Microsoft properties.” If the negotiation between Yahoo and Microsoft ends in a deal the combination of these two companies might  drastically change the the landscape of the online advertising world.

This week, the A.P had its annual meeting in San Diego, where A.P chairman William Dean Singleton expressed his concerns about different types of news forums in the internet that use their content illegally.

He also mentions that even major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and websites like the Drudge Report link to sites that use A.P’s content and to “companies that sell packaged news feeds.”

The A.P is taking legal action on this situation and they have established that they will “no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories.” The A.P asks the main search engines to target “the original source or the most authoritative source” avoiding the traffic of websites that copywrite and hijack A.P’s content while making profit from advertising.

However, there’s a rumor that A.P’s work has become a lucrative source for Google.

Read more at the NYTimes