With the general economy continuing its downward spiral those who are fortunate enough to be in healthy industries (as we are with domains) are keeping an eye out for any signs that our business will be severely impacted by the malaise on Main Street. Of course, online advertising is the primary driver of the Internet economy. Many domain owners depend on it for pay per click revenue and those who have developed websites on their domains depend on it for revenue collected directly from advertisers (or through monetization programs for publishers like 

Google AdSense). So, the continued willingness of advertisers to spend online is crucial to the continued health of our industry. 

That's why it was nice to see a note at Online Media Daily today citing a new report from Forrester Research that found that online advertisers plan to keep spending their money on the web. OMD columnist Mark Walsh wrote "A slumping economy is not curtailing online spending plans, according to a recent study by Forrester Research. The firm found that 72% of 333 interactive marketers surveyed expect to keep their interactive spending on plan or increase it in a recession. Advertisers are especially committed to performance marketing, with more than 80% planning to maintain or increase investments in e-mail and search engine marketing channels." 

Obviously, there are a lot worse places to be than the domain business these days. T.R.A.F.F.I.C. conference co-founder Rick Schwartz had a lot to say about this topic in the exclusive T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Orlando preview article we just published today. In addition to giving us the inside scoop on the upcoming May 20-24 show at Disney World, Schwartz talked about how the general economy might impact the Moniker live domain auction in Orlando as well as the industry in general. It's very interesting reading from someone who has a good track record for predicting future events in this business.
(Posted May 1, 2008)