Huge Jump in Online Ad Spending This Year

Here's some good news for people who publish web sites (like us!): a new report from eMarketer projects a 20% increase in online ad spending THIS year. A huge increase in display advertising has caused the group to double their earlier prediction of a 10% increase for 2011.

Companies are expected to spend over $31 billion on internet ads this year, much of it on search advertising and display advertising. Video ads and banner ads are increasingly being used by advertisers to attract leads from popular websites. Overall, online ads will account for about 20% of all major media buying in 2011, up from 17% last year.

Last year online advertising grew to $26 billion and passed newspaper advertising for the first time in history. It's slowly catching up to television ad spending and may even surpass it within the next 5-10 years.

We say: The online advertising "Gold Rush" is just beginning. More and more companies are focusing their marketing dollars on internet ads and it's a great time to be making good websites! :)

Learn some mo': Online ad spending poised for 20-percent jump this year

eBay Will Buy Your Old Electronics (Really Cheap)

eBay is launching a new service that will help you sell all those old electronics sitting around your house. Their new "InstantSale" program will allow you to trade old cell phones, mp3 players, iPods, computers, etc. for money. According to eBay one of the goals is to recycle the old gadgets, keep them from filling up landfills, and, hopefully, help save the environment. We're sure there's also a nice profit to be had buying "outdated" electronics for super cheap prices and then reselling them and/or their internal parts...

Still, if you have good stuff, you can make some decent money in a relatively quick and easy way. A Droid Eris in good condition, for example, will earn you nearly $90! Even worthless old electronic junk can be gotten rid of for free using eBay's new system.

There have been other similar services offered in the past, but eBay's counting on its 90+ million user base to help it get real traction. At the very least, we now have another option for getting rid of all those gadgets so many of us have sitting around. An option that can earn us some cash! :)

Learn some mo': EBay's Instant Sale Offers Cash for Old Electronics