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It is New Years Day in 2003, the Sun is shining, and I am a bit late with the traditional New Years Welcome post.
So, time to reflect on what has been and look forward to what is to be.
Now, lets see, we have had the Looksmart sidestep, the Yahoogle forwardstep, the Google stride, the Fast betterstep, the Froogle betastep, even the Yinktome whao!step. And then there is the PageRank shuffle, the Links-for-Sale kafuffle, the court-case muffle, and the losers huffle.
The world of SEO has changed dramatically over the past twelve months, and during all the time WebmasterWorld has been quietly marching on commenting, inquiring, talking, announcing, teaching, helping, ... Makes ya kinda Proud to be a member Yes!?
And coming up, who knows what is going to happen with this Yinktomi thingamy, not to mention that gIPOoogle dohickey.
Other things to watch out for are the expansion of Adwords into countries hithertoo left untouched, perhaps a continued growth in PPC in general, up and coming Search Engines, maybe even some new ones, and a general acceptance by the public and business alike that Internet Sales are here to stay as a legitimate part of business life.
One thing that is clear to me is that there is going to be a definite shift in the way websites are built with the focus turning back again to content and information. Even though online sales will continue to grow, it is the content that is going to get people to your site. Time to get on with the basics.
I was just chatting with my Mum over a nice hot cuppa about the fact that things have been changing all year and are about to change again. All of which have affected and will continue to affect my traffic and hence my income. Of course she was saying things like "Why does it change?", "I don't really understand." and "I hope it doesn't affect you too much."
My reply, "That's Life on the Internet."
What a Year! But then, as they say, The Best is Yet to Come!
All the best for 2003 everyone!
OnyasAll
Woz
The best I can do is echo Jimmy Cliff's hopes for a little more light, a little more love and a little more peace for everyone.
Yes its cheesy, yes its looking pretty unlikely right now, but that won't stop me at least hoping for it :)
2002 will be remembered by me as the year I discovered Webmasterworld and realised for the first time where search engines fit in to the scheme of things. I just hope that now I'm finally "getting it" they don't move the goal posts _too_ much in 2003.
Have a great year.