According to Comscore, in December, Google's share of core searches stood at 58.4 percent. Yahoo! ranked second with 22.9 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites at 9.8 percent, Time Warner Network at 4.6 percent, and Ask Network in fourth place with 4.3 percent.

Interestingly, Yahoo! experienced the most significant market share increase, gaining 0.5 share points as compared to November. This is as Yahoo! finds its stock price depressed and the company considering layoffs as a means to turn things around.

Regardless, they are all chasing Google, and Google remains so far out in front, their hold on the marketplace seems insurmountable.

The challenge facing the runner-ups is daunting. Is it a matter of changing their marketing to attract more searchers? Explore new options to offer?

I'm not sure what the answer is for any of them, particularly Yahoo!. Normally, being number two in a market with nearly a 23% share of that market would be a good place to be, but in the world of Internet search engines, not so.

Yahoo! investors want more. Unfortunately, that probably means the chopping block for some Yahoo! employees.

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Looking to learn a new language?

Maybe you want to try your hand at cooking a new dish?

Want to learn to play the guitar?

There are thousands of free tutorials on the Internet that teach such things as foreign langaues, guitar playing, cooking, exercise methods, computer skills, magic tricks... darn near anything you might want to study and learn. 

Most are in video format, allowing you to pause the action whne necessary and watch these step-by-step guides as often as you wish. Here are just a few of the sites you can check out to learn a new talent or skill:

• expertvillage.com
• ehow.com
• instructables.com
• tricklife.com

And there are many, many more you can find by doing a search in your favorite search engine.

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Used to be that if you wanted to research public records, you were destined to have to scour materials in a public library, county office or some other public building. Now you can save yourself the trip (at least, in most instances).

You can find public databases, the majority of which are free, on such information as military records, college alumni, criminal records vehicle registrations, obituaries, property ownership and more. Two great online resources for doing this are VirtualGumshoe.com and PublicRecordSources.com.

Check them out. they might save you time and money.

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The final figures aren't in yet, but Internet ad spending continues to be a growth industry (even if a lot of companies still haven't figured out how to advertise properly on the Web).

Year end figures aren't available yet, but according to BusinessWeek, through the first nine months of 2007, Internet ad spending stood at $5.2 billion. That's about a 27% leap over 2006's $4.1 billion in the first nine months.

Contrast that with $15.5 billion for network TV in the first nine months of 2007, down from $16.0 billion in 2006.

Watch for this trend to continue. More dollars will plow into Internet advertising and netwrok ad spending will remain roughly even, if they're lucky.

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Maybe we should make that (Web) address, since we are actually talking about URLs. Or better yet, we'll go with domain name.

While I tend to spend less than ten bucks a pop for domain when I decide to buy one, other people seem to think some domain names are worth millions. Here are the most expensive domain names/web addresses purchased in 2006 and 2007--

2006: Diamond.com ($7.5 million), Vodka.com ($3 million), Cameras.com ($1.5 million)

2007: Porn.com ($9.5 million), Computer.com ($2.1 million), Seniors.com ($1.8 million)

Pretty ridiculous, huh? Especially when you consider that very few searchers on the Web would ever enter those URLs in a search term.

I'm sure whoever is behind them considers it part of their branding, but does that really do much in the branding department? I don't think so. All they are doing is enriching whoever had the names before them. i guess there really is money to made in domain name squatting.

Whoever bought those domain names should instead consider investing in search engine optimization/search engine marketing rather than over-priced URLs. They'd definitely get more bang for their buck.  

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