Before click bids helped allocate Google's advertising positions, AdWords sold impressions. That easily overlooked distinction leads directly into the history of search advertising. The service launched in October 2000 already…
A website can declare itself the leading authority in its field. The claim becomes more interesting when other websites point to it. Even then, a difficult question remains: should every…
A large online catalogue solves one problem while creating another. It makes many products accessible, but leaves visitors with the work of finding what suits them. Amazon's early recommender systems…
A website about dogs did not need a warehouse to earn money from books. A cooking site did not need its own payment desk or dispatch department. In July 1996,…
The web's most famous early banner did not offer a discount. It asked: “Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will.” When HotWired launched on 27 October 1994,…
A position in a search results list can look like an answer, even when somebody has paid to occupy it. That ambiguity became commercially important in 1996, when Open Text…
A four-page conference paper gave a lasting name to a substantial marketing agenda. Leonard L. Berry's Relationship Marketing appeared on pages 25-28 of Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing in 1983.…