Here are some great guidelines (from Google) about how to improve your site's Google rankings:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=34432

This provides a good overview of meta tags:

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931

It looks like a lot of social media users are affluent --
http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1668

Toyota, General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, and H&R Block are finding creative ways to reach customers through YouTube --

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120485739329518557.html?mod=djem_jiewr_MK

This is a good primer on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) from CNET --

http://search-engine-marketing.classes.cnet.com/

Could it be that "the wisdom of crowds" is starting to wane?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/119091?GT1=43002

Note the topics that are being covered in the "Search Engine Strategies 2008 Conference & Expo":

http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/glance.html
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda.html
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda2.html
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda3.html
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/agenda4.html
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/training.html

This Adweek article suggests that traditional advertising agencies may not be doing a good job of incorporating consumer-generated media into the promotional mix. Could there be some career opportunities here for those who are able to get ahead of the knowledge curve?
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3id13cf7c770b633b60456549756b829bc

This company uses "crowdsourcing" to develop new products --
http://adage.com/article?article_id=125285

Online chatter alone doesn't necessarily lead to increased sales --
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125340

In this video, the speakers talk about the "three screens" of your digital life -- PC, TV, and cell phone. The idea is to integrate the three. http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/23642

This classical music artist is putting her music on the Internet for all to hear. The hope is that more people will become interested in classical music in general, and her classical music in particular. She is also performing in nontraditional venues to, again, expose more people to her work. Sounds like a "market expansion" strategy to me (if you remember your Principles of Marketing class).
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19352442&sc=emaf

It looks like many of the music industry's magazines will have to go to an "online only" format if they are to survive. This seems to be particularly true for those having a relatively narrow readership as opposed to a Rolling Stone type of magazine with a broader readership.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19357366&sc=emaf

Here is a list of 6 ways to identify the top blogs in a given area --
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/identify_top_blogs.php
On the other hand, going to Google's Blog Search and typing in your subject also seems to work well. Technorati.com's "Blogger Central" also seems to return a good list of highly rated blogs.

Check out Neilsen's "Brand Pulse" product -- http://nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/brandpulse

Thanks to Sarah Wells for submitting this excellent overview of CGM --

http://www.designdepot.com.sg/newsletter/interact_jan07.pdf

I particularly like one of the statements near the end "Ultimately awareness (talk) leads to enquiry (traffic) which leads to sales (profits)."

Could it be that social networking sites are peaking?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_07/b4071054390809.htm

This post discusses placing advertisements in video games.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75970&Nid=39127&p=911887

This post discusses companies that used new media successfully, companies that used it unsuccessfully, and at least one possible ethical breach.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75975&Nid=39127&p=911887

This post discusses the use of social media as an alternative to advertising during times of recession.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75979&Nid=39127&p=911887

This blog post addresses an ethical breach of which ValueClick is accused:

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=75900&Nid=39078&p=911887

This link takes you to a tool that will grade a website. It evaluates things like metadata tags, headings used, and images used.

http://www.websitegrader.com/

By the way, this "Marketing And The New Media" blog scored 50 out of a possible 100 points.

This note comes from Devin Wilber -- "Here is a site that uses 'crowdsourcing' to work on projects submitted by users. A user submits their idea, the 'crowd' builds and tests the ideas, and the original submitter reaps the rewards. Web 2.0 and consumer generated media in action!

http://www.cambrianhouse.com/

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Devin!

This post has some great web-related and blog-related stats:

http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1626

Bloggers seem to be having a greater impact on the sale of beauty products.

http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/today/121770?page=0

This article talks about ad spending and economic growth. As a point of note, it points out that marketing organizations spend about 7.5% of their marketing budgets (I presume they mean "advertising" budgets) on the internet even though people devote about 20% of their media consumption to internet-based media.

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348963&story_id=10567459#top

This blog post explains how Care2 <http://www.care2.com/> uses "behavioral targeting" to identify people who are concerned about various social issues and link them with their causes. According to the post, there are 8 million people in the network.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/behavioral_insider/?p=239

Neilsen's "Blogpulse" is a helpful research tool. Go to http://www.blogpulse.com/. Then, click on "tools." You can go to "conversation tracker" and type in the name of a company or brand to see who is talking about it in the blogosphere and what they are saying. You can click on "trend search" to see the amount "buzz" that has related to the product or organization over time.

Companies seeking more in-depth analysis can use Neilsen's "BrandPulse" product -- http://nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/brandpulse

This is an excellent article about using online communities for market research purposes. However, you may need a Wall Street Journal Online subscription in order to access it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120027230906987357.html?mod=djem_jiewr_mk

The "net promoter score" addresses the likelihood that the respondent will recommend a product/service/company to someone else. However, as this Wikipedia post suggests, there is controversy about the value of the net promoter score and whether it is the best measure to use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_promoter_score

Ever wonder what a "widget" is ... in Web 2.0 terms? Here is a discussion...
http://blogs.mediapost.com/spin/?p=1210

This is a good discussion of "behavioral targeting" --

http://blogs.mediapost.com/behavioral_insider/?p=236

Social networking sites as an advertising platform:

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74503&Nid=38373&p=911887

Restaurant reviews on Facebook:

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74510&Nid=38373&p=911887

MySpace vs. Facebook:

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74501&Nid=38373&p=911887

This appears to be a good source of online marketing facts, figures, and statistics.

http://www.emarketer.com/

This post highlights social media's relevance for health care consumers.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74308&Nid=38279&p=911887

According to this article, the milk industry is targeting dieters with a combination of web, print, and public relations in general. Perhaps a key to success with the "new media" is to find successful ways to combine it with "old media"?

http://adage.com/article?article_id=123071

This article discusses how casual gaming applications seem to be a natural for social networking sites.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/technology/15facebook.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

This article discusses how MySpace is cooperating with the Attorneys General of 49 states to make social networking safer for minors.

http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9849909-36.html

In this post, Gannett's Chief Digital Officer talks about "rich media" and the company's digital future.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74309&Nid=38279&p=911887

This explains "Tickerboy" which is discussed in the post -- http://www.pointroll.com/tickerboy.aspx

This post addresses an attempt to engage vodka customers and potential customers through a series of video "confessions." The author of the post seems skeptical about whether the campaign does what it is supposed to do.
http://blogs.mediapost.com/media_creativity/?p=76

This vodka company has found an interesting way to target influencers and try to generate word-of-mouth about the product.

http://blogs.mediapost.com/media_creativity/?p=38

This article talks about reach, engagement, and the continuous shift of advertising dollars to digitial media.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=123057

In this post, Facebook doesn't score so well in terms of access time. The article also identifies some other important social networking sites: "News Corp.'s MySpace, Google's Orkut, Windows Live Spaces and Twitter ... UK-based Faceparty ... [and] Orkut."

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74122

Celebrities can communicate with their fans online ... and their fans can communicate with one another.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74130

New ways to reach an important target market for many consumer products, moms --
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74138

Bad news for Yellow Pages as more advertising goes digital -- http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=74131

This Marketing Daily article underscores the importance of reaching customers at an emotional level. A good book on the subject is Emotional Branding by Marc Gobe.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=74116&Nid=38167&p=911887

The Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center both advocate for consumer privacy.

The Center for Digital Democarcy -- http://www.democraticmedia.org/

The Electronic Privacy Information Center -- http://epic.org/

These two organizations were mentioned in Wendy Davis' Friday, January 11, 2008 "Just an Online Minute" post. It can be found at http://blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute/?p=1642