I just found out that Marketing Sherpa selected this blog as the runner up (Honorable Mention) for Best Blog on Search Engine Marketing. Hoo Yeah!

Given the great blogs that were in the running, I’m honored. The winner was Barry Schwartz et al’s SEO Roundtable, a killer blog that should be on your must read list. It features links to the most interesting SEO commentary on the best forums.

Here is a link to all the best blogs, by category, as selected by Marketing Sherpa readers. Enjoy!

Yesterday, internet marketer Corey Rudl died while racing at the California Speedway in Fontana. Link to LA Times story and NBC.

It’s hard to believe this tragic news. My wife and I had the chance to hang out with Corey and his then fiance, Tracy, in New York a couple of years ago. They were a great couple and had just gotten married last year.

After becoming one of the best-known internet marketers, Corey was enjoying life and spending time doing what he loved to do — racing cars.

One of Corey’s first products on the internet was replacement Ferrari emblems for owners who had theirs stolen. From his internet marketing success, Corey was able to afford expensive sports cars himself, as well as the time to enjoy them.

At 34 years old, he was enjoying life — he had a wonderful wife, a new house in La Jolla and the freedom to do as he pleased.

Many of the current internet marketers were inspired by Corey, and he will be missed by many.

Very sad news.

Henk van Ess started a blog called Search Bistro yesterday. It was slashdotted almost immediately.

What caused the stir is Henk’s disclosure of some of the details behind Google’s Secret Evaluation Lab, otherwise known as Rater Hub Google.

Apparently, Google uses part-time workers around the world to make “quality evaluations” of various search results as a way to improve their algorithm.

Interesting. Check it out here.

According to a new study by the University of Pennsylvania (a telephone surevey of 1,500 adults), 87% of people strongly objected to online stores charging different prices to different people.

Of course, this is a common practice. At the low end, sites test different prices all the time. Indeed, if you’re not testing, you’re not marketing.

At the high end, sophisticated e-commerce companies are able to offeer different prices to different visitors based on behavior. For example, a site visitor who was referred by a shopping engine may be offered a better price than a normal visitor.

Also, as companies seek to retain loyal shoppers they may offer better prices to site loyalists than people just seeking the lowest price for a one time purchase.

As a practical matter, though, merchants should keep in mind the lifetime value of the customer. Earning less profit on the first sale may be all right if the customer has a good experience and returns again and again.

At the same time, as consumers, it’s good for us to be aware of what’s going on. In this recent Pennsylvania study, called “Open to Exploitation,” more than two-thirds of participants thought that online travel sites were required by law to offer the lowest airfare possible. Argh.