2008 was a pretty interesting year for me; I got married, spoke on a panel at Google, got a new MacBook, and actually paid off 2 credit cards. When I started to Look ahead at 2009, I came up with a few questions that I think will be answered during the course of the year.

Big Changes at Google?

Ad budgets are getting cut left and right. I know three high-spend marketers who have cut down their paid search budgets about 40% already. Google has already closed down a few cafes on campus and let go quite a few contractors. Will their free food policy change? Will they quit spending money on big-name entertainment to play during catered lunches? Will the staff be reduced due to less money coming in?

They are pushing advertisers to spend more and more money. They offer budget suggestions within the account that tries to push your daily spend up. I also get email from people who are not on my account team at Google sending me emails telling me about all the traffic that I am missing out on. The stock has dropped in recent months (though, to be fair, most stocks have dropped) and most employee options are now under water. Will another staff reduction be coming?

Will Twitter be Bought?

Twitter blew up in 2008. While all the talk was about how Microsoft was going to buy Yahoo! there was not much talk about Twitter being bought by anyone. Will somebody make a play for it in 2009? Many companies might be waiting to see if Twitter can come up with an actual business model. Could Google make a play for it, charge for API usage, and start displaying ads in the feeds?

More Sports Franchises Shut Down?

A 2nd ECHL franchise shut down mid-season and the Phoenix Coyotes are in dire straights. The last NFL game I went to had tons of empty seats and the Minnesota Vikings are having major issues selling playoff tickets. The Arena Football League is even taking a year off. With the economy heading where it is, will we see a number of franchises shut down? How many teams that had trouble in the past few years not make it out of the downturn?

Is this the Year that Ad-Only Business Models Crash and Burn?

There are tons of online businesses that base all of their revenue on selling ad space. The Gawker network of sites uses this revenue model and is reportedly in the process of selling off the Consumerist and shopping a few others. With more and more companies being more diligent on actual return on adverting spend doing blanket banner ads across networks will go away. I know that I am going to look to do smaller deals with smaller, highly targeted websites.

What are your thought on my questions and some of yours for 2009?

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