Welcome back! If you took yesterday off as I did, last week's events probably seem a biz hazy and too far away to remember. But, aside from Valentine's Day, there were several happenings worth reviewing as we dive into the long stretch of full work weeks until the next long weekend.

First off, the Kelsey Group last week predicted that the global market for local search, including online Yellow Pages, will grow at an annual rate of 30.5 percent in the next five years, reaching $13 billion in 2010 from the $3.4 billion in 2005. Additionally, online classifieds will grow 7.9 percent per year, reaching $21.1 billion in 2010, from $14.4 billion in 2005.

Speaking of search, it looks like AOL is winning the conversion race. WebSideStory reports that for the month of January, AOL Search generated the best conversion rate at business-to-consumer e-commerce sites (6.17 percent), followed by MSN (6.03 percent), Yahoo! (4.07 percent) and Google (3.83 percent).

Each of the major search engines posted conversion rates well above the median average, which was 1.97 percent for the month of January. This compares with a median average of 2.30 percent for the last three months of 2005, which WebSideStory reported on last month.

Median Order Conversion Rate by Major Search Engine at Business-to-Consumer E-commerce Sites, January 2006

Search Engine	Median (All Categories)
AOL	6.17%
MSN	6.03%
Yahoo!	4.07%
Google	3.83%

Speaking of Google, HBO will be using Google map technology for a promotion that highlights New Jersey locations that have played an important role in The Sopranos. Working through interactive agency Deep Focus, HBO is buying search terms such as "Sopranos Map" to push viewers to the site. The maps go live February 27.

Another release last week was from eMarketer, which found that while online advertising among the top 10 auto manufacturers accounted for a measly 2.5 percent of their total ad spend from January to November 2005, things are about to pick up. eMarketer estimates that they will spend $2.7 billion in total online advertising in 2007-- nearly twice the $1.4 billion they spent in 2005, or 15 percent of all U.S. internet advertising spending in 2007. eMarketer forecasts that in 2006 automotive internet advertising will reach $1.95 billion, accounting for 12.5 percent of all U.S. online advertising in 2006.

Moving from trends to specific players, Google was again in the news last week, with the purchase of blog analytics tool Measure Map from Adaptive Path. Google will offer the product for free to users, who will be able to send a request for an invite at the service's home page at MeasureMap.com. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Another interesting acquisition involved DoubleClick's Email Solutions, which was purchased by Alliance Data Systems' Epsilon (formerly Bigfoot Interactive). Total consideration for the transaction, which should close by the end of the first quarter, is expected to be approximately $90 million. Reportedly, the annual revenues of DoubleClick Email Solutions are slightly greater than $40 million.

The acquisition is not surprising, considering DoubleClick's sale last year and ongoing restructuring.

In other news, uber-blogger Steve Rubel will be leaving CooperKatz and joining Edelman (the world's largest independent PR firm) on February 27 as a senior vice president. According to his own blog, Rubel will continue to blog at MicroPersuasion.com.

And finally, a surprise. Valentine's Day has long been one of the most lucrative days of the year for merchants of greeting cards, chocolates and flowers, as lovers and friends express their affection by showering each other with gifts, but last week searches for "love poems" surpassed searches for flowers and other Valentine's Day gift staples.

According to Hitwise, the share of internet searches for "love poems" was up 83 percent for the week ending Feb. 11, 2006 versus the week ending Jan. 28, 2006. With the exception of Mother's Day flower searching, "love poems" receives a greater share of searches throughout the year than "flowers," "e-cards" and another popular Valentine's Day gift, "lingerie."
 
For the week ending Feb. 11, 2006, the market share of visits to the Hitwise Flowers & Gifts category increased 39 percent versus the week ending Feb. 4, 2006, while the market share of visits to the top 10 poetry sites was up 14 percent. The site Poems for Free showed the largest increase in market share of visits in that time period, with an increase of 55 percent. Leading Flowers & Gifts retailers with the greatest increases in market share of visits in that time period were Vermont Teddy Bear Company, up 322 percent, FTD.com, up 179 percent and 1-800-Flowers.com, up 106 percent.

iMedia Connection Editor at Large Masha Geller is the founder of interactive marketing and corporate communications consultancy Geller Public Relations in New York. She has been covering the interactive advertising industry since 1999 as the former editor in chief of MediaPost.com, and is a widely-published thought leader in the interactive arena.