Our senior editor talks with AllBusiness.com's new CEO about video advertising, the evolution of online marketing and more.

Dawn Anfuso: First off, congratulations on your appointment. How has the transition into CEO been for you so far?

Kathy Yates joined AllBusiness in July 2005 as COO, and was promoted to CEO earlier this year. Before working at AllBusiness, Yates was president and COO of MarketWatch.com where she guided the sale of the company to Dow Jones for $519 million in January 2005.

Kathy Yates: It has been very smooth. I joined AllBusiness as employee number eight, so I've been part of all of the formative decisions. Stepping into the CEO role (from being COO) has meant that I needed to shift the proportion of my time that is outward-facing versus inward-facing, but we have a strong team of executives and our strategy remains the same: to build the best online resource for growing businesses.

Anfuso: What are your top priorities for AllBusiness.com?

Yates: 1) To grow the breadth and depth of the information we offer our users. We have over 1.2 million documents today, and we expect to at least double that in the next several months. Our information comes from a variety of sources: our own writers, trade journals, bloggers and videographers. We provide best-of-breed content in all online media formats across the hundreds of topics that are important to our users.

2) To further improve site usability. We re-launched our site in Q3 of last year, enabling users to find articles, blogs or videos based on relevancy to their interests. There are further enhancements we're making, including improving the relevancy matching and allowing users to search or browse by industry. We have also introduced new specialized resource centers for particular industries (for example, Restaurants). These specialized Centers pull together a rich package of resources that are enhanced by the personal attention and contributions of our exclusive industry experts.

Anfuso: What ad opportunities are available for marketers on AllBusiness.com?

Yates: We are eager to work with marketers on any campaign or creative execution. We offer all IAB standard ad positions. We feature advertiser-sponsored micro-sites. We offer video ads. The thing that distinguishes us is that our audience is actively searching for solutions to help them better manage and grow their businesses. They aren't passively surfing or just checking up on the latest news. They're motivated "intenders," and we offer advertisers the ability to deliver solutions to them in a context that makes the marketers' messages a very valued part of the site.

Anfuso: I noticed that the site is running video ads. How have those been working out for you? What has the reception been to them from advertisers and from readers?

Yates: The introduction of video has exceeded our expectations on all fronts. We have what we believe is the largest library of 'how-to' business video available online today. Viewership ramped very quickly and the video segments are among the most frequently accessed content. We have had a single exclusive advertising sponsor of our video library since its launch -- VISA -- and its marketers are very happy with the results as well.

Anfuso: You have an extensive background in interactive media, having worked for MarketWatch.com, Knight Ridder Digital and CareerPath (now CareerBuilder), among others. How have you seen online publishing and advertising evolve over the years?

Yates: My online publishing experience dates back to 1995; it is almost impossible to recount the number of ways publishing has evolved during that time. But there are three fundamental shifts that, at a high level, summarize all the changes:

First, the internet is now a bonafide -- and necessary -- part of every media plan. When I started in online publishing, the internet was considered ancillary and experimental to both publishers and marketers. It wasn't mainstream. Today, it DEFINES mainstream.

Secondly, the internet has shifted the balance of power between publishers, marketers and users. Users now have control and marketers and publishers must do more than pay lip service to being customer-centric. Users define customer-centricity, not publishers. I see that as a good thing. It keeps us honest.

Finally, the economics of the internet have shifted so that there is a clear competitive advantage to online publishers and marketers. That wasn't so clear in the early years. Because the economics of internet publishing and advertising have improved (through open source applications, the rise of user-generated content, the emergence of efficient PPC ad models, and a variety of other innovations), it is now the case that internet publishing economics are altering the economic structure of the offline publishing world. Take a look at the industry where I spent my early career years: newspapers. The economic underpinning of that industry is radically different than it was 20 years ago, due to the internet. The same is true of broadcast TV.

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