Publishers can earn significant revenue from Google’s AdSense tools, but simply placing AdSense on the site is only part of the story – getting the search engines to create revenue for publishers means optimising the search marketing placement for best result.

The promise of behavioural targeting is to create more relevant messaging to consumers, increasing the media efficiency of campaigns, and giving a better deal to advertisers.

The first behavioural advertising technologies were deployed back in 2000, but it wasn’t until 2006 that behavioural targeting really established itself as a mainstream tool in north America and Western Europe.

Many web publishers have unsold space and fail to get the most value of it. Danny Meadows-Klue reflects on a few ideas Digital’s team have found that work well for publishers. They are only a start, but are designed to show ways to get more value from online inventory.

In this summer's edition we track why rain on the high street accelerated the growth of online retail, how China emerged as the country with the largest internet population, Russia as Europe's fastest growing digital nation, and the BBC iPlayer continued to enjoy success as it crosses tipping points in new markets with new features.

The team here at Digital for years have said 2009 would be the year mobile advertising really takes off, and several new forecasts are aligning with us: we're expecting to see big rises from the acceleration now underway. And if you ever thought you were spending too much time online, then spare a thought for "extreme gamers" who according to new research are clocking up more than 45 hours on the web every week.

This month's Digital Intelligence | Recent editions of Digital Intelligence | Apply for a guest account for Digital Intelligence

In the traditional channels of television, press or outdoor, advertising came and went, and the presence of messages evaporated with the end of each campaign. Their legacy was a switch in consumer behaviour or attitude, but except for commercial breaks archived on dusty video cassettes, or full page ads buried in a pile of glossy magazines by the sofa, the physical assets of a campaign were gone without trace.

While marketing budgets across the board are feeling the pinch the IPA's latest data shows that online remains the only sector experiencing positive growth. In addition, revised forecasts from ZenithOptimedia now expect online to take 10% of this year's global advertising spend.

This month has also seen further evolutions in digital convergence - a trend we have been tracking in Digital Intelligence from the very beginning. Soon both Sony and Microsoft will have video-on-demand services for their various multi-function gaming devices, and both firms are now bringing in content partners to widen their offerings.

As consumers we're now used to the idea of things being connected and able to fulfil many roles - so it was no surprise this month to see that Facebook now takes over 45% of the UK's social networking traffic. Perfect timing then for us to tell you about a little Facebook app we've built to send you our latest news and headlines.

This month's Digital Intelligence | Recent editions of Digital Intelligence | Apply for a guest account for Digital Intelligence

Most online advertising can work much harder than it does. Banners can work better at building brands, search engine listings can generate more leads, brand microsites can deliver richer customer connections. The challenge is knowing how to achieve this.

The web should be your most powerful lead generation tool, but is it doing the job properly? We've worked with thousands of marketers to help them increase the volume of leads they get and decrease the price they pay. Most search advertising, search engine optimisation and web customer acquisition programmes can work much harder - if only you know what to do, or what to ask of your agency. The challenge is knowing how to achieve this.

The web and email may be some of the most powerful channels marketers have, but sadly most digital budgets are poorly used. Many firms waste a third or more of their digital marketing by failing to get the model for lead generation or consumer connections right. Briefs to their agencies can be weak, the consumer insights underpinning the strategy can be poor, and all to often the execution is far from what it could be.

Keeping on top of digital marketing and publishing is tough. Most agencies suffer from serious under-staffing, and the wage price inflation for digital skills means they can't afford the talent they need. That's why investing in building the knowledge and skills of their team is the key to maintaining the edge.

How many websites have been built that no one ever visited? How many banner campaigns that didn't achieve a single increase in sales? How many search listings that were so far down in Google they never got a single click? It's sad to reflect that most digital strategies fail. Since 1994 our directors and associates have been helping firms get digital channels right. Originally they did it as specialists within media firms and brands, and then in 2000 set up this consultancy practice.

How do you hire a digital agency? What should you look for? How do you tell the difference between smart use of the latest technology and a technology looking for a solution? How do you know the skills you're offered are the skills you need? Who does the great work and who simply does great pitches?

The figures are in for 2007, showing that online passed the £3bn threshold last year and now makes up 16% of the UK's ad market. In Europe online adspend grew 40% during the year and is on course to overtake the US by 2010. These trends are only set to continue with some analysts now predicting that online budgets in the UK could overtake TV this year.

The long-running Microsoft-Yahoo! saga has also come to a close with the clearest winner seeming to be... Google. Yahoo's determination to avoid being acquired has strengthened the search giant's position even further. It remains to be seen if and when their new ad deal will be rolled out worldwide.

This month also saw Facebook overtake MySpace with astonishing annual growth of 162%. Facebook is clearly no longer the underdog rebel upstart though at present its users seem to be staying loyal.

This month's Digital Intelligence | Recent editions of Digital Intelligence | Apply for a guest account for Digital Intelligence

The latest US online adspend data shows continued strong growth as brands continue to move budgets online. New research is also continuing to identify online's specific strengths and role in cross-media campaigns.

Days away from the launch of Apple's new model iPhone it's no coincidence that this month we have focussed on developments taking place in the mobile phone sector. Recent trends and developments suggest the mobile web is clearly on course to reach its tipping point - mobile-based IM and social networking are set to make us more connected than ever before. No surprise then that key players including Microsoft and Vodafone are jockeying for position to give consumers and advertisers the tools they didn't even know they needed a year ago.

This month's Digital Intelligence | Recent editions of Digital Intelligence | Apply for a guest account for Digital Intelligence