Google (GOOG) has generated most of its income from the Ad Words program. When using it, you choose a group of words that you think will come up in an online search. You agree to pay from 1 cent upwards each time your words are clicked upon. Google uses a bidding war technique with its Ad Words program. The highest bidder per word gets to place its website on the top ten of a search page. That program has been fantastic for Google.

At the same time Yahoo! (YHOO) has taken a different road. It chose to offer display ads on search pages. The ads component added to its revenue stream in 2009, making it number one.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations reported today that newstand circulation for magazines fell 9.1% in the second half of 2009. Overall circulation -- including subscriptions -- fell too, but newstand circulation is a better indicator of the health of the industry because it is a more timely reactor to economics changes, and many magazines have kept their circulation up with deep subscription discounting. For instance, a one-year subscription to Glamour is being offered for just $7 on Amazon.com. Interestingly, the two-year rate is $14.97, a reversal of the usual "commit to 2-years and get a lower per-issue price" deal that publishers offer. That may be a sign of optimism on the part of the industry, suggesting a belief that greater pricing power will return as the economy improves.

Facebook wants to take over the display advertising on its larger-than-life social network. In the process, it will stop using Microsoft (MSFT) to display the majority of advertising at what is becoming one of the most heavily-trafficked pieces of Internet real estate globally.

Is Microsoft angry? It should be -- every time the world's largest software company crafts some small way to try and compete with Internet advertising leader Google (GOOG), the rugs gets pulled from under it.

Who's ready for some football? The Super Bowl is this weekend, and you know what that means -- commercials that we will all be talking about on Monday morning. In fact, we all know someone who says they watch the game for the commercials.

CBS announced earlier this week that it sold out all the in-game spots, but a few pre- and post-game spots remained. How much money did this make for CBS (CBS)? Roughly $200 million, and that is a low-end estimate. We all know why advertisers flock to the Super Bowl, as more than 98.7 million viewers tuned in last year. No matter who is in the Super Bowl, people watch the game and the commercials -- and eventually they may buy the products from the ads.

In light of Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) string of recalls recently, one can wonder what the large automaker is going to do in the U.S. to salvage its reputation. Toyota, as far as this writer can recall, has never seen a model-variety recall like this in its history. So much is wrong that the world's largest automaker has halted production of eight separate vehicle models until it finds out just what is causing some of them to accelerate uncontrollably.

Five assembly lines that help build these models are being suspended as of Monday, and Toyota has sent messages to 1,200 U.S. dealers asking them to stop selling the models in question immediately. The models include some of Toyota's most popular: RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander and the Tundra pickup.

About an hour ago, Apple (AAPL) finally unveiled its much anticipated and rumored tablet computer -- the iPad. For the past couple of years, many wondered why Apple never got into the netbook market. Steve Jobs, Apple's founder, CEO and visionary explained that netbooks simply are not better than laptops. The iPad, however, according to Jobs is.

Specs, from Engadget: The Apple iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds, and has a 9.7-inch touchscreen LCD display. It's running Apple's own 1GHz "A4" chip, with a 10-hour battery life and a month of standby. It'll come in three sizes and prices points: 16GB -- sold for $499, 32GB -- sold for $599, and 64GB -- $699.

Eating less is being rewarded in a strange new way. Thinner employees at Whole Foods (WFMI) will enjoy deeper discounts on food, leading to an even wider disparity relative to the ... ummmm ... "bigger-boned" employees. A new employee rewards program called "Health Starts Here" offers employees discounts based on body mass index. Hit the gym, go for a jog or simply enjoy the perks of a naturally buzzing metabolism, and you can save a fortune. Carry around a little extra heft, and you'll pay more to maintain it.

At present, every Whole Foods employee receives a 20% discount on purchases in the store. By sweating to the oldies, however, they can take that discount to 30%. But dieting like a model won't work: nicotine use is a disqualifier. So, if you're trying to smoke your way to svelte, find another way.

Yahoo, Inc. (YHOO) is trading higher in after hours trading today after posting earnings in line with analyst estimates.

Going into this afternoon's earnings report, Wall Street had been expecting to see the company show earnings of 11 cents per share, which Yahoo was able to match.

It's been a long time since there's been any good news for the print media, but this is a start: ad pages at leading fashion magazines are significantly year over year.

InStyle pulled off an incredible 33.5% jump in year over year ad pages for its March issue, and Vogue eked out a 0.6% increase. Harper's Bazaar was up 4.4%. Elle was up 4%. The big laggard was W, which saw its ad count fall 23.4%.

It's usually expensive to get a customer. So why not find ways to get more business from your existing base? It's certainly an effective way of building revenues. Hey, just look at the millions of customers that keep returning to businesses like Starbucks (SBUX) and McDondalds (MCD).

So how can you encourage repeat business? It takes hard work and patience. But here are some tips:

Trusted Source: I talked to someone recently who said that she has used the same travel agent for over 30 years. I said, "What about using Expedia or some other online site for your travel?"

Looking back on what became a tough end to a tough year for the retail sector, the one bright spot was the online sector. Shoppers whipped out their plastic at a record rate on Black Friday, a trend that continued throughout the season.

The Amazon (AMZN) Kindle killed the competition, reinforcing the status of the online channel as the future of the retail business. Social media, in particular, had its first real test this year, as many companies -- including Best Buy (BBY), JCPenney (JCP) and Target (TGT) -- used the likes of Twitter and Facebook to engage customers, publicize sales and generally increase revenue. The next stage in the evolution, of course, is to use shopping behavior to trigger viral results.

From his apartment in 1999, Marc Benioff started a new-fangled software company, Salesforce.com (CRM). While there have been some missteps along the way, the company is a model of success. Today, Salesforce.com generates more than $1 billion in sales, is profitable and has a market cap of $9 billion.

How did Marc do it? Well, now we have a chance to find out. That is, he has written an excellent book about his experiences and strategies, called Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company -- and Revolutionized an Industry.

Over 10,000 leaders in technology, business, and finance recently gathered at Columbia University in Manhattan to analyze emerging trends at the second New York Entrepreneurs Week. The conference featured such companies as SecondMarket, FirstMark, Capital Behind the Burner, Behance, Nolcha, TheLadders.com, Bonobos, 1-800 Flowers, Meetup.com, Thrillist and NYC SBS.

The conference's founder is Gary Whitehill, a 26-year-old entrepreneur who strives to educate entrepreneurs worldwide. Whitehill graduated in June 2007 from Central Connecticut State University with a triple-degree in management, marketing and entrepreneurship. Having been to New York City just once in his life, he relocated to the Manhattan without knowing anybody. Whitehill said, "I knew for sure that one way or another, my decision to move to New York would be an adventure I would not regret," and it definitely paid off, not only for him, but also the thousands of people who attended New York Entrepreneur Week.

Google's (GOOG) future ambition: to conquer the mobile ad world just like it has the World Wide Web world.

Although there is much convergence between the two, mobile devices are replacing PCs for much of the world's Internet activity (it's tiny now, but exploding more every year). To that end, Google's Android mobile operating system, which is now taking the world by storm, wants to be the clear leader in mobile Internet and application access.

I was surprised to read that PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) isn't going to utilize the Super Bowl for advertising purposes. According to this item over at BNET.com, the soda giant will not air commercials for its beverages during the popular annual event.

It's interesting because both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola (KO) thrive on one thing: effective marketing. Sure, you might be a fan of soft drinks and think they sell themselves, but they really don't. Every year, each company's management team must make important decisions concerning how much to spend on ads, whether or not a particular campaign is working, which celebrity should be approached next to become a sponsor, etc.