Thanks for a very useful comparison. I've cited it and linked to it on my Web Conferencing Services blog. One new up-and-comer I'm aware of is MyMeeting123, which seems to offer lower pricing than most and a solid list of features. I can't vouch for their quality or reliability, as I haven't tried their service.

Good question. There may be a shift, but I don't think it will be big or immediate. Blekko certainly makes it easier to see why a particular site is ranking on Blekko, but it's not clear how well that correlates with the factors used by the big search engines, especially Google. It would be great if Blekko's example caused Google to be more transparent about their algorithms, but I'm not holding my breath. Blekko would need to capture a significant search market share before Google does anything like that, I think.

I think that the online social media are quickly overtaking traditional SEO as the most effective way to create interest, discussion, and traffic to websites. Do people still use search engines? Sure they do. But they increasingly listen to the conversations on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites also. The future is upon us (as usual).

I think the kindest reply I can make to your comment is that there's an enormous difference between a talented amateur and a qualified professional.

I've seen the results when amateurs create websites. Even when they look nice (which is rare) they're often vulnerable to hacking because the amateur doesn't know how to protect them. See Anthony Taylor's comment about security, above. And even professionals have been known to create software that's full of bugs, easy to hack, and fails to do what it's supposed to. See some of my other posts here for details.

So I can't agree with you. A real IT expert isn't just someone who knows how to troubleshoot his or her home computer. There's much more to IT.

Good points. Part of the difficulty is that IT has traditionally been part of Finance in large corporations and has been considered an expense, a cost center, rather than a crucial strategic asset. Progressive companies and CIOs have been working to change this reactionary view for a long time. But there's much more work to be done.

Smaller businesses may inherit some of the outmoded views, but they also can potentially be much more flexible. That's why it's so important for them to recognize the importance of qualified IT executive oversight, realize when they don't have it, and hire it when they need it. Bringing in an interim CIO or part-time IT Director as needed for larger projects and periodically for assessments is a wise and cost-effective option. As you point out, regular security audits are mandatory.