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If 2008 was the year web design and technology matured, then 2009 will probably be the year search engine optimization grows up.

Big companies are already catching on as the line between advertising and content all but disappears. But companies and organizations of all sizes that are truly committed to improving their web presence seem to be warming to a concept that we've literally been living by: organic SEO and SEO via design.

To be truly effective we believe SEO has to be -- at least in most parts -- organic. Without making design, layout, navigation and source code changes, the success, if any, of an SEO campaign will most likely be artificial and short-lived (think healthy diet and exercise over supplements and Botox).

Something else to keep in mind is that one-stop, blanket SEO solutions rarely attract quality website traffic or reliable search rankings. This is why we emphasize custom campaigns with specific objectives in mind.

A website for a Philadelphia-based company may have no shot at climbing the ranks of general search results for common search queries. But the website may be able to dominate the rankings of local and region-related queries, providing visibility where it may matter most.

For more discussion or to inquire about custom campaigns, feel free to drop us a line.

The last year has been wonderful for the internet. 2008 shows trends in the use of web design and technology over the past four years (aka Web 2.0) solidifying, maturing, and bearing fruit.

We asked ourselves which new web tools and applications we utilized most or recommend to our clients. The final list is compiled below:

1. Facebook Advertising

It took a while but the leading social networking website has finally expanded its highly targeted and customizable advertising plaform to include campaigns with characteristics similar to AdWords.

Not only can web marketers pin-point ad delivery by age, sex, location, education level, workplace, relationship status and interests, but we can now price ads on Facebook by click-thru rates (PPC) or by impression (CPI). You can also set up maximum rates for how much you're willing to pay per click or 1000 impressions and set daily spending limits at as little as $5 a day.

2. Google Alerts (beta) + Insights (beta) + Zeitgeist

Google has debuted -- pretty quietly -- several free web tools and apps over the last couple of years, many of which are fantastic but just not on this list. We chose the three tools that are listed here because they make up a trio of basic components helpful in making search marketing keyword choices and implementing organic search engine optimization.

Alerts sends you emails (at a frequency you can set) when there is a new search result for the search term(s) of your choice. All you need is a Google account.

Insights is perhaps the most sophisticated of the three. It presents information in lists and simple graphs that can, among other things, help web marketers choose advertising messages and determine what combination of similar search phrases are used more than others. If you're optimizing your website for keywords related to your industry, you may want to know, for example, if people search "web design" or "web development " more often.

Zeitgeist is a tool that identifies search trends and popular search phrases. The year-end results tell us that the top five fastest rising searches in the United States were (in order from 1 to 5): "obama", "facebook", "att", "iphone", and "youtube". What does that tell you?

3. Skype

We use it every day. Skype is free software for Mac or PC that enables internet chat, VoIP calling, video conferencing, and file transferring. It has struggled somewhat to stay visible amongst the leading web communications tools -- particularly Instant Messenger and iChat, which often come pre-installed on your computer.

Nevertheless, we use Skype constantly for work and play and the subscription service enables our business to have voice communication at a fraction of the cost of traditional landlines.

4. Firefox 3

Wow. Hands-down, the best web browser release yet. Of course we haven't seen how Google Chrome is going to play out, especially since it hasn't yet been released for Macs, but Firefox 3 is stable, intuitive, customizable, secure, and fast. Our favorite feature: Session Restore. If Firefox ever crashes on you, it will instantly restore all of your windows, tabs, and downloads.

5. Vimeo

This is no YouTube. Thankfully. Vimeo is a web video service that enables users to upload, store, share, and embed video content. The key reason we've gravitated toward this service over the countless other free web video platforms is its ease of use, easy customization, attractive player, and commitment to higher quality video options such as HD.

6. Tumblr

Tumblr is a powerful, free, blog publisher that is extremely simple to set up and customize. The available design templates are both attractive and practical and they've made it quick and painless to execute common blog functions such as posting photos, embedding video, and uploading audio files.

Tumblr is so versatile that it's been used (by us and by others) to quickly develop a full simple website. Our favorite Tumblr site is the brilliant Garfield Minus Garfield.

7. Twitter

Initially, we dismissed Twitter as just another way to waste colossal amounts of time. But the fact remains that real-time messaging is taking off and Twitter offers a quick and easy way to instantly beam out announcements and other information to friends, family, co-workers and clients.

8. Delicious

While nearly all web browsers offer a way to save bookmarks, browsers don't typically offer a good way to manage those bookmarks. Delicious does. Utilizing tags, categories, and a search engine, you can collect, sort, search, and share all of the websites you want to visit more than once.

Also, a search of all users' bookmarks on Delicious can return very relevant and, at times, better quality results than the same search query in Google. Mmmm.

9. Mint

Whether it's business or personal, we all have to keep track of money. Mint is the best free way to manage all of your finances -- including credit cart and investment accounts -- in one place. It's secure, easy to use, and has lots of graphs and reporting tools to give valuable insights into your spending and saving. It makes QuickBooks look like your grandma's handwritten checkbook register.

10. GasBuddy

In a year when gas prices have hit $4.50 and $1.50, Gas Buddy has provided an essential service: help finding the cheapest gas in town. Despite the website's awful design and clunky functionality, we had to include it on this list because filling up for less is a very good thing.

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We build dynamic websites that dominate search engines, leverage social media, and increase sales.