Up until five years ago, I had never used the word disintermediation. In fact, if it would have come up in casual conversation, I would have had to pick my way through its bushel of syllables to figure out exactly what it meant. Today, I am acutely aware of the meaning. I use the word a lot. I would put it up there as one of the three or four most important trends to watch, right up there with the Database of Intentions, which I talked about last week. The truth is, if you're a middleman and you're not dead …

There seems to be an ongoing debate in the SEM world on the role of people vs. technology. Of course, it's not an either/or argument. I've worked on both the agency and tech side of SEM, and I can tell you that there is certainly a role for both people and technology -- and some process, too. The key is knowing which parts are best left to (wo)man and which are best left to machine. Here are a few examples.

The acceleration of users accessing Web content from mobile devices rather than traditional desktop and laptop computers has posed a difficult challenge to webmasters: how should websites be presented to mobile visitors? There are a number of design and UX considerations, coupled with the realities of fragmented mobile OS and device ecosystems that make this very problematic. Responsive Web design has emerged as both one of the hottest trends in Web design and development, as well as the preferred method to address these challenges.