SEMPO Study Shows SEM Spending Growing

Despite the probable recession, spending on search engine marketing exceeded projections in 2007 and is expected to see continued growth in 2008, according to the 2007 State of the Market survey by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), www.sempo.org, released at a recent Search Engine Strategies conference.

Did-It President and SEMPO Board Member Kevin Lee told Search Engine Watch the growth in Search Marketing indicated by the research may be coming from unexpected places:

"I'm surprised we're not seeing as big a shift from TV. Search is getting more budget from offline media that are usually used to narrow-cast, instead of TV and radio, which are broadcast media," Lee said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense, but maybe it's because it's being moved from something niche-y to something else that's niche-y? As search becomes more recognized as something that brand advertisers can use, I'd expect to see more TV and radio dollars shift as well."

Radar Research surveyed 867 search engine advertisers and SEM agencies through research administered by IntelliSurveyInc.

Here are key findings:

• "The North American SEM industry grew from $9.4 billion in 2006 to $12.2 billion in 2007, exceeding earlier projections of $11.5 billion for 2007.
  
  
• North American SEM spending is now projected to grow to $25.2 billion in 2011, up significantly from the $18.6 billion forecast a year ago.
  


• Marketers are finding more search dollars by poaching budget from print magazine spending, website development, direct mail and other marketing programs.


• Paid placement captures 87.4% of 2007 spending; organic SEO, 10.5%; paid inclusion, .07%, and technology investment, 1.4%."

Search Engine Watch - Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy by Kevin Newcom

Search Engine Land
The State Of Search Engine Marketing 2007 by Chris Sherman

The Internet Passes Television Reports MediaPost

Today MediaPost.com reported yet another metric that further documents the meteoric rise of the internet – more eyeballs now look online than on television:

“The internet has already surpassed television based on one significant statistic - the number of gross advertising impressions served. And if online publishers can figure out how to properly measure the worth of those impressions, they ultimately will overtake television in an even more important statistic: share of marketers' advertising budgets. That was the conclusion of Gian Fulgoni, executive chairman and co-founder of comScore, during a keynote here at the opening of the OMMA conference Monday.”

According to the MediaPost article, comScore analysis indicates that the Internet now delivers "50% more" gross rating points than television.

Anyone interested in the growth of online advertising should read the full article by reported Joe Mandese, but it may also be useful to put this development in context:

According to a Morgan Stanley report:

• Radio took 37 years to reach $1 billion in sales
• TV took 10 years to reach $1 billion in sales
• The Internet took just 3 years to reach $1 billion in sales.
  

The first television ad was broadcast 67 years ago on July 1, 1941 and showed a static image with a clock and the slogan “America Runs On Bulova Time”






The first web banner ad ran 14 years ago, when AT&T’s ad in Hotwired.com published, on October 25 1994.








Pay Per Click Advertising started just a decade ago, when IdeaLab’s Goto.com invented paid search marketing. GoTo.com became Overture and, in 2001, was acquired by Yahoo and was renamed Yahoo Search Marketing.








Google, now the market leader in online advertising, started its search marketing offering, AdWords, just eight years ago

The New Choice for Local Search Marketing - Local Directive

(LocalDirective.com Now Sending New Customers to Local Businesses

(TAMPA, FL) --- Local businesses that have not focused on search marketing because of its cost and complexity can now gain prospects and customers through campaigns on Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com, starting at just $300 a month.

For decades, local businesses have relied on yellow page ads to attract customers. But there is now growing evidence that local businesses need to consider other alternatives:

• Over 60 percent of consumers search for a local business on the internet, and only 33 percent use the yellow pages. [Source TMP Directional, 2007]

• Almost 40% of local shoppers say that a presence on the internet – or lack of presence – will affect their decision about who they do business with. [Source: Web.com, 2007]

But two problems have kept many local businesses from advertising online:

1. Online Advertising Is Complex: To reach your potential customers on Google or Yahoo, or dozens of other local sites, you have to set up accounts, manage keyword research and selection, set and optimize bids, develop and optimize ads, create a company profile, submit content to key directories and databases…and more.

2. Until Now It Was Too Expensive: Because of the complexity and knowledge required, marketing agencies concentrate on businesses willing to spend thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars, each month.

“Too often local businesses have suffered from over-priced or ineffective search marketing campaigns,” says LocalDirective founder Lisa Maier, a Wharton MBA with significant experience in search and directional marketing. “Our team offers decades of experience building literally thousands of local advertising campaigns. We understand the local market and are dedicated to providing services aimed at that market.”

LocalDirective offers a complete, low-cost online solution with a variety of search marketing packages, each customized based on business category, geographical location, and business objectives. In addition to search marketing, services include landing page or microsite development, business profile development, and submission to more than 20 important online databases.

Clients also gain advanced campaign management services aimed at generating the greatest number of responses at the lowest cost. This optimization is how LocalDirective maximizes the return on advertising investment.

Clients are provided with reports that show the number and types of responses received. This feedback on prospect quality is used in the LocalDirective process to continually hone advertising programs and tweak the content of ads and landing pages.

For more information, visit www.LocalDirective.com, email morecustomersplease@localdirective.com or call (866) 925-9524.

Google Adds Load Time to Quality Score Equation

Not only will load time issues cause site abandonment, a quality score penalty that started in February could hamper search marketing campaigns for sites with load time problems.

Probably the best article on this is at Search Engine Roundtable (see included link) offers these tips for avoiding load time penalties:
* Use fewer redirects.
* Reduce the page size by using fewer, smaller, and more highly- compressed images.
* Do not use interstitial pages. * Minimize the use of iframes on your landing page.
* Contact your webmaster or webhosting provider to discuss other ways of improving your website's load time."

The article also says your "load time will receive one of two grades. If it's graded This page loads slowly, your landing page quality and Quality Score will be negatively affected. If it's graded No problems found, your landing page quality and Quality Score will not be affected."”