The Internet search industry is growing rapidly. No other IT field is hiring as many people.
Major companies are paying top dollar for existing Internet Search resources. Microsoft, Amazon.com, IBM, and other leading edge companies are developing entirely new search engines at this moment. In addition, many independent and open-source projects have begun developing their own web search technology. Impressive, given that the startup costs for a new search engine are estimated to be over $100 million dollars.
Yahoo has acquired Inktomi and Overture services this year.
Business spending on search-based advertising has reached the level of $3.2 Billion dollars in late 2003. This ranks at the same level of spending as on all local radio advertising across the U.S.
Spending on Internet advertising is growing at an annual rate of over 15% per year. This rate of growth puts Internet-based advertising among the top growth areas in any category of media.
Despite this rapid change in the marketplace, less than 10% of web sites are currently search optimized. Most web sites that were developed during the internet boom before the year 2000 have not been updated. Most “web designers” still haven’t learned how to build sites so that they are easily accessible to the search engines.
Search engine technology, thanks to Google, has developed to the point that even inexperienced searchers can find you online without even knowing the name of your business.
The “World Wide Web” is becoming increasingly local. Many Internet search companies are working hard to make the web geographically indexed. While there is still some distance to go in this area, the technology that lets you find all businesses within your city (or neighborhood!) is being developed right now.
Three years ago, people looked at the web as a way to find customers in “far away places”. While this is still very true, the new trend is towards using the web to expand your business locally. Wouldn’t you rather do business with someone in your town if they are just as qualified as that “expert” in New Jersey?
Solid search engine optimization techniques will continue to work for your business in the future, and provide a NECESSARY base for all other online marketing strategies. In addition, you will learn how to leverage all of your other marketing efforts based on your online presence.
Search engine optimization saves you money that would have been spent on pay-per-click ads. If you have already been spending on pay-per-click without search optimizing your site, chances are that you could have reached just as many qualified customers on all but the most competitive search terms.
Some benefits will be immediate. Once your site is optimized, it will be indexed in Google in less than two weeks. At this point, people will be able to find your site easily when they search using a combination of your target key words.
Realistically, a good internet marketing plan takes 3-6 months to develop and execute, and you will see the most benefits after this time.
Yes and No – The deciding factors are cost, and the current “qualities” of your site. You can jump right to the top of results by subscribing to numerous “pay-per-click” services. In specific cases, a site can be moved to the top of the search results immediately without paying for placement.
When there is little competition for your keywords, merely optimizing your site will usually push it to the top of the list. Also, if your site is already linked to by a number of high-ranking sites, it will be much easier to achieve a high ranking quickly based on your current “link popularity”.
Brand new web sites take longer to promote because they don’t have many incoming links.
Fortunately, Yes. One advantage to search engine marketing is that you don’t have to make a huge financial commitment to get started. Costs of search marketing are infinitely scalable. If your budget only allows a few hundred dollars this quarter, there are still ways to benefit from starting immediately.
No one can predict the future, but there are several reasons why Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing will have long term benefits to your business.
Most business web sites aren’t very well optimized yet. By starting now, you’ll be ahead of most of your competition. When they do decide to match your efforts, you’ll be refining your strategy. They will have to spend more money than you did initially just to catch up.
Yes, however Search Engine Optimization should be looked at as a “base” to build all other Online Marketing off of. Banner ads, paid directory listings, pay-per-click, and even email campaigns will be more effective when they work towards the common goal of improving the visibility of your business.
Two things you may want: More customers, or existing customers that want to buy more from you.
Internet Marketing is fundamentally different from Radio, Newspaper, Television and any other advertising media. With traditional media you get 30 seconds or a three week run. Most good web sites will be used by your customer before and after they buy from you, and don’t go “off the air” when the marketing budget is used up.
Customer Relationship Management starts from the moment a customer finds out about your company. When it works well, it continues forever through multiple sales.
Not necessary! At least 90% of your experience promoting a business applies to Internet Marketing. Having an Internet-savvy consultant guide you through the remaining 10% will let you focus on what you’re good, at and avoid the frustration of not knowing what to do.
Listen to your customers!!!! This is the easiest way to decide what keywords to target.
If your customers are looking for thingamajigs and you have them, but you call them thingamabobs, rethink your naming. Search engines match words, not ideas.
Get used to the idea that everything for sale on the internet is a commodity. Your product may be better or unique, but ultimately it’s being compared to 200,000 similar offers from other companies.
When you pay for placement, it is usually based on keywords. Prices can vary greatly between keywords that express the same idea.
| 