Boom in search engine marketing

According to a recent survey, search engine marketing is growing faster than expected, while print advertising, direct mails and web development are losing ground.

The explanation, according to zanox, the global market leader in performance-based multichannel commerce, is better return on investment through search engine optimisation and advertising.

The expected growth was 22 per cent, but the revenue for search engine marketing has increased by 30 per cent, from 9.4 billion dollars in 2006 to 12.2 billion dollars in 2007 in North America alone.

The findings are presented in a survey conducted by the international industry organisation for online marketing, SEMPO, based on answers from 867 companies.

"Organisations have become used to search engine marketing", commented Uwe Bormann, Marketing Director at zanox.

"At the same time, the cost per order is lower compared to traditional marketing and it is possible to continuously optimise a campaign.

"That is why a broader part of the marketing budget is allocated to search engines instead of to print advertising, direct mail and even in some ways to web development.

"Search engines are a fantastic tool for marketing," explained Bormann, referring to the fact that more and more people are searching for information on the internet through search engines before making a purchase.

Plenty even extend the search to include an actual purchase in an online shop.

"Online marketing has a clear impact on the bottom line; therefore we see marketing budgets move quickly away from traditional printed media to online media, where there is a shorter way between advertising and sales and better return of the marketing investment", he concluded.

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