Recent analytic data shows a whopping 93% of web user’s online experiences begin with a visit to a search engine. According to a recent study by comScore, an estimated 4.9 billion Internet searches per month – 1,890 searches EVERY SECOND. These statistics are just a small portion of evidence supporting the idea of online marketing for business development. Most web hosting and development experts will recommend businesses to establish an online marketing campaign, but don’t just take their word for it. The market is reflecting the value of online marketing, too. In 2011, eCommerce sales topped $200 billion USD, with 64% of smartphone owners choosing to shop online using their mobile devices.
Companies that frequently blog, on average, gain 55 percent more web traffic. Also, 57 percent of businesses have claimed to acquire at least one customer through their company blog. Creating a blog relevant to the market of your industry, that features valuable stories and tips for your consumers, will create a sort of online community surrounding your business. In addition, having the blog linked to your website will increase the amount of valuable content linking back to your website, and in turn, will increase your website’s domain authority and page ranking for search engine results, resulting in more web traffic to your company’s website.
While about 90% of all companies do some form of social media marketing, just one out of eight measure the revenue impact directly from these efforts. But don’t let that statistic fool you. Often times a solid social media campaign for your business can be created and managed in-house. Social media marketing is free, and every business can benefit from utilizing its features. However, businesses and organizations are still spending money on social media management. Social media hosting trends show 30 percent of businesses choose to outsource at least a portion of their social media marketing, up from 28 percent in 2011.
Other online marketing tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO) provides leads that have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have only a 1.7% close rate. 21% of marketers who rely on SEO hosting from online marketing firms report being highly satisfied with their campaigns performance, compared with 11% of those who do SEO in-house. SEO campaigns are so valuable because they target organic search results, and 70% of the links search engine users click on are organic.
SEO campaigns can be really difficult to handle in-house. These campaigns require a lot of knowledge in the online marketing industry, and requires a lot of time and man power to build and manage. By the year 2016, more than half of the dollars spent in the United States retail sector will be influenced by online marketing and web presence. Allowing an online marketing firm to handle the bulk of your SEO campaign will save you time, and allow for a more professional, and proper campaign to be utilized.