Search Marketing Insomniac…The Blog of Adam Henige

*This guest post was provided by the good folks at SEMAdvisory.

The old tried-and-true forms of traditional advertising are being shifted to the backburner. Print media such as magazines and newspapers, and broadcast media like radio and television, are seeing fewer and fewer budget dollars from businesses who are finding online marketing more effective, and more cost-effective.

According to a marketing research report co-sponsored by ExactTarget.com and Econsultancy, more money is being allocated to digital forms of advertising by more businesses. The report is based on poll to over 1,000 marketers regarding their 2010 marketing and branding strategies.

Despite economic decline over the last few years, 46% of marketers polled said they are increasing their overall advertising budgets in 2010. And 66% of those polled said they are increasing their digital advertising budgets. Overall, the report says it expects a 17% surge in the total amount of digital advertising spending.

Metrics is the New Rule

For advertising dollars to be worth the expense, it needs to be effective. And though there are ways to trace and measure the conversions of some traditional forms of advertising like sales letters, knowing the exact ROI an advertising campaign reaches per person is nearly impossible.

But not with digital marketing. Marketing via the internet allows an entirely new “scientific” aspect to measuring and tracking advertising efforts. That is one reason many marketers are adjusting their marketing efforts toward digital advertising. The majority of online marketers can effectively measure the advertising results of strategies such as SEO, email, and pay per click. That is why 64% of marketers are plan to increase marketing dollars toward these strategies in 2010.

And while digital marketing is still a growing trend, not everyone is getting on board. However, 28% of marketers polled said they are shifting at least a small portion of their marketing budget to digital channels. And 34% of said that “more science than art” is the reason for shifting some budgetary monies.

Social media is also seeing a spike in allocated funds. 70% of respondents said they will be increasing budgets for off-site social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, the growing popularity of mobile advertising is spurring on 56% of respondents to increase spending toward mobile searches.

Digital Advertising Challenges

Though more marketers are spending more money than ever on digital advertising, there are still some limitations and barriers that a few have not yet overcome. 48% of respondents said that the biggest barrier to digital advertising growth was the lack of understanding about the media. Additionally, 35% said they have a lack of staff who can implement and track digital advertising.

So while digital advertising is still growing, and many more marketers are increasing digital marketing budgets, it seems there is still much to learn about the opportunities of online marketing. The digital channels of marketing present a vast frontier for marketers to spend quality advertising dollars in the future when it is better understood and the staff is available to conduct digital advertising in earnest.

Author Bio:

SEMAdvisory assists Dallas SEO clients in reaching their online goals. We pride ourselves in delivering effective Dallas search engine optimization to all small to mid-sized business owners.

While I’m certainly not a bashful person, I do tend to shy away from too much professional bravado.  However, I got a kick out of some of our organic results when I took a look at them today. A while back I published an article about geo-targeting with SEO, discussing the benefits of targeting your local market first, particularly in highly competitive environments.  In it I discussed our approach at Netvantage, where we made it a focus to establish ourselves in the local market before moving to broader, generalized terms.

Well, since I have been doing a lot of speaking engagements lately, and I also was introduced to an article which made it clear that you need to call out proposed “gurus”, I thought I’d throw this out on the table to prove the value in what I say.  We have three primary services here at Netvantage Marketing:  Search engine optimization, paid search management and web analytics consulting.  So in terms of geo-targeting these terms, we want to be the prominent firm for these services in Michigan.  So, according to Big Brother Google, how do we stack up?  As of 1:25am today (no, I don’t sleep), here are our results for:

• Michigan search engine optimization
• Michigan paid search management
• Michigan web analytics consulting
  *Click the link to run the search
  

Admittedly, we have teetered between number one and six for “Michigan search engine optimization” recently as we have turned our focus slightly towards other terms, but we have the top two listings for “Michigan paid search management“, “Michigan web analytics consulting” and even “Michigan web analytics” pretty solidly sewn up for the time being.  Granted, these are not the most competitive keywords on the market, but they are competitive and provide us a solid flow of highly targeted traffic.

We aim for transparency at Netvantage, and we laid out our strategy and just wanted to show that it’s working.  Since we can’t publicize what we do for our clients, I figured this would help show that our strategies and tactics work.  If you go back to the original article, you’ll also see that I pointed out that we aimed to segue this tactic into national level rankings.  To show how that’s working:

• Paid search management
• Web analytics consulting

Well, that puts the bullseye firmly on us for our competitors, but I think it’s important to display that our tactics work, even in the most difficult of markets.  And trust me, trying to SEO against the nation’s best SEOs (and Michigan has several of the best SEO firms, including OneUpWeb and Pure Visibility) is no small task.

***CAUTION:  Blatant sales pitch to follow***

SEO is the most important marketing tool we have, and we want to make it just as valuable to you.  Contact us online to learn more about our services, or just give us a call at 877.204.0234.

Netvantage Marketing’s Joe Ford presents “Using Search Engines to Market Your Business” for Capital Area IT Council

In association with the Capital Area IT Council, the Greater Lansing Business Showcase will exhibit “Using Search Engines to Market Your Business” on Oct. 30.  The presentation will feature Netvantage Marketing’s Managing Partner Joe Ford.

The presentation will discuss how to leverage Google to market and advertise small businesses.  Presenters aim to educate business owners about natural search engine optimization and AdWords, a pay per click management program, as well as instructions how to implement these strategies.   ”We want to give our attendees action-oriented tactics, so they can go back to their desks after the presentation and know how to do this,” said Ford.

The Capital Area IT Council’s presentation will begin at 2:00 p.m.  Other presenters on this topic include TechSmith CEO Bill Hamilton, Spartan Internet Consulting President Ryan Vartoogian, and Liquid Web Director of Marketing Travis Stoliker.  “I am thrilled to be on a board with Lansing’s top industry leaders, promoting the advantages of marketing and advertising on Google,” said Ford.

The Greater Lansing Business Showcase is a trade show and networking event that highlights mid-Michigan businesses and offers an opportunity to network with customers, potential customers, and other professionals throughout the community.  In addition to the seminar, the Capital Area IT Council’s exhibit will draw attention to one of the fastest growing sectors in the Capital area.  Between 1998 and 2004, information technology grew 20 percent.

Netvantage Marketing is also hosting a series of seminars, Search Engines for Small Business.   At their August event, Netvantage Marketing greeted a considerable audience for their presentation on site content improvements, Meta tags, and other processes at East Lansing’s Dublin Square.  In November, Ford and Managing Partner Adam Henige will present the second installment, “11 on 11/11 - 11 Ways to Use Google to Your Advantage,” at Claddagh’s Irish Pub in East Lansing, Mich.  This seminar will include training in tools that will improve organic optimization and paid search.   The Michigan search engine marketing firm offer services for several local organizations, including the Mid-Michigan Food Bank, McDonald’s & Company and Tires By Web.

Those interested in the Greater Lansing Business Showcase presentation may purchase tickets Lansing Center box office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 30. Those interested in the “11 on 11/11″ seminar must register by e-mail at seminars@netvantagemarketing.com.  Netvantage Marketing is a Michigan search engine optimization, pay per click management and web analytics consulting company based in Okemos.  For more information, you can reach the Netvantage office by phone at 517-853-5838 or on the web at http://netvantagemarketing.com.