Infoserve Group

So it’s not just us who believe in the search industry, we promise.

One of the latest articles by New Media Age, suggests that “the search sector remains the most healthy of all online disciplines.”

In a relatively rare UK-stats based piece (we come across US stats all the time which support our work, but we understand SMEs may be sceptical of any trends developing across the water as necessarily reflecting what is happening here), it states that

“Google’s prices are concerning many, with 69% saying keyword costs have increased over the year…Nevertheless, 39% said ROI from Google has improved, showing that if you invest wisely, then the returns are worthwhile.”

I don’t think anyone can escape the fact that you have to spend money to make money, just make sure you’re doing it in a way that can be measured and is effective, and online advertising is undoubtedly the best format for drilling down on these kind of results. And we think you’ll be surprised anyway – compared to traditional routes of advertising and marketing – online is very, very competitive.

Thank you to everyone who responded to our recent survey about online marketing and views about the internet in general.

We thought we would feedback the results so you can see exactly what everyone else is thinking too. We have compiled the results in a PDF document (752kb) for you to download.

Click here to see the results of the survey

If you are unable to open the PDF document, you can download the free Adobe Reader plugin, available here

So what does it all mean?

Nearly 80% of SMEs we surveyed think it’s very important to have top rankings of Google. Yet over a third rarely or never update their websites.

Having fresh, relevant and tailored content is really important in in determining search engine results. Whilst a few years ago having a website was the sign of a progressive business, people now look for websites that are engaging, dynamic and up-to-date.

It’s best to compare it to the high street - a stale and uninspiring website is like having a shop window that doesn’t ever make any effort to catch anyone’s eye. Most people would just walk past.

So what’s the next step?

Read our survey results to find out a bit more about how to evaluate your online presence.

The latest internet advertising results are out, which provide really clear evidence of the direction of online marketing.

(They are particularly relevant given they are UK based stats rather than a lot of US information which is circulated, and secondly, they are the results for 2009 so are bang up to date)

The stats are from the Internet Advertising Bureau, in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and shows a growth in online spend despite the difficult economic conditions.

Key figures are:

• Spending on internet advertising grew by 4.2% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis.
• Paid-for search listings (the adverts that appear next to search engine results) were up 9.5%, display adverts down 4.4% and classified adverts down 5.3%
• The number of people online grew to 39.7 in Feb 2010, representing an increase of over four million active internet users in just 12 months

So what does all this mean?

In a nutshell, more and more people are spending time online and businesses are gearing their advertising towards appearing next to search engine results.

Ah, but aren’t paid-for search listings expensive I hear you cry?

It’s one of the biggest myths in online marketing. Tailored, relevant paid-for search adverts can in fact be a very cost effective way of securing more business. You can find out exactly what gives you the best ROI and you can analyse which keywords are attracting the most number of click throughs to your website. Win win.

Don’t forget though, there are many other cost effective strategies for appearing on the top pages of search engine results, such as search engine optimisation (SEO) to help improve your website’s natural rankings, or getting a listing on a business directory that features on the first page. You can find out more on all these approaches here

As the virtual world plays an even greater part in our lives, there are two words that really get to me.

Those words are ‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION’ splashed across a company’s website.

I would hazard a guess that in the majority of cases, nobody’s doing any work on it and the words ‘under construction’ will remain for months and even years. It’s a cop out for most. They have bought the domain name, put up a holding page and think that’ll do until they get round to sorting it out, paying little attention to internet marketing.

But they don’t. Instead they forget about it not realising it will be doing more harm that good.

Companies need to realise that with 86% of local searches for businesses taking place online, the first port of call will be the website. It serves as their place of business in a virtual world.

And the fact is the virtual world is just as important as the real one, as it is the first stage in the buying process.

Consumers today are savvy. They want to know more about the business before they buy. So if they can’t find any information they’ll be off to a competitor. Just like they would in the real world if a note was pinned to the door telling them the business is not open yet!

And when people have researched online by taking a look at websites, 90% of those searches will result in offline activity such as calling the business or going to visit them.

So companies must make it a priority to get their website sorted out. For an investment of a few hundred pounds a company can have a site to be proud of which will tell potential customers all they need to know and drive business their way.

Only when it has been given the attention it deserves can online marketing be maximised, whether it is through website optimisation, a business directory or through PPC and sponsored links.

So if your website resembles more of a cobweb site, it’s time you dusted it down and gave it the attention it needs so you can attract more business rather than presenting them with a closed door.

The award-winning Hovis commercial about the boy going for a loaf of bread and journeying through the decades until he arrives back in the 21^st century began a nostalgic trend.

The cleverly reworked Milky Bar Kid and Persil Mum showing the commercials through the ages quickly followed.

Having discovered that nostalgia reinforces strong brands and sells products it won’t be long before others follow suit.

But this approach will not work for everyone, especially those companies overtaken by technology.

Take Yellow Pages for example. As brilliant and memorable as the commercials were, we are unlikely to hear the ‘Good Old Yellow Pages’ strapline being repeated.

Although it is accurate, as online marketing has all but consigned paper directories to the bin, Yellow Pages will not want to bring attention to the ‘old’ method of business search.

Re-running the cult JR Hartley commercial would only serve to demonstrate the time consuming method we once used. Today, Mr Hartley would not have to ring countless bookshops to ask if they had his book. A quick search on the internet and he would have found it in a couple of clicks.

Business marketing in paper directories was fairly straightforward in those days. Pay a lot of money for a large advertisement and the perception is that you are a successful and trustworthy company. The bigger the advertisement the more likely you were to be chosen.

The consumer of today is much savvier. They can do a lot more research about a company via online local search now. Not only can they find the product or service they need quickly but by clicking on enhanced listings in an online business directory or a well optimised website they can take a look at the company’s website and find out much more about them.

Mind you with Government statistics suggesting that nearly 50% of SMEs do not have a website, even though an effective one can be produced for less than £100, it demonstrates a lot of companies are still missing out on potential customers.

Perhaps some are still clinging on to listings in paper directories. But even Yellow Pages must have realised the writing was on the wall when they brought out the TV commercial of the small boy standing on one of their directories to kiss a girl. The pay off line explained that there were so many other uses for Yellow Pages than looking for a plumber to repair a leaky tap.

Having said that, one part of their marketing campaign still holds true today.

You can still ‘Let your fingers do the walking!’… Except now they are more likely to be using a keyboard rather than thumbing through a paper directory!

Well there are numerous predictions for 2010 floating around, from continued trends in online advertising through to how significant local search will be this year.

We’ve just pulled together a few salient arguments which will hopefully get your brain cells thinking about the future direction of online marketing

“Local search providers will vie for social”

There are many blogs like this one that believes this will be the ultimate test in 2010; major players competing for ad spending on the top social media sites.

You can see the appeal - online social communities are a relatively untapped source and in theory can provide a perfect platform for local businesses to sell their goods and services. If you’ve already built good online relationships with these communities, surely it will be easier than ever to promote yourself?

On the other hand, have a look at this post here, which predicts that social network advertising will rise and then fall flat. Perhaps you can develop good brand recognition but at the end of the day it’s a social site and preying on this precious space may prove disastrous. Any thoughts?

“Mobile search will capture the imagination of consumers during 2010“

The question is, will mobile search become bigger than desktop search? Local search has been shaping the general search landscape for a long time now, but maybe this is the “year of the mobile” that everyone has been quoting for the past few years.

Most people agree that the stumbling block will be user experience, which we’ve blogged about before, so weigh this argument up too. Websites and technology need to be spot on for this to expand as rapidly as predicted.

Finally, in terms of pay per click trends,

“We should see an even greater focus on display ads in 2010″

Rather than the simple (however effective) text ads there are, a whole new range of ad formats will offer a choice of appealing promotions - which surely will also improve everyone’s search experience as well.

Either way, we believe that SMEs can drive change and this is the year for them to succeed online. Maybe just having a website was enough before, but with local search soaring, and people recommending and reviewing, a whole online conversation seems to be brewing… which means 2010 points towards a range of different strategies needing to be considered.

It’s very interesting watching the recent television programmes reminding us how far gadgetry and IT progressed over the last decade. We can look back with fondness and a bit of a smile at brick-like mobile phones, walkmans, and video recorders?

But one of the greatest advancements has to be the Internet.

When we started Infoserve in the last century (1999 to be precise) the Internet was in its relative infancy. Do you remember having to dial up to get online in those days?

So we can forgive those people who thought we were a little crazy all those years ago when we told them about our prediction that paper directories would gradually be phased out and replaced by people searching for their products and services on the internet.

It was a tough sell. Yellow Pages dominated the market and through brilliant marketing they created a fear factor among SMEs. Businesses were literally scared of not being in the directory in their area.

It’s been a long journey for Infoserve since then. Being the first in the UK to have this vision (we believe), we feel as though we have set the pace and created the agenda for online local search.

Imagine when we set up city-visitor.co.uk. There was nothing like it around, so we had to build it from scratch. Today it is one of the most used business finders on the net with 12 million number one positions and 22 million first page positions on the major search engines!

In the last ten years or so we have invested an enormous amount of money in the business. We have continued to build our technical platform and improve search performance to cater for the huge growth in online marketing by SMEs.

And its growth has been astounding.

Today 38.5 million people (63.8% of the population) use the internet in the UK¹. This has resulted in 86% of all local searches taking place online² with 90% of these searches resulting in offline activity³ and 61% of the offline activity resulting in a purchase⁴.

Some people may say it was a huge leap of faith when we set up in 1999 but we like to think it was extraordinary vision.

So if you are looking for dramatic changes in the next ten years, the way companies advertise themselves has got to be right up there.

It is incredible to think that the Internet has now overtaken TV advertising.

With 90% of consumer purchases made within 20 miles of where people live or work⁵, SMEs are now worried about not being found when people are looking online for and the products and services they provide.

1. Source: Nielsen Ner//Ratings;
2, 3, 5. Source: The Kelsey Group, March 2008;
4. Source: TMP Directional Marketing Source

It’s clear to see that lately Google have been focusing on local search results, there are more and more businesses appearing for local search terms and the features of the Google Local Business Centre are increasing.

Now it appears that Google doesn’t want to stop there, they have been testing out Google Local Ads in San Diego and San Francisco, an example of how these look can be seen below.

It appears to be an extension of the Sponsored results that appear at the top of the Google search results. The impact of this means that organic listings for these types of searches are being pushed down the page, clearly showing Google’s intentions for Local Search.

Google Local Ads work in a similar way to Google Adwords, whereby you pay for the listing itself. The difference however is that you don’t  pay on a Cost Per Click basis, you pay a fee every month. This fee will vary depending on the competition for that keyword and for that area.

Google Local Ads will soon be released in the UK, you can find more information on it at the Google Local Ads page.

Infoserve Provide a FREE Google Local Guide which can be found here

Follow Infoserve on twitter for alerts on Google Local news.

It may have been a while since we posted on here, but we’d like to keep reminding businesses that we’re here to help when it comes to improving your online presence.

Local search is still proving to be the winner. So many recent surveys are singing and dancing about how consumers are increasingly using local search to find what they want.

This study probably sums it up the best (which although is US -based, is reflected by recent UK surveys too). If you cut out the waffle, it basically advises you to think locally when it comes to marketing your business, and then engage with consumers who follow-up their online research when they look to pop down to the nearest place they can find.

So yet again we’ll beat the drum; businesses need to be found easily in this initial search process, as well as have clear websites to help consumers decide whether - and how - to buy from you.

Dare I say marketing couldn’t be easier? To quote one marketing legend, “simples”!

An interesting study from Borrell Associates, with suggestions that most small-business owners are turning away from local paid search campaigns.

We have long argued that appearing next to search results is the best way for local businesses to reach potential customers, but is support wavering? Is this down to cost? Lack of results? New and better strategies?

For a start, we don’t believe local businesses are turning their back on paid search advertising and our retention figures would back this up. With search engines still being the most popular way for consumers to find local businesses, it simply just makes sense to mirror their movements. Plus online ads produce measurable results, so I don’t think there is a better marketing strategy out there.

That’s not to say that paid search advertising isn’t complex and time consuming though, which is why we would always advise SMEs to employ someone to manage your account for you.

But, that equally doesn’t mean you should sit back either, so make sure you keep them on their toes - find out where your ads will be running to see the results for yourself, make sure you review your key words too (rather than simply rely on your account managers all the time), and use Google Analytics to fine tune your campaign.

Finally, one of the most interesting points I’ve read recently is that paid search advertisement isn’t just a quick-fix solution either. Like optimisation, it helps build your brand, your visibility and recognition too.

You can find some more top tips about Google Adwords here on a previous post