Increase in US Interactive Marketing Spending

According to Forrester Research, US interactive marketing spending is projected to have a 17% compound annual growth rate for the next 5 years.

Search engine marketing is currently at $15,393,000, which is 12% of total ad spending. In 2014 search engine marketing is projected to be at $31,588,000, or 21% of total ad spending. Search engine marketing makes up more than one-half of all interactive marketing spending and will remain the largest sector in interactive marketing.

This trend isn’t only apparent in the US. In the UK, search engine marketing makes up a majority of the UK’s online advertising spending.

Email Marketing has also become very popular. Although email marketing sometimes has a bad name due to all the spammers out there, total spending is also projected to grow within the next 5 years.

Is Social Networking Really that Important?

A recent report by eMarketer revealed that social networking is one of the most important online activities, trailing close behind email.

Respondents were asked to rank the importance of Email, Online Social Networking, Online Chat/IM, Web Browsing, Online Forums, Texting, Online Discussions, Online News Feeds, and Blogging...with “1” being the most important.

As you can see, Email is ranked #1 at an importance level of 2.6; Online Social Networking is 3.1.

81% of respondents taking part in social networking claimed posting photos was the top social networking activity.

“This is a particularly important finding,” according to the report, “in that it suggests that these younger users have integrated social networks into their lives to such an extent that it has become a trusted resource for their decision making.”

A March 2009 study by Knowledge Networks found that “between 10% and 24% of US social media users turned to social networks when making purchase decisions about various categories of products and services. Less than 5% said they ‘always’ did so.”

Will Bing become the Next Google?

Bing is having some success these past few months (maybe from the push of television commercials?).

According to the comScore report on September 22, 2009, between July 2009 and August 2009 Bing added 7% to its total number of searches. This is a huge jump for one month, considering the competition from Google and Yahoo. Google grew only 2% and Yahoo 1%.

Voice your opinions with Google’s new tool, Sidewiki

Problem: You are looking to buy a new digital camera online, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg. You search around for websites that advertise the lowest price on the camera you want. However, you don’t really trust the website you found with the cheapest price, but don’t want to spend full-price at a national retailer... what do you do?!

Solution: Use Sidewiki, a new feature on Google Toolbar that allows you to see posted comments about any site.

Google’s new toolbar feature called Google Sidewiki allows users to read and comment on any website they want...all within the Google Toolbar. If you want to find out if there are any problems with the website, or if you want to warn other visitors of abuse, Sidewiki can be very helpful.

Comments are not automatically posted, though. In order to get your comments posted, you must frequently comment on a variety of sites (this shows Google that you are a heavy user, and will be more likely to approve your comments). Google does this to prevent spam and abuse by angry users who have nothing better to do with their time than to make up lies about a website.

If you want to help increase the chances that your comments get posted start browsing sites in your niche and take time to read throughout the sites and post any interesting information about them that you think will be helpful to future visitors.

You can also see how many people found a specific comment helpful or unhelpful.

Remember that this tool is new, so there may not be as many comments as you’d wish.

Web Analytics doesn’t have to be a Foreign Language

Web analytics is an important part of a website owner’s efforts in tracking how well money spent on online campaigns are converting into sales.

A lot of businesses are doing without web analytics, or not following up with data, because of the “un-user-friendliness,” difficulty of integration with other marketing solutions, or accuracy of data of most analytic programs.

In a survey done by Unica, they found that the two biggest challenges with the use of web analytics was integration with other marketing solutions and the accuracy of data.

“The biggest challenge for marketers was integrating Web analytics with other marketing solutions, cited by 46% of respondents. Verifying the accuracy of data was a problem for 41% of marketers, while 32% reported trouble with analytics that were not comprehensive and 29% complained of budgets that were too small.”

Web analytics requires hours, and sometimes days, of usage to learn the ins and outs of all the features. Even though the difficulty level may frustrate website owners, they acknowledge the fact that more resources and time must be spent on them if they want to maximize online profits.

“Fully 72% of respondents to the Unica survey had no full-time worker devoted to analytics.”

Google has an extensive web analytics program called Google Analytics. Their program is absolutely free and has most of the same features as the paid analytics programs. The best part about Google Analytics is that it’s very user-friendly. You can also link your Google AdWords account to the analytics account and have everything tracked, including calculated conversion rates, on one dashboard. Visit www.google.com/analytics to learn more!

The Internet Business Hour Announces New Flagship Station, WWNN 1470 AM Radio in South Florida

Contact:

Diego Baeza

dbaeza@securenetsystems.net

Director of New Business Development

Securenet Systems

356 SW 12th Avenue

Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

(866) 568-9402

Deerfield Beach - September 18, 2009 - The Internet Business Hour, a radio talk show about tips and tricks on how to successfully conduct business on the Internet, is announcing their new flagship station WWNN 1470 AM Radio in Boca Raton, Florida, a 50,000 watt AM station serving the South Florida market. Starting Saturday, September 19, 2009, “The Internet Business Hour” will be broadcast weekly from WWNN 1470 AM.

The show will air every Saturday at 2:00 pm, and can be picked up on your radio dial all along the Gold Coast from Vero Beach to South Miami. The show can also be heard streamed live from http://www.wwnnradio.com/.

The show’s host, Kerry Brewer, is a long-time veteran of business talk radio. Each week he, and special guest George Dubec, Internet marketing expert, will be discussing the latest internet marketing trends and how business owners can take advantage of the Internet to boost sales and increase online exposure. They will also be giving out weekly informational reports that business owners can use as guidelines to increase Internet exposure.

For more information on The Internet Business Hour, or if you would like to be a special guest on the show, please visit www.theinternetbusinesshour.com, call toll-free (866) 568-9402 or email info@securenetsystems.net.

First Page Placement on Google

As a local business owner or a company looking to do business in a local area, you must realize it is critical to use the Internet for advertising.

The problem is most businesses don’t have a sufficient budget to use PPC (pay per click) advertising and it is costly and time consuming to try to get high rankings on the organic (free) search listings on major search engines. Budgets of at least $1,000 per month for local PPC campaigns and approximately $10,000 over three months for nationwide PPC campaigns are recommended by most SEO specialists.

If you are a business owner and don’t have that kind of budget available, what are you to do?

Use the AdzZoo online Ad Program to promote and advertise your business using geo-targeting of keywords within your local area radius. AdzZoo will create an optimized Landing Page for your business (whether you have an existing site or not), which gives you the chance to get higher organic or free search listings on the major search engines.

In fact, with this program, you don’t even need a website to generate leads from the Internet!

Why You Should be Blogging...Again

Blogs have been becoming a major part in online marketing for companies both small and large. They were originally created as journals for personal use. But more and more companies are latching on to blogs to communicate with the outside world and, of course, their customers.

Companies are finding out that blogs can help build solid relationships with their customers.

Blogs are very popular among consumers; they are a place where consumers can go to read reviews, read latest industry information and news, and also read what other products/services are available to them. According to eMarketer, the largest online research and analysis organization, there has been a 300% growth in monthly blog readership over the last four years! In a survey conducted by eMarketer they found that almost one-half of the online population reads blogs. Now when you think about the size of “one-half of the online population,” you can imagine how many blogs are read on a daily basis. One blog post can even help make the difference in swaying strangers to use your products and/or services, but actually getting visitors to your blog takes effort.

As you can see, just simply having a blog is just as important as having a blog that’s optimized. If your blog isn’t optimized how will you market yourself to strangers?

Blogs can be an effective tool in driving traffic to your main website. Blogger is Google’s own free blogging service and is highly recommended if you are new to blogging. It’s simple, user-friendly, and best of all, belongs to Google! If Google owns it don’t you think there’s a higher chance of it getting indexed?

Having a blog is great, but optimizing it will get you traffic and build rankings. If you would like our free 15-page report on how you can optimize your blog, email us at info@securenetsystems.net to request yours or leave a comment with your email address and we will send it over.

Google Loses Small Search Percentage in June thru July

Although Google is still the market leader in online search, research shows that they have lost .3% to competitors in June thru July; mainly to Microsoft.

In June, Google had 65% of search...in July 64.7%.

What’s the reason for this slight decrease in market share? Probably the heavy advertisement from Microsoft after the launch of their revamped search platform, Bing.com.

In June, Microsoft had 8.4% of search; in July it increased to 8.9%.

According to ForeSee Results, a very high customer satisfaction is one of the main reasons for Google’s first place. “Google is unquestionably king of search, so the only competition is for second place,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results. “The research was done before Bing entered the market, so we don’t know what effect its entry will have. But Google’s customers are pretty happy and have little reason to try something new, so Bing has a real uphill battle ahead.”

On the University of Michigan’s latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, Google scored an 86 out of 100, which is the highest of any search platform. Yahoo, which was ranked second, scored a 77.

Google Local Business Listing Tips

Last week Google sent out a newsletter to all Local Business Listing accounts. It seems as though Google is trying to create awareness by frequently sending newsletters...as last week’s was their first one.

Anyhow, they provided some insightful information regarding your local business listing. There are some very useful tips to think about when creating or updating your listing... Take a look at how to optimize your business listing.

“Here are a few ways to optimize your local business listing...

Make sure your listing is complete and accurate.

• Include optional information like images and videos to help your listing stand out.
  
• Add information like opening hours, payment types, and additional details to help users choose among search results.
  
• Make sure that the location of your business on the map is correct so users can find you. Remember, you can always drag the map marker to the exact location of your business.
  
• Make sure to list your authoritative business website as your homepage, since Google uses information from your homepage to help improve search results.
  
• Of course, be sure that your business name, physical address, and phone number(s) are correct in your business listing.
  
• See the Local Business Quality Guidelines to learn more.

Choose the most appropriate, specific categories for your business.

• Pick a category from the list of suggestions to help Google show your business for the right searches (although you can always enter your own category if the Local Business Center doesn't suggest one that fits your business).
  
• Don't be afraid to choose specific categories instead of broad ones. The important thing is that the categories are accurate and describe your business well.
  

This information is also available in our Help Centers. "