Moving into a new decade, we can now look back at the first 10 years of the 21st century as a big eye opener in terms of online marketing. The increase in competition for online retailers is more ferocious than ever, and this means we are just seeing the start of SEO as one of the most important parts of the marketing mix.
So where will this lead us? Well imagine the fact that not only are we seeing firms fighting for the top spots, but there are more users online every day. The last figures from InternetWorldStats.com show that just 52% of Europeans are online, compared with over 74% in North America. If we follow suit then we could see a near 50% increase in the number of online shoppers, although this figure is likely to be lower in the UK (we have a higher than average number of online users compared to Europe on the whole).
In the next 10 years, as we see one generation moving over for a newer generation who embrace technology, there is no doubt SEO and online revenues will move ahead of print revenue. Many Newspapers are concentrating their efforts on having a bigger online presence, with sales of tabloid newspapers down. Online Newspapers are free, can be reproduced at anytime, anywhere. This shift in usage all goes towards increasing the value of online marketing.
The main high street retailers are now established on the Internet and we will see more joining them, until we get to the point of a number of online ‘mega stores’. These will command big fees for advertising revenues and the huge volumes of traffic will help them generate masses of income from advertising alone. Many retailers will rely on this to pay for their SEO overheads.
In a decade where online marketing has overtaken Television in the revenue stakes, Search Engine Optimization will now come into it’s own as the most powerful tool you can have for a business with an online presence. Ceating a brand is never cheap, and SEO is definately seen as a way of marketing that doesn’t cast a large net over users, hoping to catch them when they are hot to buy. SEO brings targeted traffic to a site, meaning conversions are much higher than that of print exposure. This is no myth, SEO delivers a better return on investment than traditional media channels, and this is why we are witnessing the rise of the marketing future.
Tags: Advertising Revenues, Internet, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO