Online Marketing projected to increase

eMarketer projects that the online share of ad dollars will continue to grow, rising from nearly 10% this year to slightly more than 15% in 2013.

“The spending shifts predate the recession,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, US Advertising Spending: The New Reality. “But the current economy is reinforcing the new advertising models—and making them more permanent.”

These projections by eMarketer mirror many other studies and statements around the world. Facing the oncoming recession, an increasing number of print newspapers are turning to online to survice, in fact.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey.

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Why make it hard?

Image from Wikipedia

When I buy something online, I'm a lot like everyone else. I'm either looking for a bargain or want something in a hurry.

Why would online business owners spend countless hours following every possible search engine optimization and marketing technique to get me to visit their website, and yet make it so difficult for me to actually make a purchase?

Haven’t they realized that if they don’t make it easy to order right now, I'll go find it somewhere else?

Even street merchants accept credit cards now.

It shocks me how often website owners will have page after page convincing me to purchase their product, but then make me look for the link to buy right now.
eBay figured this out long ago and provided the famous Buy NOW! button. That Buy NOW! button has saved millions of people the hassle of bidding and waiting to get their purchases. Some folks love the auction. Others just want what they see. If it looks like a good price: Let's do it!

Yes, online shoppers have many different buying habits.
Some will be ready to buy. Others will want to know everything before proceeding. If the price looks too good, some will just want to see if the site is there next week.
More savvy buyers will run a search through the forums to see if anyone has had a problem with the company. eBay knows this, and incorporated formal Feedback into the site. The history of a seller is available without leaving the site.

Smart move. Nobody trusts reviews.
On one site, I suggested setting up a link to a web search of the forums on the company name.

An old ecommerce adage is a visitor will come back 3 times before purchasing.

You can meet the needs of all types of buyers by first making sure they can easily see the link, and providing more the opportunity to make the purchase from any page on the site.

Similarly, if you make people register before they can make a purchase, you are going to lose some business, it is as simple as that.There have been many times when I clicked on an item because I more information, only to discover the prices weren't visible until I registered. What an annoyance!

If the site uses what I call forced registration (you must register before you can continue) I am very likely to leave the website without making a purchase. I assume they are more interested in my contact information than selling me something. I know they can sell my information.
Again, I don't want to read a lawyered Privacy Statement to find out.

Shipping prices, handling fees, and any other information had better be quickly and easily available whenever I want to buy. I really don't want to have to read half the Terms and Conditions to find out there is a $25 handling fee for purchases under $500.
If I get to the last page of the checkout to find out about a handling or shipping fee, I'm likely to just cancel the sale.

Why on earth would they even consider making me go through all of that just to find out if they will accept my Discover Card?

If you step back and look at these scenarios for a moment, you might also see where the site owner could have put me at ease long before it ever reached this point.

• Is the product available now?
• Clearly indicate what credit cards can be used, and how.
• A simple statement that my information is not going to be sold.
• Handling and shipping charges clearly indicated.

I don't trust a company that makes me click a buy button to find out which credit cards the company accepts, or to find out shipping charges and policies. This type of information should be available up front!

I want to say to site owners: "When I'm ready to buy, your credibility is on the line." Once I pull out credit cards, even minor details missing from the site will spook me away.

Before clicking that button, I'll look down one last time to make sure the site displays full contact information. I might even Google it, just to see if it makes sense.
Did I have to search for this information? Or, is it right at the bottom of every page?

I won’t spend much time looking for additional information. If I don't see what I need quickly and easily, I will move on to another site that they feel comfortable. I'll even if that means spend a little more for that peace of mind.

Give me information you know I'm going to need to make an informed purchase. Help me do my job: To buy from you. Or I'll go find somewhere else to get it.

(This is a reworked article from one of my old blogs. I was roaming through my old research blogs and found it.)
SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey.

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Economic Times for SEO

Why does the state of the economy have to do with SEO and SEM? - Everything.
SEO is only the first step towards SEM. Marketers are often compared to guerrilla fighters. "Guerrilla marketing" was a buzzword for marketing online marketing a few years ago.
Mao spoke eloquently and in depth about the role of a guerrilla in society: "The guerrilla in the population is like a fish in a river. If the water is foul, the fish dies. If the water is good for the fish, the fish flourishes."
It's very much the same for marketers. Marketers flourish when the economy is healthy.

Not enough people realize the financial engineering that has created the boom economy in Australia is based on the building industry and real estate market. Most Australians point proudly to the resources boom, but it is just a spike that contributes big numbers. Mining doesn't affect the whole economy anywhere near as much as housing. Mining and resources sales are powerful forces in the regions near the mines.
The resources sector contributes to a healthy balance of payments. One of the indicators of Australia's inflated economy is that the balance of payments is not healthy. The boom has produced an import-driven market where local producers are being priced out of the market. Where is this inflation-driving money coming from?
The long term drought hasn't helped, but market forces could, arguably, have absorbed the drought factor if the import market weren't controlling prices.

Is it a bubble?
The housing boom -government-subsidized building and real estate sales- has created the boom economy. The country has become drunk and addicted to credit. Home ownership is the basis of credit. A home owner can always get a credit card. It's an assumption that homes will always increase in price, and many factors can be quoted to support it.
The family income of the average Australian household is leveraged by credit to 160% (1.6 times the annual income.) That's an average.
On the ground, I know two households who have leveraged their annual income by more than 200% by manipulating credit. Despite all the howling about long hours and job stress, both these couples only worked half a year.
By separating their individual incomes and each working only half a year, they pick up another form of income: government subsidies. One partner applies for broad liberal payments based on their income, easily ignoring the contributions of the other partner. They get even greater leverage by letting the government pay off the credit cards and mortgage.
It's a bubble that has to burst someday. Or does it?
Laberal commentator Ian Martin spelled out the government's attitude before the last federal election. It's an attitude reflected persistently in the press and popular opinion.
There is an Aussie saying: "It's past a joke."
All parties involved seem locked into this scheme, if by nothing else then by the perceptions and attitudes across the country.
There are payments for every stage in life. Most are not means tested. For example, every new mother gets $4000 for giving birth, no matter what the household income.

How does this affect SEO/SEM?
I'll be discussing this issue at length in the next few articles. One factor is that Australia has not experienced a dot-com boom. Most of the country simply didn't have adequate Internet access when the dot-com boom roared through the US, UK, and Europe.
Google wisely only opened offices in Australia two years ago. New amendments to copyright law inordinately influenced by record company activism nearly drove them out in Jan 2007. Google threatened publicly to refuse to index Australian websites. Over 150 exclusions to the law allow a still-tenuous Google presence. Yet Google represents 80% of searches from Australia.
How the changing economic times will affect web design and marketing companies remains to be seen. SEO and SEM may be the means to open the door for Australian small and medium sized business to experience the power of marketing on the Web - to fulfill the lost promise of the web to allow small companies compete in an open market.
The proliferation of SEO companies certainly indicates a need vacuum being filled. It's more a vacuum caused by bad web design and poor access to the Net than an entrepreneurial push though. As online business owners become more savvy, that will change.
I imagine that will be when the SEO companies shake out the chaff, too.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey. Sphere: Related Content

Numbers tell the story - sorta

From the Global Thoughtz Australia blog, we learn:

Australian Internet Users Profile

(by Alban Guillemot)

Best practice online marketing requires a good knowledge of your target audience so that you can develop a tailored online strategy. If you are planning an online marketing campaign in Australia, the following information will help you to find out who is the typical Australian internet user.

According to the latest census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 58% of the Australian population has access to internet. 20% of the Australian population still rely on dial up connection, while 37% has broadband access.

• More Girls

Based on Hitwise Data for the last 12 weeks, it appears that the typical Australian internet user is more likely to be a girl, as 52.02% are female, whereas 47.98% are male.

• Over 35

Looking at the demographics, a large proportion of the Australian internet population is over 35 years old (66.3%), with a high proportion of users over 55 (26.28%). The 18-24 years old slice represents only 13.77%.

• From the East Coast

More than 81% of the Australian Internet population lives on the East Coast (NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS, QLD) with around 34% for New South Wales. South Australia and Northern Territory only account for 8%, while Western Australia represents 11%.

What's significant there?
First, it's surprising to see the large proportion of over 35s (66%) on the Net - and most of them using broadband.
Over a quarter of those over 55 use the Internet. That's a greater proportion than the UK (18%) and the US (17%).
Why are these numbers interesting? Most marketing online and offline is targeted at the 15-34 age group. Based on these numbers, they represent just under 1/3 of those with Internet access.
The reason the marketing is targeted at this group is an Australian marketing adage that this age group spends nearly half the money for consumer goods.
Banks and retail outlets offer easy credit for these new consumers. It comes as a surprise to many aussies how much harder it is to get a credit card after they turn 36.

emarketer shows some interesting statistics about Australians using broadband. (look down the page a little..) 13.6 million Australians, or 66%, have access to the Net. 4.3 million or 53.9% of all households, have broadband access.
The broadband numbers are a little misleading. You'd have to live here to know it, but over half of those don't have adequate service and/or are not using broadband as the OECD defines it - at least 256mbits.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey. Sphere: Related Content