SEM Spending Habits in 2008

According to recent research conducted by Radar Research, $13.5 billion was spent on search marketing in 2008. Paid placement or sponsored search consumed 88% of the total search spend. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was a distant second with a very small percentage going to technology providers.

This is interesting data considering Internet users overwhelmingly prefer organic listings over sponsored search ads due the relevant nature of organic results.

Furthermore, SEO is cost-effective, works across multiple search engines and delivers longer-term results. In addition, an optimized site doesn’t drop in ranking when the advertiser's spending slows or stops, as paid search does.

If search marketing spending continues to increase in the coming years, as most sources predict it will, then one would have to bet that there will be a dramatic shift in SEM spending habits.

How Analytics helps to improve Your Business

So your website is as noticeable as an elephant in the room? Great, but is the elephant working for your business, or is it the other way round? Is your “great” website also great for your business, in fattening your order books, and adding to your bottom line?

That’s why you need analytics. Loosely speaking, analytics drives real shopping, not window shopping. It helps you to distinguish the real customer from the window shopper.

When you know what kind of visitor buys your product or service, when, why, where, how, and the conversion time between a casual interest in your product and confirmed point of sale, your sales pitch can be on song!

With analytics enabled on your website, you can track where your traffic is coming from, from which referring website and landing page, the search engine and keyword used. It tells you about the visitor’s location, their operating system, browser and monitor resolution (yes!). It gives you a snapshot of how much time the visitor spent on your site/your advertising/listing on another website, the number of pages visited, the bounce rate (percentage of users who viewed only one page before leaving), the conversion rate. It gives you precise data on your past and current traffic.

Analyze This. Go for analytics.