Online Searches Finally Overtake 'Traditional' Advertising Mediums

Online search engines have replaced phone books for 54% of Americans searching for local businesses. As a result, it is now more important than ever for businesses to ensure that they have a high-quality online presence. If not, they may never truly realize the power and potential of the Internet to deliver qualified, low-cost sales leads.

It's widely accepted that businesses that market online have the ability to both reduce their overall marketing costs while also reaching more targeted prospects in order to add to their bottom line. The Internet is no-longer up-and-coming: it's here and now, and if you're not leveraging it to its full potential for your business, you are significantly reducing the effectiveness of your marketing. If you're currently using direct mail or display advertising as a part of your overall strategy, the Internet can help slash these costs and can even improve response rates from within the local community.

Marketing on the Internet starts with an effective website. A good website is much more than a pretty design - it needs to be well designed, well worded and well structured for search engines to present optimum value. At the same time, it must be designed with the ultimate goal in mind: converting visitors into prospects and converting prospects into buyers.

The statistics show that over 60% of local commercial searches result in a purchase. Without an effective online presence for your business, these customers are finding someone else. But with an active campaign to increase your search engine rankings as well as an involvement in online marketing, you can reach these highly targeted prospects to make sure their resulting purchase is from you.

According to a comScore research report, the number of people actually searching for products and services online increased by 21% in 2008. So the Internet is a growing trend and more and more people are looking to buy online.

Why? It's convenient and a great way to save time and often save money too. Remember that a lot of people are time-poor in today's hectic 24/7 society. Having more people searching for products and services is one thing. The important question is: are they spending more money online?

A comScore study reported that US e-commerce spending in 2008 reached a staggering $214.4 billion - a 7% increase over the previous year. So importantly, more people are spending more money online too - they're not just information seekers. They've got cash to spend and they're going to spend it online somewhere.

If you are a business owner, the only question you should ask yourself is: will it be with you or your competitors?