New research has revealed that search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of the key ways in which business-to-business (B2B) marketers generate leads.
Published by MarketingSherpa and Babcock & Jenkins, the study showed that SEO ranked alongside house email, traditional content and viral marketing as B2B marketers' biggest sources of low-cost leads.
"The four tactics cited above represent what has worked well for marketers in the past. Except for word-of-mouth/viral marketing, they are classic tactics familiar to most marketers," MarketingSherpa said.
Furthermore, the research also found that companies are doing better at holding onto skilled staff such as SEO specialists this year than in previous years.
MarketingSherpa noted that SEO is one particular area that tends to see a high staff turnover rate as a result of staff leaving to set up on their own or to join rival firms that have head-hunted them.
The fixed cost of SEO is likely to help sustain advertising spending during the recession, according to eMarketer.... read full details »
Enhancing search engine optimisation (SEO) and improving the usability of a website can do much to help journalists cover the company in question in a news story.
This is the suggestion of a new study by the Nielsen Norman Group, which asked 40 journalists working both in print, online and in broadcasting to assess the usability of 42 website newsrooms.
It found that all of the journalists were likely to begin researching a particular company through search engines, highlighting the importance of good SEO.
They usually ended up at the company's own website after an online search, which "emphasises the importance of having a clean corporate website with a clearly labelled press or PR section that can quickly provide information for journalists", Nielsen Norman Group principal and usability expert Jakob Nielsen said.
The research also indicated that journalists were less likely to cover a specific company if they were unable to find the information they needed on its website.
Matt Bailey of SiteLogic said in a discussion held by Search Engine Roundtable in 2006 that it is possible to meet both SEO and usability goals by making it easy for users to get to the information they want in a number of different ways and to call items on sale what they actually are rather than simply calling them 'products' in navigation.... read full details »
Spending on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising by hi-tech and consumer electronics businesses increased by 43 per cent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2008.
This is according to new statistics published by Covario, which also revealed that quarter-on-quarter growth among the clients it drew the data from stood at 7.2 per cent.
Covario noted that this growth is likely to be due to businesses setting the budgets for their PPC campaigns well before the downturn hit the global economy.
"Large companies had pre-approved budgets from mid-year that were already allocated for the fourth quarter - so the impact of the global economic crisis was muted during Q4," said Craig Macdonald, vice-president of marketing and product management at Covario.
The study also found that Google accounted for 97.8 per cent of PPC spending in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region and more than 80 per cent globally.
Yahoo! had a slight lead on Google among US hi-tech firms, however.
Google's share of US web searches stood at 63.5 per cent last month, according to recent figures from internet measurement firm comScore.... read full details »
A number of companies are ignoring the marketing potential offered by their websites, new research has indicated.
The survey by Alterian found that one-fifth of marketers do not view their company websites as a key part of their advertising plans, despite 62 per cent of respondents intending to spend more on direct online marketing this year.
David Eldridge, chief executive of Alterian, said that businesses "must not forget that their own website is the destination that many of their activities drive customers and prospects to".
He added that marketers should ideally be making the most of their websites as they are the "cornerstone of any forward-thinking company's marketing activity".
A study conducted by the European Interactive Advertising Association last year revealed that marketers expect online spending to increase by 16 per cent in 2009 and by 17 per cent in 2010.
More than eight in ten respondents said they were directly funding their online marketing activities by taking money away from traditional media budgets.... read full details »
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