The growth of search engine marketing is a huge advantage to new small businesses, it has been said. Search engine marketing allows a business to adopt the tools it needs to gain the audience it wants, whether it be locally or internationally, the internet is available globally, and with good search engine optimisation, businesses can thrive online.
Twenty-five per cent, or £78 billion of the UK’s expenditure on retail items is predicted to have come from online sales this year. With 41 per cent of users on search engines to look for new companies and websites, more than half are looking online for the best deals before buying in shops.
Businesses need to grab potential customers online, as new figures released by the Internet Advertising Bureau showed that online advertising revenue has beaten television advertising. This means that small businesses would prosper from having a website, especially if they want to reach large audiences.
Search should also be considered extremely important for the success of small businesses, as it maximises a website’s profile by driving sales growth through finding new markets and customers. Verdict Research found a growth of online sales of 13.3 per cent in 2009 with a 10.9 per cent rise forecast for next year.
The two main elements of a good search engine marketing strategy are search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising, which when used together enable a small business to make use of the full potential of the internet as a sales and marketing channel.
