t happens all the time – an employee spends considerable time researching the benefits of search engine optimisation (SEO) and other online marketing endeavours only to discover their boss fails to share or even understand their enthusiasm.
There are so many businesses out there which are not exploiting the potential of the web – sometimes because the boss’s son built a homepage for his IT GCSE and that is considered sufficient.
Often an employee can have just a few minute of their busy employer’s time to persuade them that they need to invest in online marketing and, as there is often a lack of understanding, there can be a lack of interest.
Fortunately for you frazzled folk, here for your convenience is a list of reasons and research to persuade even the most miserly boss to cough up cash for online marketing.
Reason Number One: The consumers are online
According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2007 15.23 million British homes had web access, which is more than six in ten. Furthermore, above 50 per cent of those used broadband to access the internet at speed. It just makes sense to promote a business through a platform consumers regularly see and – since the vast majority of firms cannot afford the television – the internet is a cost-effective and targeted alternative.
Reason Number Two: Your competitors are online
Employees should explain to their bosses that everyone else is doing it! The world is using the web to shop, bank and socialise and a company is potentially losing a large amount of potential business to their competitors if they are not online. Recent research published by the Internet Advertising Bureau revealed that last year £2.8 billion was spent advertising online. That is a hell of an advantage everyone else has over an offline firm.
Reason Number Three: Consumers are spending online
A boss might now point out that the take-up in broadband does not necessarily mean that people are actually shopping online – they could just be emailing and accessing Freecycle. Now is a good time to show them statistics published by the Interactive Media in Retail Group which revealed that during February – despite the doom, gloom and predictions that negative equity was going to kill us all – online spending reached a record high. An astonishing £4.2 billion was spent through the web – equivalent to £69 for every UK resident.
Reason Number Four: Search engines drive the traffic
Information published by watchdog Ofcom has shown that the “vast majority” of online experiences begin with the user accessing a search engine. Furthermore, Hitwise recently published research which revealed that more than one third of British web traffic is directed through just one search engine – Google. Businesses cannot afford to miss out on such vast levels of traffic – they should fail or succeed depending on the strength of their product, not because no one knows who they are.
Reason Number Five: Move now or miss mobile search
Search marketing is not the next big thing – it is not something new and a little quirky. It is a staple part of many marketers’ day to day activities. The next big thing is ensuring a website is optimised for mobile search as, according to Juniper Research, more than 30 per cent of mobile users will be accessing local search by 2013. By failing to optimise a website, a company is seriously hamstringing itself for future marketing endeavours. No one wants to be playing catch-up.
source = http://blog.seoptimise.com/2008/05/the-top-five-arguments-for-using-seo.html
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