These numbers come on the heels of record numbers reported by the IAB for the first half of 2010.  First half ad spending numbers were up 11.3%, or $12.1 billion, this year.  Search engine marketing spending was the primary driver of these record numbers.

The record growth in online advertising revenue has been attributed to the high return on investment marketers continue to receive from their Internet marketing campaigns.

The Internet Advertising Bureau is a digital advertising industry group which counts approximately 500 media and technology companies that sell 86% of Web advertising as member.

• Online ad spending rose 11.3% in the first half of 2010 as compared to 2009, reaching $12.1 billion in the first half of 2010.
• Second quarter spending for online advertising alone was up 13.9%.
• Search advertising accounted for 47% of all spending making it the largest segment of online ad spending.
  • Growth in this segment reached 11.6% and totaled $5.75 billion in the first 6 months of 2010.
• Display advertising also increased over 2009. 
• Spending increased 15.9% to $4.36 billion with banner ads remaining the largest segment of display advertising during the first half of the year.
• Spending on lead generation and email both decreased with lead generation spending dropping 11.8% and email spending dropping 19.5%.
• Classified advertising rose 13.1% during this time.

• 2009 SEM spending is projected to rise to $14.7 billion.
• 2013 SEM spending is expected to reach $26.1 billion.
• Online advertisers continue to embrace new marketing platforms.
• Advertisers are willing to pay for reach achieved through behavioral targeting.
• 40% of SEMPO State of the Market survey respondents are actively using social media sites for in-house marketing.
  • Facebook is the leading social media site.  Four out of five advertisers use Facebook for brand promotion.
• 75% of respondents would pay for clicks from targeted behavioral groups.
• Advertisers are willing to pay more for demographic, daypart and behavioral targeting.
  • 10% more for demographic and daypart targeting
  • 13% more for behavioral targeting
• 40% of advertisers plan to start targeting or retargeting searchers within the next year.

For more detailed information on the findings from the SEMPO 2008 State of the Market Report, visit their site at www.sempo.org.

With the decline in the economy, customer acquisition is becoming more and more vital.  As the focus on customer acquisition increases, SEO becomes a more vital part of the overall marketing strategy.  Because SEO provides a long term strategy for increased consumer presence, it has added value as compared to paid search marketing.

“Search Marketing Trends: Back to Basics” reports that SEO growth will grow from 17.7% to 20.3% while paid search will decline from 15.9% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2013.  When searching for information, consumers find more value in organic search results than pay per click (PPC) advertising.  The value placed by consumers on organic search results garners more clicks on these results thus making SEO a valued part of the marketing plan.

Combining SEO and PPC marketing efforts may result in higher search engine result rankings.  Paid search engine advertising offers more immediate results, but in order to see results in the search engine arena advertising must be consistent.  SEO marketing results occur over a longer time frame, but result in organic search results more valued by consumers.

In order to gain the most information and knowledge of your results, Web analytics is necessary.  Having solid feedback regarding your SEO and PPC marketing efforts will allow you to gage how successful your campaign is.  More traffic is only positive if the cost of the search ad relative to the conversion doesn’t reduce your bottom line.

SEO is a bit like a good public relations strategy; it helps to bring top of mind awareness to your site.  SEO gets them in the door, so you can complete the deal.