Bevelwise Blog

The search advertising market still has most of the way to grow among small businesses, results from a Microsoft-sponsored online survey suggest.

59% of responding small businesses with Web sites still don't buy search advertising -- usually because they worry it will be too expensive or not "the best use of their marketing budgets."

Reading between the lines, it's obvious that Microsoft is trying to suggest that search advertising leader Google does a poor job marketing itself and making customers comfortable with its products.

Of course, Microsoft sponsored the survey and presumably only released numbers it thinks will help them sell more search ads, so you have to take them with a grain of salt. Still, they're interesting:

• 59% of small businesses with Web sites don't currently use any paid search marketing
• Of those, 90% have never even attempted it.
• 70% of small business owners say they would rather do their own taxes than start a search marketing campaign
• 86% small business owners felt that they could be missing opportunities to grow their business.
• 75% believed prospective customers could be searching online for the type of service their business offers.
• 89 % feared keywords may become too expensive.
• 81% questioned if paid search marketing is the best use of their marketing budgets.
• 25% of respondents believe paid search marketing is too complex.
• 21% thought it would be too time consuming.
• 25% felt they would need an agency to help set up a search marketing campaign.

Labels: Search Ads, SEO

The first five minutes of my local TV newscast last night was spent showing how much local interest there was in President Barack Obama's inauguration. People watched on TV in schools, sports bars, department stores, dentists' offices, nursing homes, and just about anywhere else a TV could be turned on.

Google says that interest was also reflected online. In a late-night blog post, Google shares some interesting facts and figures about inauguration-related search activity:

• popular queries during the inauguration ceremony included "live inauguration coverage," "inauguration day 2009 streaming," and "listen to inauguration live"
• search activity spiked as people looked for information on other participants, such as Dr. Rick Warren, Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, and performers Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma, and others
• 12% of inauguration-related queries came from outside the US

To me, the most interesting sign of online interest in the inauguration is a chart Google provided that shows a dramatic drop in search activity while the President was giving his speech:

As I sat in front of the TV with my laptop, I noticed something similar: While I usually get a never-ending stream of incoming email, I only received two during Obama's 20-minute speech. I don't recall him promising to help reduce Inbox Clutter, but that might be a platform to think about in 2012.

Labels: Google, Obama, Search Activity, SEO

Efficient Frontier today released the findings of its quarterly analysis of U.S. paid search activity. The report was based on an analysis of 92 billion impressions and 600 million clicks across a portion of Efficient Frontier customers during the fourth quarter of 2008, which includes some of the world’s largest brands. According to the report, Google has maintained its hold on the search advertising market with 76 percent market share, and Yahoo continued to increase its presence, gaining 3 percent market share year-over-year.

Despite the economic downturn and reports of the erosion of other marketing channels in 2008, the index of Efficient Frontier customers included in the Q4 report saw a minimal 8 percent decrease year-over-year, while the retail sector saw a 9 percent uptick in spending year-over-year, an indication of the strength of the search marketing channel.

Additional search engine marketing trends

• Small advertisers in the U.S. accounted for a greater decrease in search advertising spend than larger, more established brands
• Overall impressions for search engines are down 6 percent year-over-year
• Overall click-through-rates (CTRs) in search were relatively flat year-over-year, gaining only 2 percent
• Overall search cost-per-click (CPC) is down 5 percent year-over-year
• Automotive industry spend declined 15 percent, due primarily to lower impression volume, reflecting weakness in consumer demand.
• Financial service spend declined 20 percent despite impressions being up by 5 percent reflecting high customer demand for financial services, with but fewer qualified conversions
• Retail spend increased 9 percent, reflecting the strength of the channel in price comparison and shopping efficiency, particularly for more established online brands
• Travel and Entertainment spend decreased 24 percent, primarily due to reduced traffic volume, which is down in by 18 percent in the sector year-over-year

Labels: Google, Marketing Trends, Search Advertising, SEO

Here are my picks for the Top Ten Domain Name Search Engines - there are a ton more than these ten out there, however, I've found these to be the ones that I've used most often and had the most success with. You can use these domain name search engines to check if a domain name you're considering is still available for purchase, or just to view domain name information.

10. Xona.com - Domain Hacks Search Engine

From the site: "Domain Hacks is a special domain name search utility. It results domain hack domain names, which are unconventional domain names like del.icio.us." This is a way to find out if specific domain hack names are already registered - and looks to be the only one of its kind on the Web.

Labels: Domain Names, SEO, Top 10 Picks