Dallas Internet Marketing

Is Internet Marketing Right for My Business?

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This is part two of the Business Owner’s Guide to Internet Marketing. The other posts in the series are:

• Introduction
• Is Internet Marketing Right for My Business? (This Entry)
• What’s In a Website?
• Internet Marketing Opportunities
• Why Search is Powerful.
• How do Search Engines Work?
• What is SEO and What are Opportunities for Your Business?
• Pay Per Click Marketing and Opportunities for Your Business
• Relationship Driven Internet Marketing

Recently I was talking with a friend about a website/marketing campaign we are putting together for a local home builder. For this particular homebuilder, he makes about $15,000 profit on each house he builds. I said, “So, if this website can send him x number of leads a month, and even if only one of those leads converts to a customer, then he could increase his profits $175,000 a year.”

My friend replied, “Sure, but do you really think people are googling trying to find local home builders?”

I had also had a similar type conversation with my father-in-law who owns his own business. We started talking about ways he could use the internet and marketing to get new clients. In the end his question boiled down to, “But do you think internet marketing is right for my niche and my business?”

Those experiences helped me see that a common question among business owners is surely, “Is internet marketing right for my business?”

In the end, you as the business owner have to make that decision for yourself. Here are some facts and figures that can help you answer that question for local business owners.

How Americans Use the Internet

A recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that approximately 72% of Americans use the Internet. That comes out to 220,000,000 people in the United States alone who are online.

Of those 72%, what activities are they engaged in online? Although other activities vary by generation, email and search are the two most popular activities online.

So we see that of the 72% of Americans that are online, across generations the second most popular activity is using the internet search mechanism, whether that be Google, Yahoo, Bing or another search engine. It is also important to note the percentages of each generation online as you think about your target market.

Of those searchers, what are they searching for?

American’s Search the Internet to Find Information About Local Businesses

In 2006, Hillary Schneider, one of the Senior Vice Presidents at Yahoo!, said, “Out of the 130 million monthly unique users of Yahoo last year, 116 million of them came to Yahoo with local intent.”

For the record, that is 89% of searchers were looking for something related to their own location.

Also in 2006, Nielsen and Web Visible conducted a survey that revealed:

• 74% of survey participants said they used search engines as one of their ways to find information about local businesses. Other answers were: Print Yellow Pages – 65%; Internet Yellow Pages – 50%; & Traditional newspapers- 44%. Percentages are greater than 100 because more than one answer was allowed.

In 2007, TMP Directional Marketing and comScore revealed:

• 60% of all local business searches now happen online.
• 86% of those surveyed have used the internet to find a local business.
• 78% use the internet more now to find local businesses than they did two years ago.

And here is perhaps the most staggering fact related to internet use and local business: Google, who sees behind all the millions and millions of searches and site selections people make, is actively altering search results to favor local results. For example, if you are sitting in Dallas right now and do a search for “groceries”, “sporting goods”, or  ”lawyer” the results you get will be tailored to your local location. If you were sitting in San Antonio, they would be based around local businesses in San Antonio. So Google, after watching the way people search and the results they choose world wide, has actively altered their ranking formula based on what people are really looking for, and that is for local business information. You can read more about this concept on the official Google blog.

American’s Search the Internet to Choose Products and Services:

Online means of gathering information are shaded in blue and yellow. The big takeaway from those statistics is that for every age demographic, the company website was used more than print advertising, more than actual physical company employees and more than the recommendations of friends and family in researching a product or service for purchase.

And just to be clear, what it seems customers want is to research online, buy offline.

Emarketer announced that in 2007, web influenced store sales amounted to $470.7 billion while pure ecommerce amounted to $136.4 billion dollars. Thus, internet research about products and services leads to offline action.

BIGresearch reported in its survey said that 87% of consumers questioned, had researched products online before making in store purchases.

So, Is Internet Marketing Right For Your Business?

We have seen that 60% of all local business searches happen online. So, if you are a local brick and mortar business, research shows people are looking for information about your business online.

The research also showed that people chose the company website as the number one source they turn to when trying make a decision about a product or service. Regardless of your industry, its clear that your company website is important in influencing customers to make an offline action.

As we wrap up, here are some industry specific statistics to help you decide what is best for your specific business:

(If this chart is a bit small to read, press Ctrl = and the font size will increase)

Across the industries listed, a company’s website, the communication of product and service information, and the ability to be found through search engines seems to play a significant role in the majority of consumer purchases across industry lines.