Average Amount Paid Per Click on Paid Search Ads |
Avg. Amount Paid | % of Respondents |
≤ 5 cents | 14.3% |
6-10 cents | 9.2 |
11-15 | 5.1 |
16-20 | 7.1 |
21-25 | 13.3 |
26-40 | 10.2 |
41-50 | 9.2 |
51-75 | 11.2 |
76 - $1 | 10.2 |
> $1 | 10.2 |
Source: Internet Retailer, May 2010 |
The chart from The Center For Media Research article "Searching Pays Off More" talks about where dollars are going and the return on investment that search "appears" to get...
In the past year:
44.9% of merchants report that the conversion rate on pay-per-click search advertising went up
16.3% say it went down
38.8% say their conversion rate held steady
47% report more than 25% of their web sales stem from search engine marketing
44.6% increased their paid search budgets
49% say they will increase it in the year ahead
Shar VanBoskirk, Vice President and principal analyst at Forrester Research, says "Everything we see from the retail side indicates... considerable interest and investment in search related to... driving more online sales."
37.7% of respondents spent more than 50% of their online marketing budget, 11.9% spent 61% to 75%, and 20.8% spent more than 75%, according to the Internet Retailer survey of IRNewsLink e-newsletter readers conducted with e-mail marketing and survey firm Vovici Corp.
27.0% report more than 50% of their online sales are attributable to search engine marketing:
Percent of Online Sales Attributable to Search Engine Marketing |
| % by Type of Retailer |
Percent of Sales | All | Chain | Catalog | Web | Manufacturer |
5% or less | 17.0% | 16.7 | 27.3 | 16.2 | 11.1 |
6-10 | 9.0 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 8.8 | 0.0 |
11-15 | 11.0 | 16.7 | 9.1 | 10.3 | 11.1 |
16-20 | 7.0 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 7.4 | 11.1 |
21-25 | 9.0 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 8.8 | 11.1 |
26-30 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 36.4 | 2.9 | 22.2 |
31-40 | 9.0 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 8.8 | 11.1 |
41-50 | 3.0 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 0.0 |
> 50% | 27.0 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 33.8 | 22.2 |
Source: Internet Retailer, May 2010 |
How can your clients improve their search engine marketing?...
Programs or Strategies Using (by Respondents) to Improve Paid Search Programs |
Program/Strategy | % of Respondents |
Adding more multiple word phrases to keyword inventory | 60.8% |
Writing more descriptive copy | 58.8 |
Testing versions of landing pages | 47.1 |
Monitoring competitors' use of keyword and pages | 45.1 |
Syncing keyword inventory effectiveness | 14.7 |
Other | 20.8 |
Source: Internet Retailer, May 2010 |
I don't think that search engine marketing is the panacea for your client's interactive marketing, I have seen far too many studies that show what display advertising can do for our clients and how it can effect conversions and influence off-line sales. Together they can be part of the interactive plan that can couple with broadcast and targeted print campaigns to be a truly integrated solution.