Are
Small Businesses Interested in Search Marketing?
A
Microsoft adCenter study reveals that 59% of small businesses with Web
sites don't currently use paid search marketing, and of those, 90% have
never even attempted it. The data comes from a Microsoft-commissioned
online survey examining the search marketing behaviors of 400
small-business owners in the United States.
It says
seven in 10 small-business owners who participated revealed that they
would rather try to do their own taxes than start a paid search
marketing campaign.
"Given
today's current economic conditions, small-business owners need more
effective ways to optimize their marketing dollars," said Brian Boland,
director of adCenter at Microsoft Advertising. "By investing in paid
search marketing, small businesses can track online sales and determine
the return on investment for their campaigns, while at the same time
boosting traffic and visibility for their Web sites."
Microsoft may be right in saying so, as it has to promote its own web
search-based business, which is currently dominated by big players like
Google and Yahoo!. However, other experts do not encourage search
marketing for small companies.
In a
recent opinion
article for My Techbox Online, David Wei,
chief executive officer, Alibaba.com (a leading online B2B
marketplace) expressed his views for small businesses. He said, “For
sellers there are pitfalls. A search engine is more consumer traffic
driven with no budget guarantee, so costs can accumulate without any
reasonable assurance of sales. There is also a serious global issue of
click fraud whereby competitors click repeatedly to increase your
pay-per-click advertising costs.”
Read the full article here.
Microsoft survey, presumably to promote its own services, says that
despite the lack of investment in paid search marketing, the weakening
economy and increased competition, nearly nine in 10 (86%)
small-business owners surveyed felt that they could be missing
opportunities to grow their business, while three in four believed
prospective customers could be searching online for the type of service
their business offers. Although most do not embrace the practice, the
small-business owners who use paid search marketing are very satisfied,
as 72% reported an increase in sales inquiries and 68% consider their
paid search marketing efforts successful.
Among
the participants' chief concerns, most cited the common misconceptions
of cost, time and complexity as major hurdles to conducting search
marketing campaigns for their businesses, says Microsoft.
Key
findings:
- Nearly nine in 10 (89%)
feared keywords may become too expensive.
- 81% questioned if paid
search marketing is the best use of their marketing budgets.
- One quarter of respondents
believe paid search marketing is too complex.
- 21% thought it would be
too time-consuming.
- 35% felt they would need
an agency to help set up a search marketing campaign.
Microsoft informs that the study was conducted by independent research
company Kelton Research in April 2008. Microsoft commissioned the
quantitative research of 400 small-business owners with 250 or fewer
employees.
