Online Marketing Budgets Set to Increase by 25%.

The Online Marketing 2007 Survey has predicted clear growth in online marketing with online budgets set to increase by 25%.

Online and Digital Marketing continues to grow with online budgets increasing by up to 25% in the coming year. One in five respondents from the survey said that they now spend more than half their total marketing budget online and agencies look set to benefit with 47% of respondents saying they plan to hire a digital agency in the next year, up 7% on last years results.

Growth Areas
With the traditional areas of search, banner advertising and email dominating the majority of online spend over the past twelve months you could be forgiven for thinking that some of the innovation of the online channel had slipped away. However, the survey found that 44% of respondents cited social media as a growth area, 42% cited the mobile arena and 36% said that SEO was going to be the growth channel of the next twelve months.

The growth of social media marketing is particularly strong in the travel and public sectors with 66% and 60% of respondents in those areas naming it as the biggest growth sector. Marketing agencies have got their eye on the mobile market with 65% citing mobile as the biggest growth area for them, but the financial sector still sees its strength in traditional areas with 47% of respondents naming search and 41% naming email as key growth areas.

This information contained in this article was taking from Online Marketing 07 Survey Results. To read the article in full, please follow this link - Online Marketing 07 Survey

View Your Website Through The Eyes of Your Customers

We have all heard of the saying that web page content is king and its true to say that having quality and new content on your web pages does help you achieve better rankings in the search engines. However, its better to go a step further by making sure you optimise page content and imagery to tie into how your website visitors actually scan your web pages for information.

Increase conversions by putting content or images in the places where the visitors are most likely to see it. Visitors’ eyes normally work from the left side of the page to the centre, following a predictable pattern. Meeting your clients browsing expectations by placing information where they expect to see it will turn them into ‘buyers’ as opposed to ‘browsers’.

For example, below is an image that highlights how most visitors to a website view a specific page when browsing. As you can see, the areas that are in yellow and red are the key areas that they may notice, while the blue colours are the sections that the human eye tends to ignore.

This is interesting in itself and should highlight the need for you test your website to find out if the important information is where your potential customers will find it.

Google Website Optimiser

Help is at hand with a new product from Google that aims to help you increase conversion rate and improve the overall visitor experience. The Google Website Optimizer allows you to test different versions of your site content so that you may determine what will best attract users and lead them to buy on your site.

You will need a Google AdWords account to use the Google webpage optimiser but the actual tracking software scripts are available free from Google.

So to summarise, by testing different versions of your site content, you can determine what will best attract users and lead them to buy from your site. Something for all of us to consider.

The image used in this article was supplied by Marketing Sherpa with Eyetools, Ecommerce Eye Tool Year 2, Internal Search & Navigation Study – January 2007

Women are taking control of the web

A recent study by Nielsen/NetRatings has revealed that women are embracing the Internet at an even faster rate than their male counterparts. Young women in the 18 - 34 age group are now the most dominant group of Internet users – comprising 18% of all the users online in Britain. They also spend 27% more time online than their male counterparts.

This study will encourage online retailers who are selling products aimed at this age group and also encourage others to offer products that appeal to this young female market.

Further studies have even more key information that may help online businesses tap into this important consumer group. In a report by eMarketer, they state that women have been traditionally more cautious than males when it comes to buying products online. However web retailers have been working to alleviate these concerns by offering more flexible return policies and offering better images of the merchandise and this is having a large impact on increasing sales from women buyers.

In a shopsmart online poll of US women they found that there were certain items that women were hesitant to buy online. Food topped the list with 17% of women unwilling to buy these items online, followed by clothing (14%), shoes (8%), and jewellery (7%). However this does not mean that these products are destined for failure. It just means that online retailers of jewellery for example will need to ensure that their website is designed in such a way that allays the fears of women and provides a shopping experience that is appealing to this customer group.

In fact, clothing and jewellery are among a list of the fastest growing retail categories so there is evidence to suggest that online retailers have learned their lessons and have designed websites that appeal to these clients.

So, when trying to appeal to this large base of women buyers what should you keep in mind?

Women and men prefer different web design styles: Researchers at the UK's University of Glamorgan have identified many differences in the website design preferences of men and women.

Men prefer:

* Straight lines and shapes

* Simpler and darker colour schemes

* Formal or expert language with few abbreviations

* Images featuring motion

Women prefer:

* Rounded forms

* Brighter and more complex colour schemes

* Casual language and tone

* Informal photographs

University of Glamorgan also identified that female web designers were more likely to design a website that appealed to women than their male counterparts. It may be controversial, but if you really want a website that is appealing to women the University study shows that you should get a woman to design it.

In another interesting article, Gender Marketing Web Design Differences, Joseph Carrabis discusses a few more gender differences. He says that women want to know more initially than a man does and this should have an impact on the way a site is designed. The home page and other popular landing pages of a website should catch a woman’s attention right away or she will not consider looking further. Men are more willing to explore the whole website if the information is not provided immediately.

Retailers should keep in mind these differences if they truly want to succeed online.

For further information on gender differences online read the following articles:

Gender Marketing Web Design Differences
University of Glamorgan – Key website research highlights gender bias
BBC – Young women dominate UK net scene