Re: UKNM: Search Engines, etc

[John Nugent]

At 12:21 29/09/98 -0400, Eric Ward 'Named one of the world's 100 most

influential people on the Web' wrote:


>>by hand, sometimes several times over. That's because 99% of your traffic is

>>likely to come from these, 1% the rest, and most of the major search engines

>

>As one of the very first members of the submission

>industry, over 5 years ago, before Yahoo.com existed,

>before any submission bots and any submission services, I

>assure you that the above kind of thinking is exactly what

>kills most web sites.


Eric,


According to a report by CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Research last year, the

method used most often to find Web information:

                                             Percent

* Search engines                               71%

* Recommendations from friends/relatives       10

* Newspapers and magazines                      9

* Links from other Web sites                    8

* Television                                    4

* Printed Internet directories                  3


While these stats should be taken with a pinch of salt, they are not

entirely out of line with my experience. 


As I'm sure you're aware, the benefit of a good search engine (SE) ranking

is that it is a cheap source of traffic - not free, as it usually costs to

have someone keep you there, but more cost effective than paying CPM on

banners, for example.


IMO SE promotion is a basic essential for all online businesses and if

neglected you can guarantee that a good percentage of potential customers

will find your competitors before they find you. 


Or worse! I had a meeting with a potential client recently and checked the

search engines for background info - they weren't listed and the first six

results that came up on their company name were from a site that detailed

their advertising standards infringements! 


In that SE promotion is only part of the online marketing mix, I agree with

you entirely - banner advertising, online PR, sponsorships, affiliate

programs and e-commerce deals all play their part, and pay my bills.


However, an interesting point here is that content providers appear to be

finding exclusive e-commerce deals with retailers more lucrative than


advertising and sponsorship revenue - such that they do not accept

advertising from competitors to the partner retailer.


This forces online media buyers to rely far more on demographics than

content, catching the punter where they can - which may partly explain the

general decrease in click-through rates.


Is the availability of online channels to market going to drop like Bill's

pants (Clinton not Gates)? Anyone care to comment...?


John Nugent			

Director,  The Digital Marketing Agency	

Email:

johnmarketing-agency [dot] com

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Phone UK:  0468 893202

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           London W14 8XL, UK.


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