Planning Your Online Marketing Budget for 2010: Maryland Search Engine Optimization

This article discusses a few recent surveys documenting 2010 Marketing Trends and Budget Allocation of leaders in the business world. We’ll discuss how companies are spending their online marketing dollars and which areas of marketing are getting a lot of attention. Although Social Media is everywhere, you’ll find that Maryland businesses and companies everywhere are still planning a balanced online attack for 2010, with search engine optimization and online advertising as frontrunners, as they’ve provided proven success on the web.

Despite a recession, Search Engine Optimization and search engine marketing practices are still growing each year.

Experts predict that Search Engine Marketing activities in the US will have doubled from $13 billion dollars spent in 2009 to $26 billion by the year 2014.

With all that money pouring into Internet marketing efforts, how are organizations and companies choosing to allocate it? Multiple surveys have been conducted on where budgets for SEM are headed in the year 2010, and although they’ve turned out different results, one thing is clear—more businesses are putting in more money to get the SEO and SEM results they want.

In a survey conducted by WordStream:

68% of survey respondents say they intend to spend more on Search Engine Marketing in 2010.
They intend to spend more for both SEO and PPC (in slight favor of SEO).
68% believe SEO is more essential to online growth then PPC.
Local Search is becoming more popular. Half the survey’s respondents intend to spend more on local efforts and specific geo-targeting.

In another recent 2010 Marketing Trends survey conducted by StrongMail, almost 90% of over 1,000 global business leaders disclosed plans to increase or maintain their current online media budgets in 2010. The areas they intended to spend the most on were social media marketing and email efforts, with search marketing and search engine optimization coming in at third. More traditional Marketing efforts, such as events, conferences, and direct mailing decreased.

69% of survey respondents responded that Social Media marketing is now a clear focus. The purpose of Social media is to build customer loyalty, expand the reach of the company, and encourage customer retention. Although many companies are integrating email and social media marketing, many are still looking for tools and strategies to track, measure, and monetize these services.

Goldstein and Hearst conducted a similar study, but found that although there is a shift from traditional marketing efforts to online tactics, it’s less then anticipated and the recipe for successful long-term marketing has always been a balanced approach. However, social media and online video experienced growth and received increased spending, with Search Engine Optimization playing an important role as always. Similarly to the StrongMail study, trade shows and events are still essential to marketing efforts and social media is expected to continue growing, despite being allocated minimal budget. Aside from the problems associated with measuring social media success, social media takes a backseat to traditional search engine optimization because of SEO’s proven long-term website success.

Internet Marketing Tactics and What Percentage is Represented in Total Budget:

Online advertising, trade shows/events, and Search Engine Marketing are the frontrunners.

2010 Increase in Budget Levels Compared to 2009:

Here we see that Social Media and Online Video efforts, although receiving minimal budget are still increasing. Online advertising, Web Development, and Search Engine Marketing are big players as expected, and trade show funding, print advertising, and direct mail and telemarketing efforts have decreased.

What is the gist of these marketing surveys? Although talk of Twitter, Facebook, and social media is everywhere, established online marketing efforts are still being given priority as they’re measurable and deliver proven results. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore Social Media and find out how it can benefit your company.

Maryland is a leader in our economy, notably in the fields of technology and science. Maryland websites receive greater online recognition with smart Maryland Search Engine Optimization and Online Marketing efforts. Maryland search engine optimization is essential for any solid Online Marketing plan—in order to develop online business success, Maryland search engine optimization drives websites to achieve optimal results and long-term success.

Maryland Search Engine Optimization is a great approach to long-term brand building and an essential part to developing an online marketing plan that will work for your company. Maryland businesses, learn more information about how your company can establish a valuable presence on the web by Maryland search engine optimization as well as a balanced approach to internet growth strategies in 2010.

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