A report from WebVisible shows that the average small business advertiser in the United States spent $2,126 in the 4th quarter of 2010 on online advertising.
WebVisible, a provider of local online marketing software and services, also found that the average keyword count used in small and medium business’ search advertising campaigns reached a new high of 87 words, which means that small businesses advertisers used 30% more keywords in their campaigns in the 4th quarter of 2010 than they did in the same period in 2009.
The percentage of clicks that resulted in a phone call also rose from 3.9% in the 4th quarter of 2009 to 6.1% in the 4th quarter of 2010, which is an increase of 56%. This clearly shows that small businesses are now turning more and more towards online advertising, are becoming more savvy with their ad campaigns and users are also responding better to this new technology.
Ron Burr, CEO of WebVisible says, “successful campaigns will be those that combine the best creative, most dynamic media buying strategies, and smartest use of keyword targeting all working together”.
Along with the general upward trend in online advertising, videos are also growing as an important means of connecting with users. 26% of small businesses are now using video as a means of advertising, as compared to only 19% a year ago. The number of video views has also gone up by 85%, from 3.7% last year to 6.7% this year.
While the increased usage of online marketing is good for the U.S. economy, it has its downsides too. For one, the average cost per click for ads has also gone up steadily. Also, the shift of budgets to online has meant that an increasing number of offline channels are now struggling to uphold revenues and carry on their business.
