No, I’m not talking about teaching people how to catch the next wave. Instead, I’m referring to the future wave that will have more of an impact on your business success as millions of net-savvy surfers continue to use the Internet to find, shop and buy from local and international businesses.
Saipan businesses have been able to get along fairly well by just floating their website or not even having a net-presence because most of their competitors are also not doing much on the Internet. However, that’s changing. With 235 million Internet users in the U.S. and 1.8 billion worldwide the Web is becoming easier, faster and more reliable for people to find what they need. It’s estimated that, on average, 40 percent of the online population has made an online purchase, with South Korea leading the way with 99 percent of their online shoppers making a purchase over the Internet.
Online shopping trends are showing a consistent rise, with many experts predicting that online shopping will continue to rise at an alarming rate. A study by Avenue A/Rasorfish.blog indicated that there are sweeping changes in the behavior of Internet consumers as more people use the Internet to get current news (91%), read blogs (70%), and watch videos (67%) or TV shows online (71%).
Here are some more interesting bits of information from studies and articles. The mother-of-all-search-engines, Google, Inc., recently stated that it generated $54 BILLION in U.S. economic activity in 2009 because more businesses have turned to online advertising as the economy slowed down. That’s more than double the $23.7 BILLION they reported the previous year.
According to ZenithOptimedia, advertising on the Internet is forecast to rise from 13 percent to 17 percent in 2012. One of the factors causing this shift in ad dollars is the ability to specifically track results and know precisely the return on investment. Many businesses are diverting their advertising budget away from traditional advertising and putting it into methods that allow them to track leads and sales.
Google uses a Pay Per Click (PPC) method of advertising that only charges an advertiser if someone clicks on a link that is listed prominently at the top or side of a search engine query. Google conservatively estimates that a business will see a return of $8 in profit for every $1 they spend on PPC. Can your local Yellow Page representative give you those odds or even make a rough guesstimate of how much your display ad will net you?
Speaking of Yellow Page advertising, the average small and medium-sized business used to spend nearly one quarter of their budget in a Yellow Pages directory; however, it has become one of the first advertising vehicles they decrease to try new mediums according to a 2006 survey by Spot Runner, an Internet-based ad agency. A 2009 Online Advertising Survey Report stated that 57 percent of businesses say they’re spending more for online display advertising.
I discovered some interesting things as I “Googled” some of our local businesses. Not many have a website and very few list their business with Google maps – even though it’s a free service that can help people find their location quickly. If a tourist is thinking about visiting a particular place, they won’t’ find much on the Internet. Some of the major hotels have not updated their information, and one beachside hotel is shown in the middle of the island, which could keep a free and independent traveler from booking a stay there if they want to be near the beach.
Even though we have several dentists and real estate agents, there is only one dentist and real estate company listed on Google maps, and even their information is lacking useful contact data. Have you checked your business listing to ensure that people can find you?
Just for an interesting exercise, pretend that you are a prospect looking for your business on the Internet and you go to your favorite search engine and type in some words to find what your business has to offer. Are you on the first page? If not, did you make it to the second or later pages? When it comes to page rankings, if you’re not on the first page your website is basically invisible.
Two different studies state that between 95 and 98 percent of people will only look at the first ten listings on the first page of a search engine. Either way, if you are not on the first page of Google or Yahoo when someone types in their search phrase, less than one in 20 will click on the second page to continue their search. As more people use the Internet to find what they want, it will become more imperative for you to stop “floating” on the Internet and start paddling to catch the wave of web surfers that want what you have to offer.
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