Businesses Reveal New Year's Resolutions for Online Marketing in 2008

Businesses Reveal New Year's Resolutions for Online Marketing in 2008

New survey shows how businesses operating online intend to ring in more profits in the New Year.

Montclair, NJ, (PRWEB) December 19, 2007 -- How will businesses operating online ring in a more profitable New Year? In a survey of 1,050 northern New Jersey businesses, the top three goals for online marketing in 2008 are: improving website content and layout (24.3 percent), stoking up e-mail marketing (19.5 percent), and search engine optimization (SEO) (17 percent).

SEO uses "keywords" (popular search terms) to make a company easier for prospects to find on search engines like Google and Yahoo!.

It's surprising that 25 percent of those surveyed either weren't sure or didn't have a clue about which keywords were important in helping prospects find them. Clearly, a properly optimized site can increase web traffic -- and the business a company can expect to gain in 2008 and beyond
The survey, conducted by Internet marketing firm Samson Media, llc (Montclair, NJ) in late November, polled executives from retail, banking, manufacturing, trades, and business service companies.

"It's surprising that 25 percent of those surveyed either weren't sure or didn't have a clue about which keywords were important in helping prospects find them. Clearly, a properly optimized site can increase web traffic -- and the business a company can expect to gain in 2008 and beyond," said Gene R. Sower, principal of Samson Media (http://www.samsonmedia.net).

Other survey highlights revealed that 90 percent of respondents had a business website, and an equal percentage felt it made a positive impact on their business. Nearly 30 percent admitted to either creating their sites themselves or using someone in-house who had no professional web design and optimization experience.

The increase in search engine use to find everything from pet sitters to plumbers was even evident among the survey respondents, with 38 percent reporting using online search, second only to "personal referral." This compared with 10 percent who chose the traditional yellow pages.

The online marketing focus is in addition to traditional advertising. Nearly 40 percent of respondents currently advertise in newspapers and magazines. Other ad vehicles included: yellow pages (34 percent); radio (16 percent), and TV or cable (5 percent). In addition, 42 percent use some form of direct mail.

Samson Media, celebrating its one year anniversary in December 2007, is an online marketing firm specializing in website design, search engine optimization and small business consulting. For more information, visit http://www.samsonmedia.net, or call 973-744-6621.

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