When I am talking to my clients about considering search engine optimisation (SEO) in their marketing strategies they will immediately want to know statistics. I generally share with them research on keyword analysis and demonstrate to them how many people are going to search engines to look for their products or services. I will then break it down even further and go into specifics. For example if I am talking to someone who is selling perfume online, I will provide reports on exactly how many users are going to a search engine on a monthly basis searching for perfume online. Or any other keywords associated with the sale of their product.

I then talk to them about the bigger picture. Gone are the days when companies are being educated about needing to have an online presence. We are way past that faze and the majority of companies do. Some, we are educating about search engine optimisation (SEO) but some are still in the process of digesting online marketing in any form. When I talk to them about overall online trends, it really is an eye opener.

·         MORE money will be spent globally on online advertising than on radio in 2008, with the internet overtaking radio a year earlier than previously forecast, new research from ZenithOptimedia.

·         The company said the internet advertising spend would grow six times faster than traditional media between 2006 and the end of 2009 and increase its share of the advertising market from 5.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent.

·         Online advertising is expected to account for more than 10 per cent of total advertising spending on all media in Australia in 2009.

·         Global adspend on all media will grow 5.2 per cent in 2007, matching long term trends, though it will grow faster in 2008 as a result of the Olympics and elections.

·         Zenith Media predicts that internet adspend will grow 28.2 per cent in 2007, while the rest of the market will grow at 3.7 per cent.

·         While the internet would account for about 9 per cent of global adspend in 2009, it would reach double digits early next decade.

When we produce such figures and research, clients will generally understand the need for online marketing and see the real benefits of search engine optimisation (SEO). It is about now that clients need to consider search engine optimisation and other forms of online marketing, when stuck in the mind set of traditional forms of media and marketing.