Hillary Stone Web Content Specialist

The 10x Marketing vision statement declares:

"10x Marketing believes that the Internet is not only here to stay but that it will continue to grow as a leading revenue generator for all types of businesses. The ability to use the Internet to increase a company's revenue is no longer a nice addition to a traditional marketing plan—it is now vital to achieve sustained growth and profitability" (emphasis added).

Our company was built on this vision four years ago and we have been sharing it with the world ever since. We are constantly striving to not only inform businesses that search engine marketing is effective but prove that it should be a vital part of every business's marketing plan.

The Internet is here to stay
As early as the 1960s, ideas about building a public system of computer networks were beginning to take shape. In the 40 short years since then, the Internet has exploded. Approximately 1 billion people worldwide use the Internet¹—in the United States alone, 203 million people, more than two-thirds of the U.S. population, are online. And those numbers continue to grow. In fact, the Computer Industry Almanac predicts that by 2010, just four years from now, the worldwide Internet population will have grown to nearly 2 billion people (see chart at right).

The Internet is a leading revenue generator
Not only is the online population growing but those who are online are steadily becoming more familiar and comfortable with using the Internet. With this familiarity comes an increased willingness to do things online; in particular, today's adults are becoming more open to the idea of shopping and even buying online. According to eMarketer Senior Analyst Jeffrey Grau, "Online sales are experiencing double-digit increases." Web merchants believe that this growing acceptance does, and will continue to, contribute significantly to the growth in online spending. And this spending isn't limited to retail businesses.

Internet marketing is vital to achieve sustained growth and profitability
The numbers are hard to ignore. With so many people online, and spending money while they're there, it's clear that continuing to ignore Internet marketing is a huge mistake. In a survey of technology buyers², when asked how they would begin researching to buy a product, more people acknowledged that they would begin at a search engine than at a manufacturer's website. In other words, people generally consult a search engine for comparison purposes rather than turning directly to a recognized manufacturer.

There are still many businesses that have not yet caught sight, let alone taken hold, of the vision. A study involving the search engine optimization of Fortune 100 websites³ revealed some surprising results. Even among the Fortune 100, few companies are actively incorporating effective SEO (define) techniques into their marketing plans. In 2005, the websites of only thirteen out of 100 companies had "effective" SEO.

Does it matter?
In a word: yes; in two: most definitely. The Fortune 100 companies may not think so because they already have excellent brand recognition, but when you consider that more than 10% of the Fortune 500 lost money in 2005, it most certainly does matter. If nothing else, these companies would likely have benefited from search engine marketing just by ensuring their placement in the top ten organic results of search terms related to their industry. Of the 45 Fortune 100 companies that practiced no SEO during 2005, only seven-a meager 16%-found themselves listed among the top ten results of searches for keywords related to their industry. By contrast, 77% of those using effective SEO were found in the top ten (see chart at right).

In summary, the study found that less than one third of all the Fortune 100 companies have optimized websites. When you consider that websites in the top ten search engine results receive approximately 70% of ecommerce business, that's a big deal.

The vision continues
Chances are high that if you are reading this article, either you are already actively engaged in Internet marketing or you are at least pursuing it, which means that you are ahead of the game. The key is to keep going. Even if you haven't yet made the jump, marketing research firm MarketingSherpa claims that "so few marketers are budgeting enough for SEO that it can be a massive competitive advantage for you still."

The beauty of Internet marketing, and SEO in particular, is that it's not just for the Fortune 100, or even the Fortune 1000 for that matter. Internet marketing comprises a host of effective marketing techniques-SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing, permission e-mail marketing-and like traditional marketing techniques, you can employ more than one simultaneously and have them all be profitable in their own way.

Turning again to the words of our vision statement, at 10x Marketing, we are "committed to maintaining our leadership role in providing high quality Internet marketing services that take advantage of the latest Internet and Web development trends. In doing so, we will continue to deliver long-term, Internet marketing solutions to our clients that are cost effective and yield a measurable high return on investment." We encourage you to take hold of the vision for yourself and put us to the test.

Notes

1. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
2. "Search in the Business Technology Process" Millward Brown for Google, Inc., May 2005.
3. Oneupweb, May 2005.