04-07-2007, 09:08 AM
Quote:A bit of number crunching speaks volumes about the quandary many search engine marketers find themselves in. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO), during the past two years spending on paid-placement search engine marketing has increased from $4.7 billion to $8.6 billion, or a little more than 70%. At the same time, search query volume has increased only 23%, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Because spend is growing faster than query volume, advertisers are spending more on average per query, which translates into costlier keywords.
So marketers with tight budgets may find themselves slipping lower and lower on the search engine results pages, if not off them entirely. But they can't afford to idly sit by and watch competitors steal market share on their best keywords. This leads to a paradox: They can't afford to be in search, and they can't afford not to be in search...
full article: http://multichannelmerchant.com/webchann...ree_steps/