How Much Are SMBs Spending On Online Advertising?
Sep 4, 2008 at 3:07pm ET by Hanan Lifshitz
At Palore, we examine SMBs’ online advertising behavior, collecting information on the online presence of small businesses, ad spend data, advertising packages, etc. We recently completed a advertising-related survey of small businesses in the Boston metropolitan area that includes over 20 local, vertical and IYP sites. We looked at over 30 categories of businesses.
The first chart below shows the average monthly ad spend by businesses in four categories: jewelers, hair salons & barbers, spas & beauty salons and health & exercise clubs.
In our survey we tried to stay away from the leading categories and focus on the second tier categories, where we found the above four with many advertisers.
Next, we looked at the advertisers again to check what percentage published their website with their ads. Note the correlation between monthly ad spend and website publication.
It seems that in some verticals there is a higher awareness of the importance of online presence than there is in others. Of course it is also possible that some verticals, such as barber shops, have less of a need for a website.
Fellow authors of this column focus on the challenges facing small business owners in the fast-growing search marketing world. We hope to bring various analyses of the online behavior of SMBs and their online advertising preferences. We’d love to hear your thoughts, and if there’s anything you’d like to see us dive into, let us know.
Hanan Lifshitz is CEO and Noa Gertin is Director of Marketing at Palore, a provider of local businesses’ advertising data and information on their online activity. They also blog at The Palore Blog. The Small Is Beautiful column appears on Thursdays at Search Engine Land.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
Small Is Beautiful is for the millions of small businesses that have to compete against larger, often better staffed and funded rivals for top positions in search rankings and ads. Columnists offer creative advice and tips that smaller, nimble search marketers can exploit to gain a competitive advantage online. The Small Is Beautiful column appears weekly at Search Engine Land.To get this column via email or feed, visit our columns page.
Share, Bookmark & Discuss This Article
More:
Keep Updated: News Via Email | News Via RSS Feed | News Via Twitter
See more stories like this in the Members Library! Check out the Small Is Beautiful sections of the Members Library where this story is filed. Members also get access to exclusive video content, a members-only weekly & monthly newsletter, plus more. Check out all the benefits!
TOP STORIES
SEARCH NEWS BRIEFS
FEATURES & ANALYSIS
RECENT COMMNENTS
- Webmaster T said " If it was a search engine and not the people who actually benefit from proving this relationship... "
- Eric Ward said " OK, so I was trying to be ironic/funny with my maniacal idea for aggregating all my personal comment"
- JohnWEllis said " Greg, Thanks for sharing this data. No good comes from asking people what ads are “helpful”. People "
FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!
Stay on top of all the search news with our daily summary, the SearchCap newsletter. View a sample ›
STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.
SMX Web Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »
Join us at an upcoming SMX event:
- SMX Singapore - July 2-3, 2009
- SMX São Paulo - August 4-5
- SMX East - October 5-7, 2009
- SMX Stockholm - 12-13 October, 2009
- SMX Mexico - November 11, 2009
Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Search Marketing Now. Upcoming online events include:
- How Large Offline Marketers Drive Superior Search Marketing Results - July 21, 2009
- Trademarks, Brand Terms and PPC Advertising: Updates You Must Know - July
22, 2009
- Attribution Management Buyers Guide - July 28, 2009
TRACK US SOCIALLY
- Wall Street Journal Recommended Reading
- Ad Age Power 150 Blog
- Technorati Top 100 Blog
- Techmeme Leaderboard Source
- Best Search Engine Community/Forum
Featured sites from our Blogroll
Get Your Search Engine Land
Premium Membership!
Become a premium member today and receive:
- Express commenting privileges & photo.
- Exclusive videos & newsletters.
- Discounts to our SMX conferences.
- Access to "How To" & Other Archives.
© 2009 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Google, Yahoo & Microsoft logos trademark respective companies and used with permission.
