Answer Engine | Asian Search Engines.

By Kamau Austin

How Search Engines Show You the Money.

Do Search Engines Drive Internet and Offline sales?

According to a recent article by Jason Miller, a reporter forWeb Pro News "MSN searchers were 48% more likely to buy onlinethan the average Internet user. His info was based on a reportfrom the month of June by comScore Networks, Inc. The reportalso indicated that "Google users are 42% more likely" to buythan the average Internet users.

On the flip side of this good news was the lackluster ecommerceinvolvement of AOL users, who were only 3% more likely to make apurchase than the average Internet user. This is significant toknow because search engine users have been traditional thoughtof as better potential customers than other types of Internettraffic. Search engine users are proactively looking forinformation with specifically targeted search terms, andtherefore are considered by many marketers as target directresponse driven prospects.

One theory is the reason MSN searchers may be more likely to buyis that the majority of them are women (who many times make morebuying decisions for their families), while the majority ofGoogle users are men at 51%.

This theory doesn't really hold up because AOL subscribers are52% women, but who tend "NOT" to make many more purchases thanthe average Internet user. Perhaps MSN users are slightly moreupscale than Google, Yahoo! or AOL users.

The comScore study also reiterated what a lot of recent studieshave shown by other sources. It indicates the more sophisticatedand complex search terms are, the more likely the searchersusing those terms will be inclined to make an online purchase.

Another interesting revelation in this article is that manysearchers (85%) made their purchases offline 5 to 12 weeks afterthe initial search session. Only 15% made a purchase during thefirst search session (which by the way is very high because mostwebsites have a initial conversion rate of .5 - 1%).

It is because of these facts that search engine marketing isdebated as a direct marketing tool. Many would categorize searchengine marketing as more of a long term marketing strategy,because their usage may precede a purchase by as much as 60 to90 days. According to the comScore study most searches (70%)started out as generic generalized terms and then became morespecific. Only about 20% of the search terms started out asbrand names like Sony, HP, or Dell.

It must be mentioned here however that closer to the buyingcircle more brand names are used in searches.

A deeper look at the comScore study also showed that "searchplayed a role in roughly half of all online purchases."

The comScore study was commissioned by DoubleClick becausecomScore had a panel of 1.5 million U.S. Internet consumers.

In is also interesting to note (in a different study) thatAccording to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligenceservice, search engines contributed greatly to the recordtraffic to shopping and classified sites last Dec. 11th, 2004 of(9.73 percent). In other words search engines drove about 10% ofHoliday sales. The specific traffic drivers were Google (4.26percent), Yahoo! (2.24 percent) and MSN 0.54.

According to the Hitwise research Google seems to drive retailtraffic of books, sports, fitness and music. Hitwise furtherreveals "Yahoo! search is stronger in sending its shoppingreferrals to: ... video and games, automotive, and classifieds".MSN sends a higher share of its shopping referrals to Apparel &Accessories, House & Garden, and Appliances & Electronics".

Here are some other reasons to use search engine marketing...

The Top 7 Reasons Your Site should have a Search EngineMarketing Strategy.

1. 47% of Internet traffic is driven from the search engines.

2. 91% of Internet sales are first researched on the searchengines.

3. Search engine traffic is the best free way to position yourbusiness to target ideal sales leads and customers.

4. Search engine traffic is more targeted and receptive to yourproducts and services. This is the case because unliketraditional advertising search engine traffic is initiated bythe customer.

5. 20% of search engine queries are for local traffic. Twice asmany people use search engines to find local businesses as douse the local yellow pages.

6. Search engines are the cornerstones of any Internet marketingcampaign (I don't know any successful Internet marketer thatdoesn't have a search engine marketing component to theirmarketing).

7. Search engine traffic can be inexpensive or free butnaturally monetized with strategies like Google Adsense, linkbrokering, and traditional advertising.

This definitely shows that search engine marketing is animportant part of the marketing mix of most companies --especially in the retail industry. Search engine visibility maytake a few months to manifest themselves, but search engineswithout a doubt drive sales down the info superhighway --showing us the money along the way

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