Online marketing is a must for businesses that want to keep pace in today’s tech-forward society. Even now, in a weak economy, the amount spent on Internet advertising continues to grow. However, with so many competing Internet advertising strategies, business owners may find themselves at a loss as to which strategy will provide the greatest ROI.

Search Ads on the Rise

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal sheds light on the latest trends in online advertising. According to the report, advertisers seem to be sticking to one of the most basic and direct ways of reaching online customers: search ads. Google dominates this type of advertising, teasing users with plain text ads on search result pages. The research firm eMarketer projects that spending on search ads will exceed $10 billion this year, about 70% of which will go to Google.

Display Ads: No Longer Cost-Effective?

Comparatively, only $5.4 billion is expected to be spent on flashier display advertising. Though display ads once ruled the Internet—they’re more interactive, visually appealing but also tend to be more costly—their popularity has waned, in large part due to the current economic downturn. Advertisers want the most bang for their buck, so to speak, and see search ads as the way to go.

In fact, eMarketer expects a 2% growth in search ad marketing compared to no growth in display ad marketing. This news can’t be good for Google’s main rivals—Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft—all of which placed their bets on a comeback for display ads, investing billions of dollars in this type of advertising with hopes of gaining some of Google’s market share.

Where to Put Your Advertising Dollars

Still, the question remains — where will you invest your advertising dollars? The answer will determine your online success and conversion rates, so it’s important to weigh your options carefully. Of course your goal is to maximize your ROI, and this may involve using a single strategy such as search advertising, or a mixed strategy, involving various methods of online marketing. Just because display advertising is experiencing a standstill doesn’t mean it’s not an effective means of marketing, and some businesses may still profit from this type of advertising.

If you have questions about online advertising, call us anytime and we’ll be happy to discuss possible strategies with you.

Contact us

Ready to chat?
First coffee is on us.

Getting started is easy. Fill out the info below and we'll respond within 45 minutes.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.