Why search.mississippi.com Works

GeoDomains Poised For Local Online Advertising in 2008
Posted: Dec 13th, 2007
ST. LOUIS – That big phonebook consumers used to rely on to find eateries and local businesses has more uses these days. It is a great doorstop, can be used to defend against home invaders or serves as excellent kindling for the fireplace.

As more consumers are moving toward online searches to find businesses and products, the big bulky phonebook of yore has become noticeably obsolete. According to research and consulting firm Borrell Associates, online advertising is expected to grow 48 percent in 2008 and online search revenue is expected to increase to $12.6 billion.

On the local level, individual GeoDomains representing their respective cities stand to reap a noticeable slice of the ever-growing online advertising pie.

“Driving most of the growth is the popularity of local search and online video advertising,” the Borrell study said. “Local search advertising will more than double [in 2008] to $5 billion while locally placed online video will triple to almost $1.3 billion.”

Powering online search revenue will be cars, recruitment and real estate. The study says they will stake a 38 percent share of Internet advertising. The Borrell report can be found here.

“Local advertisers have naturally been slower than large national advertisers to embrace the Web as an ad medium,” Borrell Associates President Colby Atwood said in an interview with Associated Cities. “The larger companies had the wherewithal to figure out how to do online advertising while many smaller businesses were still getting hooked up to the Internet.”

He continued: “Though the growth rate for national online advertising has slowed, local advertisers are now convinced that the Web can work for them. They are taking advantage of the many opportunities that are being presented to them by a wide variety of online media companies.”

As the presidential race heats up, the study projects political campaigning at the state and national level will drive strong sales forecasts. A debate was recently aired on YouTube and political ad spending is expected to exceed $4.5 billion for the 2008 election cycle.

According to another study by marketing research firm PQ Media, Internet ad spending is expected to exhibit the fastest growth in the 2008 campaign. The estimated growth is expected to exceed 83 percent.

For sustained growth, traditional marketing and advertising for both online and offline will have to adapt to the ever-changing needs of consumers. GeoDomains are positioned well into the coming years as it is inherently in their blood to be the most knowledgeable source about their locals.

“Non-ad activities such as promotions and public relations are better at delivering the improved targeting and accountability that advertisers are demanding,” the PQ Media study said.

Transitioning into new-media advertising will not be easy for the usual suspects. TV, radio, newspapers, Yellow Pages and cable companies are still banking on traditional online ad sales.

“There is increasing evidence to support the idea that a greater investment in an independent online sales force will be necessary to continue the growth these properties have enjoyed for the past few years,” the PQ Media study said.

A similar study done by the Kelsey Group does not inflate the gross revenues for online searches and projects $11.1 billion by 2011. The group says the growth will be steady until 2011 for Yellow Pages.

“Yellow Pages publishers with deployed sales forces are positioning to bring more advertisers and content to the local search experience as a means to control more of the digital economics,” said Kelsey Group President Matt Booth in a statement.

The Kelsey Group estimates that 40 percent of automobile advertising will be online by 2010 in the amount of $27 billion in sales.

Another study released on Dec. 12 by JupiterReseach and NADAguides polled U.S. automotive dealers and revealed that 43 percent of dealership owners were spending an average of $30,000 on Internet ads.

“The Internet continues to gain momentum among auto dealers as a higher percentage than ever before are adopting online advertising tactics. Many are increasing their online advertising budgets,” said Belis Aksoy of JupiterResearch in the report.

Automotive online spending is expected to be one the major players in the online ad game.