Our predictions for 2007

What do we see happening this year? Here are our 5 predictions for 2007.

1) A growing emphasis on site conversion: since search engine marketing has now gained a level of popularity that is making it much more competitive, both in terms of achieving ‘natural’ rankings and the average cost per click from pay-per-click advertising rising, there will be greater importance placed on converting visitors to a site into an enquiry or sale, so that the ROI (return on investment) for business websites can be maintained or improved. This will encompass many elements, from the site’s usability, to the effectiveness of copy and images, the checkout process for e-commerce sites, plus the response time and quality once contact is made.

2) Search marketing becomes a core discipline: the other main aspect from the growth of search marketing as a significant area of advertising spend is that it is no longer a niche sector but a significant consideration for inclusion in any website marketing plan. This will be reflected in new jobs and departments being established in mainstream agencies and large companies who want to develop this area, but will also be reflected in a growing skills shortage, leading to more training courses and demand for skilled staff who have a broad experience in this market.

3) Local search gains prominence: the advances in local search opportunities by Google, Yahoo! and MSN will offer small businesses the chance to use search marketing effectively to reach their specific catchment areas. It will create an alternative to more traditional forms of local advertising as more people also use local search on the web to find businesses or other suppliers for their immediate needs. The technology for targeting local search traffic will improve and give smaller companies better alternatives to reach their audience.

4) The question of click fraud is tackled: one of the biggest issues for the pay-per-click providers and advertisers is the question of click fraud, whereby advertisers are maliciously targeted to increase their spend levels from irrelevant click activity. There will be increasing clamour to resolve this issue and although it can’t be stamped out entirely, the main players like Google and Yahoo! will introduce tighter controls to identify and combat this practice, despite remaining secretive about their methods.

5) Social networks become a new marketing challenge: the dramatic growth in social networks like MySpace and Bebo in 2006 was a significant new trend, with MySpace reportedly becoming the most visited US website by the end of the year, overtaking Yahoo!’s long-established top position. Other ‘virtual world’ sites like Second Life indicate the trend towards the web being used as a social interactive tool and one that marketers will begin to target more aggressively. However, the nature of these sites mean that marketing techniques will need to be more creative to reach these target audiences as the wrong strategy can quickly turn into negative publicity.

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