Search Engine Land, one of the top resources for SEO news on the Web, recently published a report that values the SEO industry at an incredible $65 billion. As if that wasn’t enough to prove the dominance of online marketing and SEO, the industry is expected to keep growing to reach a total value of $79 billion by 2020.
The article doesn’t simply exist to brag about the ascendance of the SEO world. It instead asks an important question: when will the online marketing industry stop growing?
‘Though estimates can be fallible, this does suggest that SEO has grown even more than previously expected, with a trajectory to preserve that growth well into the future. In fact, another recent survey of 357 marketers found that more than 90 percent plan to increase their SEO budgets or keep them the same over the next year. Assuming these projections are at least roughly accurate, is there anything that will stop SEO from growing?’ writes the website.
It’s not just SEO that’s growing at an astonishing pace. Online marketing and advertising as a whole are growing faster than most anyone expected. We understand you might be skeptical to take the word of a Maryland web marketing company about the value of marketing online. So if you don’t want to take our word for it, then here’s the New York Times reporting in December 2015 that digital advertising and online marketing will soon surpass TV advertising as the biggest sector of the industry:
TV will account for 38.4 percent of the $503 billion global ad market this year and will drop to 38 percent of the market in 2016, according to the forecast. In the meantime, digital media will continue its meteoric rise. Digital ad spending will grow 17.2 percent this year, to nearly $160 billion, and 13.5 percent in 2016, and is expected to overtake TV as the biggest advertising category by the end of 2017, the forecast says.
Why are SEO Marketing Budgets Shifting Online?
There are two simple reasons why SEO and online marketing are on the rise at the same time traditional forms or outbound marketing are on the decline.
The first is obvious: the Internet is taking over our lives, more so every day. Every year, we do more of our shopping, socializing, and even dating online. A sizeable majority of Americans now look up new products and services online, whether they’re looking for a new local coffee shop or the best industrial protective coating contractor in their region. It’s only natural that companies would shift their focus to the medium most likely to generate leads.
Second, SEO and online marketing simply works. Again, you don’t have to take this Maryland web design company’s word for it. Marketing experts have long known that inbound leads cost an average of 61% less to generate than outbound leads, and inbound online marketing typically costs far less than a television commercial or print advertising campaign.
While many Fortune 500 companies have the resources to develop their own online marketing divisions, most small businesses are outsourcing their online marketing to the professionals. Each year, Google updates its search algorithm 500 to 600 times, and few business owners have the time to stay up to date on the latest search engine marketing trends.
And there’s a lot at stake here. A study from online advertising network Chitika found that the #1 search result on Google vacuums up 33% of the traffic, while the second result gets 18%, and the numbers just go down from there.
If you aren’t seriously considering online marketing for your business, then you risk falling behind.