Small Businesses Boost Search Spending

Small businesses are playing a bigger role on Internet advertising.

WebVisible, a technology company in Irvine, California, that offers online advertising programs for small companies, said spending in the sector is bouncing back from the recessionary levels of 2009. "The average small-business search advertiser spent $2,231 with WebVisible in Q2 2010…a strong increase of 160 percent over second quarter 2009," the company said in its second-quarter report on industry trends. The second-quarter spending figure was up just 1 percent from the first quarter of 2010, however.

Small businesses are making deeper use of what the Web has to offer, as they—and their customers—become more familiar with the medium. The number of search clicks that led to a phone call from an advertiser with a call-tracking number was up 29 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2010. The number of such phone calls was up 58 percent from the second quarter of 2009.

In another sign that the medium is becoming more effective for small advertisers, 43 percent of all clicks resulted in a Web conversation in the second quarter of 2010, up 22 percent from the first quarter of 2010 and 39 percent from the second quarter of 2009. "Conversion activity more than doubled for form fills, video views, printed driving directions, and bookmarking in second quarter 2010 versus second quarter 2009, suggesting that users are taking advantage of additional website options provided by advertisers," the report said.

Web advertising among small businesses was broad based, according to the report:

• "The most popular advertiser categories in second quarter 2010 were attorneys, general contractors, and dentists. Air conditioning contractors, landscapers, and businesses offering irrigation services, fences, and awnings also increased seasonal spending from first quarter 2010 to second quarter 2010.
• 
  "Businesses offering jewelry, loans, mortgages, and recruitment services increased spending significantly from first quarter to second quarter 2010, indicating that the
  economy may be recovering."

Google, the dominant online ad force, is seeing more competition. Google lost 2 percentage points of share (58.3 percent). Yahoo gained 4 percents (29.7 percent), Bing lost 0.6 points (10.8 percent), and Ask lost 1.4 points (1.3 percent).