One Step Ahead

Large companies who have ignored search engine marketing might be in for a rude shock when they first turn their efforts in this direction. They might discover that the best search engine positions have already been snapped up by smaller businesses that are promoting their products (legally, as registered affiliates of the large company). In her new book, Search Engine Advertising Catherine Seda talks about this problem, where companies can suffer a signficant loss in profits because smarter, more nimble affiliates were savvy enough to recognise the value of Internet marketing before the lumbering giants turned in that direction.

This just goes to show the power of Internet marketing for even small businesses. While large companies with multi-million-dollar advertising budgets are throwing their money at expensive ad agencies, the smaller players are quietly - but profitably - turning to the Internet for their advertising.

On a similar note, while conducting a Google advertising campaign for a client, I discovered recently that I could get top placement in Google for the keywords "election", "australian election" and even "John Howard" for just 9 cents a click. It was so easy, because the big media organisations just haven't bothered advertising, so it was a cinch to grab top spot for bottom dollar.