Web search statistics released by Dutch firm

Dutch research firm De Vos & Jansen recently released findings in an extensive study demonstrating that on-line buyers view more search results and are more brand orientated than informational searchers. Among the findings in the study:

• Consumers view a search result for just 1.1 second.
• 98% look at the organic search results.
• 96% look at the top (three) sponsored search results.
• 31% look at the sponsored search results on the right.
• Buyers view more search results (10) and take more time to view the results (11.4 seconds). They also focus on familiar brand names.
• Information searchers view fewer search results (8) and spend less time on each listing (9.4 seconds). They pay more attention to contents than to brand names.
• Searchers view an average of 9.2 results (6.6 organic, 2.6 sponsored)

The full study results are available here and contain some fascinating data. Notable in the PDF document are several visual maps of how users view search results - what part of the search page do people typically look to for their information?

The data reinforces key points about online marketing and search engine optimization that should be considered by companies providing these services as well as their customers. For example, you have one second to make an impact, meaning your copy must be eye catching but short, and interesting without being wordy. Also, organic or natural results are still preferred by many users.

The reality remains that users are really not concerned with results past the first page on Google. For a company to truly justify the costs associated with SEO, they must see results on that first page of listings. Unfortunately, the vast majority of dollars spent with those claiming to "gurantee top ten placement" are wasted. And while there are many organizations who can indeed improve their clients' rankings, the fact is that moving up from listing #100 to listing #50 is effectively worthless if the improvement ends there. We seem to be learning the hard way that no matter how much improvement there is, unless top ten rankings are really achieved on the most relevent keywords, the net effect is negligible at best.

When considering an SEO provider, be sure to look out for warning words such as "guarantee," "immediate" and "100% effective." Look for success stories and proven results, and then enter your campaign with the understanding that results don't come overnight. Are your expectations and your provider's promises aligned with the reality of studies like these?

MarketMyBusiness.Net and partner iFX Interactive utilize the experts at Level Ten Design to provide SEO services to our customers. Their success stories speak for themselves.

iFX Interactive adds additional SEO services

MarketMyBusiness.Net partner iFX Interactive recently added additional search engine optimization (SEO) and online marketing (OLM) services to their extensive line of offerings. To this point, iFX projects have been developed with basic SEO techniques for an entry-level impact. The new service, billed as "foundational SEO" will take these new sites to the next level through advanced keyword and industry analysis, link popularity research, and directory registration. Several factors exist, but many customers see significant impact in the search engines within 3-6 months, and some experience long term overwhelming success from just these simple steps.

No one can guarantee organic search results. In fact, if a company promises top placement on Google, chances are users of their services will be disappointed. Others employ underhanded or banned techniques for a quick impact whereby a customer's site reputation, and perhaps their overall online clout, may be forever damaged. They may even be banned from Google.

iFX utilizes only approved and appropriate SEO and OLM techniques. Advanced services are also available.

MarketMyBusiness.Net handles a significant amount of project management and web programming for iFX Interactive and is proud to be affiliated with this industry leading division of Level Ten Design.


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About iFX Interactive

iFX Interactive is the brain child of LevelTen, one of the world’s premier online consultancies. iFX was built to solve the core problems in the web design industry that has prevented most small to midsize businesses (SMB) from getting a truly professional website at a price they can afford.

Businesses looking to outsource web development traditionally take two approaches, solo freelancers and agencies. While solo freelancers are highly cost effective, few freelancers have the range and quality of skills to design a professional full-featured site that will truly compete in today’s web by themselves.

Traditional agencies staffed with full-time experts with a range of skills can offer a higher level of design, support services and availability. However, this higher level comes at a cost. Administration & management, production staff downtime, office space, centralized IT and more all contribute to project overhead that raises your cost and lower how much can be paid to the talent on your project.

What is needed to deliver competitive websites at affordable prices is a new model - Introducing iFX flex teamlancing.

iFX flex teamlancing delivers much of the cost-saving efficiency of a solo freelancer while maintaining the flexibility and stability of a larger agency. The model works by executing projects using a highly-qualified team of freelancers lead by an experienced Project Director. This efficient virtual team approach cuts overhead to an absolute minimum meaning more of your project dollars are used to pay top talent not layers of agency administration.

reQuest Capital awards contract to the iFX Interactive and MarketMyBusiness.Net teams

A new website is a critical initiative for for this growing investment capital firm in the midcites area of Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX. They have trusted iFX Interactive and the Project Management team at MarketMyBusiness.Net to deliver a high-quality, user-friendly site. Utilizing a combination Flash-HTML design, we'll develop a professional website that will showcase the company's loan programs in an interesting and informative way.

The addition of a "members only" section will allow registered users the opportunity to link to premium content to assist them. Finally, we'll design interfaces with the reQuest Capital property management software and loan database so that site users can see up to the minute property listings and loan application status. The site is scheduled to debut in April, 2007.