Small businesses not on the pay-per-click bandwagon yet, says new research

Pay-per-click online advertising may be hot among online retailers--but the heat seems limited only to the larger or more sophisticated marketers, according to a survey just out from researchers The Kelsey Group and ConStat Inc. Only 11% of small to medium-sized enterprises that have web sites and that responded to a survey report being aware of pay-per-click advertising. Another 34% said they were interested in using pay-per-click.

Of those who use pay-per-click, the average business allocates 23% of its advertising to pay-per-click; 54% expect to expand their investment in pay-per-click over the next year and 56% believe that pay-per-click will become an important part of their advertising. In addition, 73% of respondents who are interested in pay-per-click expect to implement it within a year.

"These data show that PPC is an increasingly important part of an SME`s overall advertising program," said Greg Sterling, director of The Kelsey Group`s Digital Directories: Interactive Local Media Continuous Advisory Service. "PPC`s appeal is based in large part on the perception that it`s a low-cost means of customer acquisition."

Kelsey and ConStat specialize in serving small to mid-sized business with information on Yellow Pages, directory and online advertising. The survey of 460 small and mid-zed businesses with web sites was prepared for The Kelsey Group`s conference, "Drilling Down on Local Search: Drivers & Barriers to SME Adoption," March 30-31 in Santa Clara, CA.