Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) released report on US Internet advertising revenues for the first half of 2009. According to the report, Internet advertising revenues were $10.9 billions in the first half of the year, declined by 5.3% compare to the last year during the same period. The revenues were $11.5 billions for first six months of 2008.

Search and display related revenues are on top
According to the report, Search and Display related advertising continue in top two positions in revenue generation. Search ad revenue totaled $5,148 million with 47% of the total Internet advertising revenue. The segment showed an improvement of 1.7% from last year during the same period. When it comes to the Display related ad revenues including banner ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorship, the segment totaled $3,759 million. This accounts for 34% of the total advertising revenue. However, the segment declined by 1.1% when compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Other formats such as Classified ads totaled $1,116 million in revenues declined by 4%. Lead generation format revenues totaled $728 million. And E-mail ad revenues totaled $149 million.

About Pricing models ad revenues
According to the report, Performance based pricing solution is the most prevalent pricing model since 2006 that maintained a strong sequential growth rate. It is followed by CPM/Impression based pricing, which declined as a percentage of revenue over the past several years. Hybrid pricing model has seen the greatest loss in percentage revenue, dipping sharply from 17% in 2004 to 4% in the first six-months of 2009.

In 2004 CPM/Impression based pricing was on top among other solutions with 42% and improved constantly until 2006. However, since 2007, it declined continuously. Moreover, Performance based pricing solution simultaneously increased rapidly to clinch the top share. In 2007, Performance based solutions accounted for 57% and CPM pricing solution accounted for 45%.

In the current year for the first half, Performance based pricing accounts 58%, CPM has 38% and Hybrid related solutions have 4% in the total online advertising revenues.

The drop in online advertising revenues shows that economic crisis can also hit online marketing. During this situation, the growth of Performance based pricing solutions shows that customers are closely watching the results and they are not spending the same as earlier.

Marvist is an  Internet advertising agency providing affordable seo services to  increase search engine ranking of the website, pay per click management to help companies to increase online sales and improve their profitability. Marvist was founded in 2005 and has been rapidly growing since then and has clients now in 11 countries including USA, Canada, UK, Spain, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Majority of customers are turning to the automobile websites rather than phone calls or showroom visits to get information when they are planning to buy a vehicle. According to the J.D. Power and Associates, 75 percent of new-vehicle buyers in 2008 used Internet during their shopping process, compared with 70 percent in 2007. Besides, the number of people browsing Internet from mobile devices is rising rapidly.

To grab this opportunity marketers are using mobile websites to reach the customers. Mobile websites are different, as they are designed to fit the small screens of mobile devices such as cell phones that can access Internet. It makes a good business sense to launch mobile websites for car dealerships, which provide many advantages when compared to traditional mobile marketing.

Instant connectivity to customers
Mobile websites provide instant connectivity to customers, as anyone can access from hand held mobile devices. This feature will allow dealer’s instant connectivity to customers as they can be utilized anywhere and any time to view inventory, locate dealership, or to contact dealer’s sales or service team. A dealer can update the inventory, pricing and photographs of a car desired by the customer in real time, so that the customer can view that immediately on the move.

Customer feedback and surveys
According to the study, nearly 70 percent of automotive Internet users use consumer-generated content while shopping for a new vehicle. Dealerships can get customers’ feedback on their products and services using mobile websites in a simple and hassle free way. They can know the customer’s requirements as the mobile websites help in conducting simple on-line surveys that reach customers’ mobile phones. They reduce cost, improve the speed of the survey and provide added customer convenience. Dealers can get immediate alerts on customer dissatisfaction.

Service reminders
Mobile websites help in notifying the service updates directly to the customer’s mobile phones. Dealers can reduce costs by replacing the call centers with mobile websites. They can alert the customers in real time when their vehicles are ready to for delivery.

Marketing on personal media
Auto dealers can market their vehicles or products directly and effectively to their target customers through the mobile phone. They can send information such as special offers, best deals, new arrivals etc along with graphics directly to the customer’s mobile phone. Marketing through mobile websites ensures maximum reach and penetration of the dealer’s car promotions and sales proposals increasing the overall conversion rates.

Today, many potential buyers and existing customers like to be well informed about the product before visiting the auto showroom. Providing this information through a multimedia mobile website on their personal mobile devices is far more effective rather than a mere text message or a phone call from the call center. The car dealers with a mobile website definitely have an edge to stay ahead in the present competitive market when compared to dealers without it.

Search Optics, Inc. was founded in 1998 in San Diego, California, as a pioneer in providing online strategy, E-commerce development, and  automotive internet marketing services with a core competency in the retail automotive industry. Approaching a decade of service, Search Optics, Inc. has grown into a leader in providing online interactive  automotive marketing solutions for retail automobile dealerships.