Search engine marketing, online classifieds and rich media are the three areas of online advertising that are growing, according to an analysis of several studies by eMarketer.com.
Keyword searches is the second most common activity for U.S. Internet users. Some 67% of online users do product and service information searches, while 84% use e-mail.
Search engine optimization is almost tied with banner ads as the most used online advertising vehicle, said the analysis. Some 67% of marketers who responded to a DoubleClick study said they use search engine optimization, while 57% rely on keyword searches. Sixty-eight percent use banner advertising.
In 2001, between $1 billion and $1.5 billion were spent for online classifieds, according to a group of studies. Jupiter Research predicts a growth to $2 billion by 2006.
Rich media, while now an integral part of a number of online vehicles, including e-mail, floating ads and in-page ads, among others, it continues to have a higher clickthrough rate than conventional online ads, according to the analysis. Citing a DoubleClick study, eMarketer said that rich media clickthrough rates were 2.4%, compared with 0.4% rates for conventional online ads.