SEO Expert, Anthony Yap

In a study “The 2006 State of Retailing Online” conducted by Forrester Research and reported by Shop.org, 22 percent of offline sales are driven by the internet.

From ClickZ:

Integration between online and offline activity is key for retailers who report 22 percent of offline sales are influenced by the Web. Retail Web sites are also a viable channel to reach new customers; 38 percent of online customers are first-time buyers.

The study finds the Internet can serve as a means of window shopping. Consumers compare prices, find gift ideas and research products. Some of the resulting sales are transacted offline. To integrate the experience online and offline, 79 percent of retailers have instituted consistent pricing across channels, and 46 percent allow for customers to buy and redeem gift cards on the Web site as well as at brick-and-mortar locations. Thirty-three percent of retailers have loyalty programs to retain customers, and 26 percent offer in-store product availability information online.

Having an online business presence is becoming more and more important to any small and medium sized business not to mention large business. Even if you are not a retailer, establishing a web presence offers the business an opportunity to leverage marketing efforts and build a presence much cheaper than offline marketing with considerably easier to measure ROI. If you are not taking advantage of the web now, then when?

eBay will be launching their keyword advertising system that enables eBay sellers to promote their auctions on other websites.

To be called eBay AdContext, contextual ads for currently auctioned items will appear on web publisher’s sites based on the keywords on the webpage. Since auction inventory changes constantly, ads deliver the new products or services available for sale only. Publishers will receive a cut of between 40%-70% of the auction’s sales, depending on volumes.

This would certainly be a welcome addition to the contextual advertising market.

AdWords offers an editor which is a free, downloadable Google Adwords account management application for your desktop. You can make changes to your PPC campaigns on your computer before uploading your revised campaigns.

See more of their benefits and features.