Online advertising spending to reach £3 billion this year

Research conducted by Internet consultant firm, WSI has found that money spent on online advertising is set to increase by almost 23 per cent this year, making the total spent in excess of £3 billion.

Over 200 WSI web consultants have attended the Excellence & Innovation conference held at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel, Birmingham to discuss the future of the UK's online commerce, which is expected to be worth over £4 billion by 2011.

More companies are turning to online advertising because people of all ages are e-shopping, surfing the net and using social networks and so their target audience is larger. Results from a survey conducted by eMarketer.com show that over one third of internet users do not mind online advertising, providing it is relevant to their search.

However, with the increased number of companies comes tougher competition. Having a website does not guarantee any revenue as scientific studies have shown that the average time for a customer to look on a website home page is 25 seconds and an interior page 45. This that it is imperarative for web designers to ensure they are up to date with the latest marketing strategies. As scientific studies have shown that the average time for a customer to look on a website home page is 25 seconds.

President of WSI Ron Arthur says: ' With the complex dynamics and speed of change in the Internet marketing industry, the challenge to remain competitive in business becomes increasingly difficult.

'WSI's consultants are trained to be the partners that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need to build their brands online with greater market penetraton and customer confidence.'