British firms reluctant to adopt SEM

British businesses are proving reluctant to embrace the key search engine marketing (SEM) methods needed to utilise their web development budgets, one industry expert has said.

Despite a significant number of UK businesses investing heavily in their websites, they could be as much as £3 billion being wasted on portals that are not being located through search engines.

This was the verdict of a recently published report by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Microsoft adCenter, which questioned 400 small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) across the UK and discovered 62 per cent of companies are not investing in SEM.

This fact is in spite of 76 per cent of companies who use SEM admitting that it caused an increase in product or service sales.

And Peter Cargill, IT head for the Federation of Small Business, told ClickZ News the importance of owning a website which internet users can access.

He said: "It is absolutely vital that small businesses realize the importance of investing in search marketing.

"SMBs are aware of search, but many seem reluctant to invest in it. Its importance simply cannot be underestimated, and SMBs that are embracing search are seeing the benefits.

"I can see why businesses see it as a big investment, but it's definitely a worthy one."