24% Growth for Online Retailers in 2004

In an annual report published by Shop.org in conjunction with Forrester Research, online retailers did show a 24 percent increase in sales in 2004, while growth through 2005 is projected to achieve another 22 percent.

In comparison, traditional retail only saw a 7 percent increase in sales. In 2004, online sales accounted for 6.5 percent of total retail sales, which is up from 5.4 percent in 2003. Online sales in 2005 are expected to account for 7.7 percent of total retail.

While every category tracked in the study did experience growth, several really stood out. Health and Beauty increased 58 percent and Sporting Goods shot up 43 percent. Computer Hardware and Software tied Auto and Auto Parts, both growing by 13 percent.

Here is a figure that I will be showing all of my potential clients this year. Search Engine Marketing Traffic accounts for nearly half, or 43 percent, of new online retailers. Emails to house lists are seeing conversion rates of 4.3 percent.

How is your website doing? Maybe its time to call me for your Free Consultation, Patrick E. Burke (847) 483-4995, or Patrick@digitalmediaproduction.com

I offer Internet Marketing Consultation, Website Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, PPC Management, Website Design, Website Hosting, and Website Templates, all in-house.

Google Begins Website Update Reporting Service

Google unveiled today a new program called Sitemaps, where you can notify Google of any updates to your website so that it crawls your site immediately. What we are talking about is something very similar to RSS for entire websites. Webmasters will create an XML file that indicates recently changed or new pages that Google subscribes to.

Every webmaster will want to join Sitemaps as quickly as possible. It’s obvious that getting into Google as fast as possible is key to leaving your competition behind. Sitemaps should become part of every SEO company’s program. It’s Free, so the only downside is not using it.