New figures have revealed that the UK government is increasing its budget for online marketing and advertising at a time when the rest of its publicity initiatives are facing budget freezes and cuts.

The Central Office of Information (COI) published figures today showing that the year on year spend for government advertising and marketing budget was almost unchanged in the 12 months up to the end of March 2010, at £532 million. The previous year’s total was £540 million.

The COI is responsible for co-ordinating official advertising, marketing and communications, and its figures revealed that the budget for traditional advertising media, such as television, radio and the press dropped by 9.5 per cent to £193 million from £211 million.

However, the spend on online advertising and marketing increased by 9 per cent to £44 million, bringing the total up to 18 per cent of the government’s advertising and marketing budget.

The COI said that it was able to negotiate reduced advertising rates in the media markets because of its financial clout, and as a result had forced some £204 million in discounts – a 48 per cent saving – in comparison with government departments who handled their own campaigns.

It also saved an additional £52 million year on year by cutting spending on publications, PR and events – and by focusing on online marketing rather than the older, more costly and less effective media.

However, the COI faces a budget threat from the government’s austerity programme. Ministers are looking for cuts of up to 50 per cent, and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has already pulled the plug on most funding for the Change4Life anti-obesity campaign, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Online marketing expert Karin von Abrams has stressed that internet marketing campaigns are increasingly at the heart of companies’ branding strategies.

Ms von Abrams, a senior analyst at the eMarketer organisation, said that nowadays virtually every brand has included online marketing within their overall marketing operations. At the same time, ad agencies are becoming ever more skilled at creating the perfect integrated internet advertising campaigns.

Although some sectors of the business world have taken longer than others to realise the full potential of online marketing – with one example being the fast-paced consumer goods sector – many companies within these sectors are now pioneering internet advertising and setting the standards for the rest of their sectors to follow.

This can be seen by the innovative ways in which many brands are using social networking or micro-blogging sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and in the strategies adopted to rise to the top of the search ratings in Google.

Ms von Abrams said: “It is now clear that every brand or business can benefit in some way from building awareness online, or from rethinking its business processes to make full use of digital channels.”

The rise of internet advertising was underscored recently when market analysts the Nielsen Company, which showed that worldwide spending on advertising increased by an eighth in the second quarter of this year – and spending on online marketing alone increased by 12 per cent.

At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the total global spend on advertising stood at a massive £65.4 billion.

Its time for a easy solution to both many companies in the UK offer a fantastic e commerce platform but the hidden mystery’s of SEO and Internet Marketing are still very much left to Internet marketing companies. But in real terms for the individual moving into e commerce as a solution to expand there existing business it really can be a nightmare in not only finding all the pieces to the Jigsaw puzzle in the first place but also getting them in the right positions to achieve the bigger picture which is a successful e commerce site ranking well on all the major search engines.

It is time in our opinion for the void between these two markets to be filled literally years are being wasted and hundreds of thousands of pounds are as we speak being pumped into the Internet marketing industry in the wrong areas by companies. First things first get the right e commerce solution that is going to allow for long term development something that is going to keep up to date with the constantly evolving force that is the Internet. A Perfect gauge of this is the recent surge in Social Networking sites such as face book and twitter. Does you online shop all people to share your product on facebook.

Don’t discount open source content management solutions such as Word press for example with a force of thousands of developers across the globe keeping up to date with new trends wont be a problem.

Then we come to the age old problem of many a companies life finding the right seo and cost click agency that you can trust. The company must have results available to prove there SEO prowess otherwise stay well clear it doesn’t have to be a major Internet marketing agency either many of the smaller companies out there offer an excellent service and you will benefit from a more personal approach. The smaller Internet marketing companies or agencies staff take it as there own personal goal to get your page listed on the first page.

In an ideal world you could look for a Internet Marketing company that has there very own e commerce (CMS) Content management system you will benefit from years of development and fixes it really will fast forward your companies presence online. In terms of percentages I would say as high as 80% of the online shops success will rely on the Internet marketing so it makes sense to look to an Internet marketing company for the solutions. In terms of parallels an online shop not listed on the first page of google is the equivilent of having your physical shop positioned in Timbucktoo if listed on Googles first page for a top keyword your site could enjoy the same number of visits as a shop in Oxford Circus London.

Ecommerce example from an Internet Marketing Company

The alcoholic drinks industry association The Portman Group is offering its members the opportunity to learn how to undertake the responsible online marketing of their products.

The group, which oversees the drinks industry’s code of practice regarding the packaging, promotion and naming of alcoholic beverages, and operates the “Prove It” identity card system, is holding a number of interactive training sessions from the end of the month in London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

The sessions will explore the right and wrong ways to approach an online marketing campaign for drinks using a number of role-play and fictional scenarios dreamt up by marketing firm BD Network.

The Portman Group’s chief executive David Poley commented: “With over 18 million households in the UK now having access to the internet, it is critical that the drinks industry markets its products online in a socially responsible way.”

“The Portman Group provides expert advice in this area and these sessions will provide marketing professionals with vital information on how the code applies to digital marketing.”

The first step was taken last year, when the group published guidelines for drinks companies on responsible online advertising, and the dos and don’ts of promoting alcoholic drinks on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. These guidelines can be found on the Portman Group website.

Any in-house drinks marketing departments or agencies working within the alcoholic beverage industry are welcome to attend the online marketing sessions. The first takes place in London at the offices of the Portman Group on 28 July.

A study eMarketer magazine has found that online advertising has remained strong during the global economic downturn thanks to the high value and “dependable” return on investment (ROI) that it affords.

The online marketing magazine said that although some firms have pulled in the reins on their advertising budgets, the amount of spending on online advertising has actually increased during the recession.

Karin von Abrams, eMarketer senior analyst, commented: “The UK is a mature market for online advertising and the internet is firmly established as an accountable channel that can deliver excellent return on investment.”

“If anything, the recession and the potential for further economic uncertainty make an even stronger case for the online option.”

Ms Von Abrams made her remarks after another report, by media investment company GroupM, indicated that the advertising market could be looking up – at least for online advertising.

The report noted that more and more sectors of UK industry are moving towards online marketing due to its unparalleled strengths when it comes to increasing the visibility of their brand and boosting their profit margins.

Yet another study, this time by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau, found that online advertising soared above an otherwise depressed advertising sector last year, with a 4.2 per cent increase in spending among companies, compared to 2008.

A report by Forrester Research has also concluded that online marketing can even boost offline sales. Forrester’s study found that almost half of all retail sales are influenced by a customer’s experiences online. Email marketing and special promotions via retailers’ websites are very good at directing customers to the retailer’s stores.

With search engine giant Google preparing a move into Britain’s travel market, online marketing experts are warning travel portals such as Travelsupermarket and Expedia to beef up their business models and face the “threat” head on.

SEO marketing expert Andreas Pouros specialises in helping companies to maximise their online advertising and marketing operations. He recently told Travelmole that Google’s recent acquisition of travel technology firm ITA Software meant that it now posed a clear and present danger to holiday price comparison sites based in the UK.

Mr Pouros said that the ITA data included such essential information as minute-by-minute flight availability and the cheapest fares, which would enable Google to point potential holidaymakers to the best deals without the need for other companies to be involved.

“Travel intermediaries should be very concerned as Google moves towards becoming central to consumers’ travel purchasing behaviour,” he insisted.

“It is only a little over seven months ago since Google made a similar move with property intermediaries.”

Google now shows houses that are for sale or available for rent on Google Maps, thanks to a facility that allows property portals to download their listings free. With ITA it will also now be able to point users towards the cheapest flights or hotel deals.

It is believed that at first the search engine will only use the new software to direct web traffic to dedicated travel websites, but there is also the likelihood that it will ultimately start selling plane tickets directly to travellers.

Mr Pouros said that “travel intermediaries should at the very least be determining how they should operate in the next few years.”

A new study suggests that online advertising in Britain will grow by 7 per cent by the end of the year and will eventually outstrip the amount of cash that companies spend on advertising via such traditional media as print and television.

A report by eMarketer, called UK Online Advertising Spending and Trends, discovered that online marketing had been spared the effects of the recession in a way that other kinds of media advertising had not been able to avoid.

Last year, advertisers in the UK spent a total of £3.54 billion on online advertising, which was 5.7 per cent more than in the previous year. Conversely the amount spent on advertising in other more traditional media plunged by 16 per cent.

eMarketer senior analyst Karin Von Abrams, who wrote the report, commented: “Internet ad spending continued to grow during the economic downturn, online marketers are well placed to capitalize on the recovery, whether this is slow and halting, or steady and more rapid.”

She said that the company expects spending on online advertising to level out next year, before rising yet again because of the enormous marketing opportunities presented by the 2012 London Olympics.

The extent to which online marketing has avoided the worst of the recession was underlined in a separate statement by the bosses of WPP and Publicis, both of who told the Cannes Lions advertising festival over the weekend that the advertising market was improving – in contrast to other sectors.

Mr Sorrell said that there are “no signs whatsoever” that European clients were reducing their marketing spending, although levels had yet to return to the peaks of 2008.

Global goods colossus Unilever’s senior vice-president Laura Klauberg stressed the importance of social networking sites such as Facebook in online marketing and advertising last week at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.

Delegates from all over the world gathered in the south of France to discuss the changes and challenges facing the industry and were all singing from the same hymn-sheet when it came to the pivotal role of social media over the next decade and beyond.

In previous years, special guests have included the bosses of the Microsoft corporation and search engine giant Google, but this year’s online marketing focus was well and truly on Facebook, with a special appearance for its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Ms Klauberg, who is Unilever’s senior VP for global media, insisted that “social media isn’t just another channel. It’s not just about Facebook, it’s much bigger as it changes the relationship with the consumer, forcing us to change the whole mindset of our business.”

She revealed that her company is increasing its budget for digital advertising by at least 50 this year and said that it is increasingly reliant on online marketing to complement its advertising in more traditional media such as television or print.

Procter & Gamble is another company that is beefing up its social media role. The firm’s chief marketing officer Marc Pritchard told delegates that “the moment I realized the huge potential of social media was when I joined Facebook two years ago.”

With its ability to generate “instant feedback” on brands, services and products, Facebook – along with Twitter – are increasingly being targeted by forward-thinking companies for their unique contribution to advertising and marketing.

Mobile phone internet services firm dotMobi has recently launched a new application designed to help firms who wish to take their online marketing campaigns to mobile handsets.

The app is aimed at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and helps them to design and create websites that are specifically designed for smaller mobile phone screens. With online marketing – as with all marketing – it is always necessary to grab a user’s attention and hold it.

The goMobi platform helps SMEs to develop sites which are not only mobile-friendly, they also recognise which sort of device is being used to access them and reconfigure their content for the correct format.

The sites will be hosted in the dotMobi cloud to save SMEs the extra expense of hosting additional sites. The company’s chief executive Trey Harvin said that goMobi “connects SMEs to their customers significantly faster because a goMobi site delivers only the content mobile customers need, while making it easy for businesses to set up and maintain a unique mobile website.”

“Since a goMobi website works on all mobile handsets, it ensures a business is available on the complete range of mobiles available, not just iPhones and Android,” he added.

“Site owners can build a site in minutes and then focus on their business, while their mobile website works to bring in new customers.”

Mr Harvin went on to insist that one of the greatest strengths of goMobi was its simplicity and user-friendliness.

Although goMobi is currently only available in the US via name.com, the parent company is planning an international roll-out within the next few weeks. So UK-based businesses that wish to refine their online marketing will not have to wait long.

The social networking phenomenon Facebook has proven to be one of the most remarkable success stories of the modern age, growing from a way for college friends to keep in touch, it now has an unprecedented global reach with over 400 million active users.

The sheer number of Facebook users has also made it a fertile ground for online marketing, with Facebook adverts fast becoming known as an ideal way for businesses to reach the right kind of customer.

This is because Facebook stores many of a user’s personal details, plus a list of their likes and dislikes – making it far easier for online marketing experts to target the right consumers for their products.

Because of this unique new marketing opportunity, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of organisations and publications dedicated to helping businesses reconfigure their online marketing strategies to take maximum advantage of the situation.

A lot of these businesses teach marketing departments or small business owners how to use Facebook features such as the “Like” option, which helps build an internal hierarchy within the website and swiftly shows which ideas, brands or products are popular – and with who.

With extra marketing applications such as Facebook ads in place, and more on the way over the next five years, it looks as if the social networking site will be reaping even greater financial rewards – it already makes more than a billion dollars a year and expects to increase this tenfold by 2015 – and it makes sense for any business committed to online marketing to try and get on board.