Survey Shows Web-Savvy Companies to Spend More on Online Marketing

TORONTO, ONTARIO—(Marketwire - June 10, 2009) - Economic declines have led to shrinking budgets for businesses of most sizes across many industries throughout the nation. Despite budget cuts, businesses already active on the Web are realizing the value of Internet marketing and plan to increase their promotional efforts and budgets on the Web this year. That’s according to early results of an informal visitor survey conducted by Toronto Web design and Internet marketing firm, Cost Effective Web Design (www.ekonline.com).

“Our clients and visitors are already actively involved in Internet marketing, meaning they have experience or at least an understanding of its value compared to other marketing tactics,” says Paul Coulter of Cost Effective Web Design. “We asked them to tell us about their upcoming marketing plans—whether they are planning to cut overall budgets or not, and how their future Internet marketing budget will relate to that. We think the results so far say a lot about current trends and the fact that Web-based marketing offers businesses more bang for their buck.”

The following highlights represent preliminary survey results of approximately 100 participants actively engaged enough on the Web to be seeking or soliciting Web design or Internet marketing services:

- 52% of respondents noted that their company recently trimmed budgets, or expects to within a year.

- 76% said their company was expected to increase its Internet marketing budget in 2009.

- 86% of respondents said Internet marketing will account for a larger percentage of their advertising budget within the next three years.

“Almost three quarters of the people taking our survey concede that Internet marketing has been the most cost efficient method of promoting their business,” says Coulter. “That isn’t surprising to us knowing the diverse tactics available on the Web, able to reach hundreds of millions of people around the world, all often costing far less than equivalent print and broadcast campaigns. Of course we at Cost Effective Web Design believe in the effectiveness of Internet marketing. Yet we’re pleased to see that the industry is getting the recognition it deserves from the people who matter most—those putting Web promotion tactics to use to see real growth in real business situations.

/For further information: Cost Effective Web Design is a Toronto-based Web design and Internet marketing service provider offering services all throughout Canada. The team works with clients to design a comprehensive Web presence and branding effort through design, content creation, marketing, and e-commerce solutions.

For more information about Cost Effective Web Design, please visit www.ekonline.com or contact Paul Coulter at 416-848-7379./