WebAdvantage.net Survey Reveals Online Marketing Demand Far Outpaces College and University Resources

Business Wire, August 21, 2007

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- WebAdvantage.net, (http://www.webadvantage.net), a results-centric, process-driven strategic search marketing and online advertising agency, announced the results of its informal survey about higher education's use of online marketing tactics. Polling university and college marketing directors and web program managers attending the EduWeb Conference, the data (http://webadvantage.net/educationsurvey/) reveals that online marketing demand far outpaces college and university resources:

* Online spending is less than 10 percent of total marketing dollars budgeted.

* Nearly half cited online budgets were less than $10K.

* Nearly half claimed budget as the biggest challenge to more online marketing.

* More than a third noted internal buy-in, staff limitations and online marketing knowledge as further barriers.

Email marketing was the most executed tactic over the past 12 months, followed by online public relations and search engine marketing. Social media and video marketing/advertising were the top tactics planned for the next 12 months.

"In addition to our past experience, our survey confirms that higher education continues to struggle with the urgency and demands of marketing to online-savvy users," said WebAdvantage.net President Hollis Thomases. "Since nearly 88 percent of our search engine optimization clients' keywords are in the Top Two pages of Google, Yahoo & MSN, we know that simple solutions like proper keyword research, improving landing pages, and leveraging social media will go a long way towards effectively reaching prospective students."

About WebAdvantage.net

Founded in 1998, WebAdvantage.net is a privately-held, woman-owned "boutique" agency that provides strategic online marketing services, including: online advertising, search engine optimization, paid search campaign management, social media and online public relations and Internet strategy. WebAdvantage.net's high-touch, results-centric approach to collaborative client solutions has consistently garnered awards and a loyal client following, including: Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, Connections Academy, Harford Community College and Towson University. President Hollis Thomases authors "Online Media Buying Agency Strategies," for ClickZ.com (http://www.clickz.com/3626716) and "Business Perspective on Online Marketing," for citybizlist.com's CityBizBlogs (http://www.citybizlist.com/blog/thomases/index.html). For more information, visit the WebAdvantage.net website at http://www.webadvantage.net or call 410-942-0488.