Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Australia

Internet usage in Australia

According to recent reports there are more than 17 million internet users in Australia against a back drop of an estimated population of 22,613,687 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This puts the percentage of internet users in Australia at just above 75 percent of the total population and a lower population estimate of 21,262,641 by the Census Bureau would suggest an 80 percent figure. Active internet subscribers in Australia hit 10.4 million in December 2010 which represents an annual growth of 16.7 percent and a 9.9 percent increase in 5 months. Australians are eager internet users and represent an attractive proposition for lead generation and internet marketing companies wishing to enter the Australian online market. When Australians are online most of their time is spent using instant messaging and social networking sites such as Facebook which enjoys a 47.3 percent penetration in Australia with more than 10 million Facebook users. The average CPC on Facebook is $1.25 which is slightly higher than the UK at $1.14. Even though the average time spent online is less than the global average, the number of minutes spent on social bookmarking sites is similar to Europe which indicates a more than average social bookmarking activity. Australia has an Interactive Advertising Bureau to assist with understanding the lead generation potentials and internet marketing possibilities of Australia.

Lead Generation Opportunities

It has also been reported that Australian data transfer speeds are 36 percent faster than the US and 17.2 percent faster than Europe as a whole with 0 percent packet loss as compared with 5 percent and 19 percent packet loss in Europe and the US respectively. Australia is second in the world in terms of web page loading speeds or response times and data transfer being second only to South America. This would suggest that the use of video marketing as a lead generation tool in Australia would be effective in delivering targeted content. Effectively strategized internet marketing could prove highly successful if website design is kept easy or quick to navigate as Australians appear to spend less time online than many countries which may suggest that they will be less tolerant of excessive clicking to find what they want. In addition, it has been high lighted that 94 percent of Australian internet users put a high importance on the presence of a Trusted Site logo on websites. This supports the idea that Australians are very aware of internet fraud and identity theft, and any internet marketing campaign should ensure that these concerns are addressed.

Internet Usage Demographics

The peak internet usage age in Australia is between 15 and 24 years of age and males spend considerably more time online than females. As age in males increase, their internet use decreases and by the 55 plus age range Australian females spend 2.9 more hours per month online. This would be a good opportunity for lead generation in the surgical and non surgical cosmetic procedures industry as Australia is ranked 21st in the world for the number of cosmetic surgery procedures carried out. Since cosmetic surgery is often viewed as a treatment for the effects of aging in older women, the 55 and above female age group are good potential candidates to target during internet marketing campaigns in this niche.

Social Bookmarking and Mobile Internet

The number of internet enabled mobile handsets in Australia is increasing rapidly and the iphone has increased from a 13 percent to a 28 percent market. The iphone is set to push Nokia from the number one position in terms of mobile internet market share. The increasing popularity of the iphone and other highly interactive internet capable phones, along with the growing use of mobiles to access social bookmarking sites, points to an increasing social bookmarking usage in the near future. The top uses of mobile internet are for search and email with 73 percent of Australian mobile internet users performing Google searches from their handsets in 2010, a 43 percent increase over the previous 12 months. This should encourage those considering lead generation and internet marketing in Australia to make sure that their websites are optimized for use on mobile handsets even if it means having a sister site for mobile access. Mobile social bookmarking in Australia is dominated by Facebook with 98 percent of mobile browsers preferring it followed by Twitter and Myspace at 20 and 17 percent respectively.

Australian Economy

Australia has a higher than average GDP per capita at $39,692 and much higher than average monthly earnings across all sectors. Average annual earnings to February 2011 have increased by 4.5 percent for females and 4.0 percent for males in Australia compared to a maximum of 2.5 percent in the UK over a similar period. The unemployment rate in Australia was reported as only 4.9 percent in March 2011 compared with 7.9 percent and 8.8 percent in the UK and US respectively. The average earnings per annum in Australia are 68,900 AUD or £45,264 and the highest paid workers are in the mining industry with an average annual salary of 108,009 AUD or £70,957. The Economist worldwide quality-of-Life Index in 2005 ranked Australia fifth in the world and Australia now offers internet marketers a ready internet consumer with a larger than average disposable income.