Prices are up and sales are down. All across the globe, the story seems the same and there isn’t much good news to be found.

That is, unless you’re working with online advertising and sales. The best place to be bullish right now (other than perhaps commodities) is online marketing. Through a combination of factors, the internet economy continues to grow and shows signs of strength building up for many more years.

Google released its 2nd quarter revenue and profit report today (link stopped working so it has been removed) – the results showed continued growth in online advertising and overall online traffic. Here are the major factors contributing to increased revenues in the internet economy:

Technology costs: While the price of commodities like gas and fuel is rising due to scarcity, the costs of technology and electronic goods is still decreasing thanks to improvements in available methods and materials. Website and hosting prices have stayed flat, yet the providers have been able to offer more resources, better software, and more support. Coupons and promotional deals keep prices even lower for would-be webmasters.



Consumer efficiency: People still need to make purchases, but since its time to cut back on costs one way to save money is to compare prices and buy products online. Not only does it save consumers gasoline and miles on the car, it can save time: all of which are things in short supply these days. Logging on and making a few web searches can save a whole day of shopping around – and low-cost shipping deals can even save a trip to the cheapest store.



Advertiser efficiency: Perhaps the number one reason why internet sales continue to dominate and expand despite an overall economic slowdown. Online, advertising is specifically targeted for what consumers want, based on the type of searches they make and websites they visit. Sellers know that this type of advertising has high conversion rates, and this type of targeted marketing connects sellers and buyers better than other forms of advertising like tv or radio.

Growth and more future growth, too: The other big thing about the internet is that each year, more people log on for the first time. Yes, even in 2008 there are a lot of people who aren’t regularly online so total traffic is only going up. Internet growth and sales growth is truly global, and economic slowdowns in one nation don’t necessarily effect the overall trend of more people going online with more total money to spend.

If you’re thinking about building a website for financial purposes, whether you have a product for sale or just ideas you want to share, there are a lot of advertising opportunities available and there’s still plenty of money to be had online. Next year, there’s probably going to be even more.