Good news from the advertising world for website owners

This is my first blog post of 2010. I spent the first month of the year in the capital of the United States and while I worked on a client project, I spent the rest of my time basking in the glow of being with my family and old friends. I didn’t want to spend any more time on the computer than absolutely necessary. So I limited myself to work and correspondence with the ones I love in Sweden, and arranging social activities in Washington, DC.

February took me to Lappland and the Ice Hotel and I was on the look out for the Northern Lights and all of the other magic associated with northern Sweden. Again, no motivation to blog during this once in a lifetime (for me) trip.

But today I read an article in Forbes online magazine that predicts an increase in digital advertising spending, and for the first time, that more money will be spent online than in print. Written by Dirk Smillie the headline reads:

Web ads to get a 10% boost in 2010. For the first time advertisers will spend more on digital than print.

We’ve been waiting for this: A study by Outsell, to be released Monday, reveals that U.S. advertisers are spending more this year on digital media than on print. Long predicted, this Madison Avenue milestone has finally arrived thanks to a 9.6% boom in digital advertising in 2010.

That number comes from Outsell’s annual advertising and marketing study, which collected data from 1,008 U.S. advertisers (both consumer and B2B) in December 2009. Of the $368 billion marketers plan to spend this year, 32.5% will go toward digital; 30.3% to print. Digital spending includes e-mail, video advertising, display ads and search marketing. “It’s a watershed moment,” says the study’s lead author, Outsell vice president Chuck Richard.

Read the full article on Forbes.com.

I, like every other website owner, welcome this news. Particularly since I am focusing on leveraging the wide reach of the AG Communications Group (AGCG) Advertising Network. The AGCG Advertising Network includes 8 websites that focus on black women, and expatriates. Specifically these websites focus on black women in Europe, women of the African Diaspora, black expatriates and expatriates in Stockholm and other parts of Sweden.

Niche is in, especially when spending money on advertising. Advertisers want to be sure that they are getting their message out in front of the right people.