WARREN, R.I.--Aug. 7, 2006--MarketingSherpa has announced the results of an observational study of America's 44 largest business software firms' search engine marketing (SEM). Data indicates that 25% of these mainly Fortune 500 companies' Web sites devote the lowest percent of budget to search engine marketing and are inadequately search engine optimized (SEO), so they do not appear in searches the type of software they offer. More results data at: http://businesstechnologymarketingdata.marketingsherpa.com/?source=mspr2opt1.

Results are included as part of MarketingSherpa's 2006 Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide, available for download at: http://www.sherpastore.com/Technology-marketing.html?source=mspr2opt2.

MarketingSherpa's research team examined 161 business software firms' Web sites and search engine rankings in order to asses the strength of their search engine marketing. The top 44 largest firms -- including many Fortune 500 companies -- were included in the study which found that 25% of their Web sites were inadequately optimized for search engine visibility.

"11 of the world's largest business software firms do not appear on the first page of search engine results for the keywords they claim leadership in, such as CRM. That's pitiful," remarked MarketingSherpa President Anne Holland.

MarketingSherpa research also uncovered corresponding data that shows the larger the business technology firm, the smaller a share online has in its marketing and advertising budget. The smallest business technology firms spend 58% of their marketing budget online on things like search engine marketing. The largest players only spend 7% of marketing budget online.

These results are available from MarketingSherpa's Business Technology Benchmark Guide 2006. To download a copy of the Executive Summary, go to: http://businesstechnologymarketingdata.marketingsherpa.com/?source=mspr2opt3.

To download a copy of the entire report along with 151 additional new data charts and tables, go to: http://www.sherpastore.com/Technology-marketing.html?source=mspr2opt4.

About MarketingSherpa:

Each week 237,000 marketing professionals read MarketingSherpa's latest Case Studies and researched benchmark reports. The research firm also organizes four annual Summits, including the Business-to-Business Demand Generation Summit and the Email Marketing Summit. A complete list of offerings is available at: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/?source=mspr2opt5.