Banner adverts are being scrapped in favour of other online marketing options such as search engine optimisation (SEO), new research has suggested.

According to a survey by the Online Marketing and Media Show (OMMS), more than one third of respondents will dedicate as much as 25 per cent of their marketing budget to online marketing.

Event director for OMMS 2008, Sally Maltby, remarks that the drive towards more social marketing methods such as pay-per-click is a bid by firms to "engage with their audience".

She said: "Marketers want to invest their marketing budget where they can get tangible, clear results.

"Historically, search, SEO and pay per click campaigns have been the leaders for this reason."

Respondents also prioritised search engine marketing and measuring SEO response among the priority areas for education and understanding.

Just under half of firms claimed they will be enlisting help from a seo agency with their online campaigns.

Online Marketing specialists Business Feet help create value from business websites