Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Egypt
Egypt is a vast, mainly North African country, covering an area of 390,000 square miles with an estimated population of over 80 million people. Egypt is reported to be the most populated country in the Middle East and the third most populated country in Africa. There are reported to be 17 million internet users in Egypt and a growth of 3,691% between the year 2000 and 2010. Google has the main market share in Egypt in terms of search and are reported to have a 95.99% share followed by Yahoo at 2.26% and Bing at 1.32%. Egypt’s economy largely depends on petroleum exports, tourism, agriculture and media. It has also been reported that more than 3 million Egyptians are working abroad in Saudi Arabia mainly. The internet and in particular social networks could be used to connect Egyptians with information about Egypt and services for Egyptians in Saudi Arabia. Lead generation regarding tourism and travel would offer huge possibilities for internet marketers, especially since the Egyptian online advertising industry is relatively young in Egypt.
Internet Usage in Egypt
Internet Population: 17,060,000
GDP Per Capita: $6,367
Internet Market Potential (GDP*Users/million): $108,621 million
Internet Advertising Market Size:
Search Engine Market Share in Egypt
Search Engine Market Share: Google 95.99%, Yahoo 2.26%, Bing 1.32%, Ask Jeeves 0.36%, Seach 0.05%
Mobile Users in Egypt
Mobile Users: 55.352 million
Social Media in Egypt
Facebook Users: 7,257,060
Facebook Penetration: 9.02%
Average CPC on Facebook: $0.42
Worldwide share of Twitter Users: 0%
10 Most Popular Sites in Egypt
1. Facebook.com
2. Google.com.eg
3. Youtube.com
4. Google.com
5. Yahoo.com
6. Youm7.com
7. Blogspot.com
8. Maktoob.com
9. Myegy.com
10. Maarawy.com
Social Networks in Egypt
Social networks have become a hot topic in Egypt recently as they have been suggested by various news agencies as having helped to facilitate the uprising that led to President Mubarak’s giving up of power in February 2011. Social bookmarking via mobile internet is reported to have played a significant part in communicating relevant tweets regarding the logistics of the uprising. The Egyptian government had shut down the internet and mobile networks for five days to attempt at preventing the inevitable. Facebook users in Egypt have increased by 64.36% in the last 6 months and stands at around 7.4 million users even though Facebook penetration in Egypt is only 9.19% in terms of the population. In terms of internet users 42.5% of Egyptians are on Facebook and Facebook is the number one site in Egypt in terms of visitors. A very recent Google report shows that there were 14 million unique visitors to Facebook from Egypt during the month of April 2011 which is at least 82.3% of internet users. They visited Facebook a total of 190 million times during the same month. Twitter is less popular than Facebook but still received 1.4 million visits during April 2011 with the total number of visits being 3.1 million during the same period. Social networks are increasing in popularity in Egypt and any serious lead generation effort should be visible in both Twitter and Facebook to reach the maximum audience.
A Changing Advertising Strategy
There’s good news for advanced internet marketers in Egypt because many companies still do not fully appreciate the benefits and behavioural aspects of the online user. Lead generation by outside internet marketers could help to increase Egyptian business awareness of the many possibilities there are with the online consumer. A recent report revealed that many online advertising campaigns in Egypt still prefer the banner type ad due to its resemblance to traditional advertising and that the Egyptian internet marketing world is just beginning to understand the benefits of searched based advertising. This presents the seasoned internet marketer with the competitive edge that has the potential to place them in a prominent position when, and not if, the Egyptian internet catches up with the rest of the world.
Mobile Internet in Egypt
It has been reported that around 7 million Egyptians use their mobile phones to access the internet every month and this figure is increasing at a rate of 2% every month. Around 75% choose to browse in Arabic while the remaining 25% browse in a mixture of English and Arabic. Internet marketing entrepreneurs would be well advised to have Arabic as the default language for their mobile optimized websites and thankfully, modern day content management systems have available modules that can enable translation into Arabic. As Google holds the largest market share in terms of search, internet marketing and lead generation in Egypt will still require a Google presence to gain access to mobile consumers. Mobile internet penetration in Egypt can be viewed as an integral part of any lead generation or general internet marketing campaign to gain as much reach as possible as its use during the February uprisings demonstrate. With a rapidly growing internet market and an unemployment rate lower than the US Egypt is to be taken seriously by all lead generation prospectors.
Internet Usage in Egypt
Internet Population: 17,060,000
GDP Per Capita: $6,367
Internet Market Potential (GDP*Users/million): $108,621 million
Internet Advertising Market Size:
Search Engine Market Share in Egypt
Search Engine Market Share: Google 95.99%, Yahoo 2.26%, Bing 1.32%, Ask Jeeves 0.36%, Seach 0.05%
Mobile Users in Egypt
Mobile Users: 55.352 million
Social Media in Egypt
Facebook Users: 7,257,060
Facebook Penetration: 9.02%
Average CPC on Facebook: $0.42
Worldwide share of Twitter Users: 0%
10 Most Popular Sites in Egypt
1. Facebook.com
2. Google.com.eg
3. Youtube.com
4. Google.com
5. Yahoo.com
6. Youm7.com
7. Blogspot.com
8. Maktoob.com
9. Myegy.com
10. Maarawy.com
Social Networks in Egypt
Social networks have become a hot topic in Egypt recently as they have been suggested by various news agencies as having helped to facilitate the uprising that led to President Mubarak’s giving up of power in February 2011. Social bookmarking via mobile internet is reported to have played a significant part in communicating relevant tweets regarding the logistics of the uprising. The Egyptian government had shut down the internet and mobile networks for five days to attempt at preventing the inevitable. Facebook users in Egypt have increased by 64.36% in the last 6 months and stands at around 7.4 million users even though Facebook penetration in Egypt is only 9.19% in terms of the population. In terms of internet users 42.5% of Egyptians are on Facebook and Facebook is the number one site in Egypt in terms of visitors. A very recent Google report shows that there were 14 million unique visitors to Facebook from Egypt during the month of April 2011 which is at least 82.3% of internet users. They visited Facebook a total of 190 million times during the same month. Twitter is less popular than Facebook but still received 1.4 million visits during April 2011 with the total number of visits being 3.1 million during the same period. Social networks are increasing in popularity in Egypt and any serious lead generation effort should be visible in both Twitter and Facebook to reach the maximum audience.
A Changing Advertising Strategy
There’s good news for advanced internet marketers in Egypt because many companies still do not fully appreciate the benefits and behavioural aspects of the online user. Lead generation by outside internet marketers could help to increase Egyptian business awareness of the many possibilities there are with the online consumer. A recent report revealed that many online advertising campaigns in Egypt still prefer the banner type ad due to its resemblance to traditional advertising and that the Egyptian internet marketing world is just beginning to understand the benefits of searched based advertising. This presents the seasoned internet marketer with the competitive edge that has the potential to place them in a prominent position when, and not if, the Egyptian internet catches up with the rest of the world.
Mobile Internet in Egypt
It has been reported that around 7 million Egyptians use their mobile phones to access the internet every month and this figure is increasing at a rate of 2% every month. Around 75% choose to browse in Arabic while the remaining 25% browse in a mixture of English and Arabic. Internet marketing entrepreneurs would be well advised to have Arabic as the default language for their mobile optimized websites and thankfully, modern day content management systems have available modules that can enable translation into Arabic. As Google holds the largest market share in terms of search, internet marketing and lead generation in Egypt will still require a Google presence to gain access to mobile consumers. Mobile internet penetration in Egypt can be viewed as an integral part of any lead generation or general internet marketing campaign to gain as much reach as possible as its use during the February uprisings demonstrate. With a rapidly growing internet market and an unemployment rate lower than the US Egypt is to be taken seriously by all lead generation prospectors.