A survey reveals that websites are the top providers of new customers, and marketers may want to optimize their site content accordingly.

For the majority of small and mid-sized businesses, website marketing is the best way to find new customers, according to the Bredin Business Information Marketing to SMBs survey. With this in mind, marketers may want to invest in high-quality, search optimized content to give their brands an edge.

The study, relayed by eMarketer, asked U.S.-based businesses with 500 or fewer employees about their most effective marketing campaigns. Website marketing is the most pervasive marketing strategy, indicating it is a competitive must. Eighty-five percent of businesses say they use website marketing to reach online audiences.

This is a dramatic year-over-year increase as the same survey found that just 51.5 percent of businesses marketed with a website last year, and a similar survey from Adology reported that less than half of businesses had a website at the start of 2010.

Now that websites are mainstream, the type of content published is increasingly important to competitive ranking. As Brafton has reported, Google's latest algorithm penalizes sites for low-quality content and the company's SEO advice is investing in unique articles.

The Bredin survey suggests that investing in quality site content pays off. Nearly two-thirds of marketers (63.3 percent) say their company websites are the leading channels for customer acquisition.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.