Market research firm comScore recently reported that ecommerce spending in the third quarter increased 13 percent in the third quarter of 2011 compared to 2010.

Market research firm comScore reported that ecommerce spending in the United States grew 13 percent in the third quarter compared to the same time period in 2010. Moreover, the company expects another quarter of growth in the final three months of the year.

From July through September, Americans spent more than $36 billion on the web, compared to more than $32 billion spent in 2010.

While economic improvement and a stabilized economy are driving a portion of the growth, many new web buyers are growing increasingly comfortable with spending online.

B2C companies looking to boost sales with web marketing have increasingly turned to SEO campaigns to improve visibility on the web. Brafton recently reported that 41 percent of B2C companies using SEO named it as the marketing tool driving the most leads, compared to both PPC and social media marketing.

Overall, the ROI is greater as well, with PPC campaigns drawing a majority of the budget for 42.5 percent of B2C businesses included in the survey. B2B companies have found SEO valuable as well with 57 percent naming it as their most successful marketing technique.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.