The previous year was very eventful in Internet marketing. Several trends emerged that will influence the progress of internet marketing during this year. Based on the trends from the previous year and WSI Online experience we can make some predictions about what the year 2013 will bring in internet marketing.
Internet marketing is developing extremely fast
At the beginning of the previous year, Google announced that they plan to roll out more than 500 algorithms and data-based updates in 2012. The world’s biggest search engine kept its word and last year brought substantial development in search results quality. Google is only a small part of internet marketing, and it must be noted that other internet marketing channels develop as fast as Google.
More business owners search for opportunities to gain extra value from the opportunities internet has to offer. Competition in internet marketing channels is only growing, and to compete with competitors you need to be up to date with the latest internet marketing trends.
The main trends of internet marketing in 2013
1. Increase in internet and internet marketing users
The number of internet and internet marketing users is growing rapidly worldwide. Compared to the previous year, there was an 8% growth in internet users around the world, which forms 34% of the whole population. In Europe alone, 500 million internet users exist, which is 63% of the European population. The growing internet community affects the media market, where more money is directed online. The competition goes fiercer, and businesses must implement new strategies to stay in the competition.
The Internet is a continuously growing marketing channel where penetration grows each year.
2. Search engine marketing
Google has made a clear statement that they will improve their search engine results at expense of content that offers little or no value to users. Author Rank is a new tool by Google that evaluates authors the same way as Page Rank evaluates websites' reliability. Author Rank links authors' Google+ accounts with author-generated content. Google will evaluate reliable links that originate from the same author and makes its conclusions about the authors’ authority. This is an effective method to fight against copyright violators and raise awareness about quality content. Google has not yet rolled out Author Rank, but it’s predicted that in the end of 2013 Author Rank will be part of Page rank.
Search engine marketing will remain an important activity in website marketing.
3. Social media revolution continues
Businesses that are active in social media should already get considerable amount of traffic via social channels. Facebook reached 1 billion users in 2012 and the social media king will continue with the growth this year. Lately they announced Graph Search that will give the social network a whole new perspective. It’s been discussed that Facebook will overtake search function from Google and they put some effort to achieve this.
As mentioned above, Google+ will gain more importance in SEO which will result in growth in users’ rate. But the transition to G+ is not because of the social network itself but because it’s a vital part of optimization.
LinkedIn will stay on top of its niche. And for Twitter, it’s a question whether to IPO or not to IPO.
Don’t forget: “What happens in life stays in Facebook and Twitter”
4. Content marketing
Content marketing has been a trend for a few years now. But content is going only stronger and Agent Rank with other algorithm updates like Panda and Penguin will push the content to be more valuable. Great content includes quality information, pictures, videos, whitepapers, e-books and interactive infographs. In addition, killer content spreads like wildfire in social media which also boosts your SEO.
Quality content is worth investment as you gain loyal followers whom may become your next customers.
5. Smartphones will continue their triumph
There are 1.1 billion smartphone users which include about 17% of the whole population. To consider that there are 5 billion mobile users the number of smartphone users has grown extremely fast. In addition, 13% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. It is predicted that by the year 2014 global mobile internet usage will exceed the internet usage on PC’s (Morgan Stanley). This kind of vast development is driven by 3G internet, the fast development of gadgets and the development of e-commerce.
When planning your marketing strategy don’t forget that users will change the big screen for smaller devices that they will carry 24/7.
6. Analytics become even more important
When you start investing into internet marketing you need to analyse the metrics to know the return on investments. Today there are countless abilities to measure web analytics but the chances are not used wisely. For example, free analytical tools like Google Analytics offer amazing opportunities to measure your marketing activities and make conclusions that will help to make better investments but business owners’ lack of knowledge to use all these abilities. Furthermore, Google says that in the end of 2013 Analytics will be unrecognizably changed. Improved functionality, of course! You can read more here.
What you can measure you can also fix.
Conclusion
Internet marketing changes really quickly bringing substantial developments every year. New opportunities emerge for businesses to be visible and interact with customers online. The best advice to give all internet marketers is to follow the emerging trends and implement them to your marketing strategy.
Have a successful marketing year!
