Podcast Number 71 – January 2012
In this Internet Marketing Podcast Glenn and Tom review 10 Website trends that are expected to be hot for 2012. Plan ahead and be ready for these trends before they happen.
- Prepare for the “Internets”
- Some Websites are so large, have many users can be considered an “Internet.”
- This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and the emerging Google+.
- Business profile pages and regular content additions are a must.
- Users will stay on these Web pages for resources, to solve problems and help.
- Each site will have their own strategy and stats monitoring.
- The Mobile Web
- Mobile traffic is growing fast.
- Develop a mobile version of your site when traffic hits 10% or more.
- Mobile traffic is highly qualified and needs conversion points.
- Adapt your Website to the screen size of the user.
- Publishing and Content
- Content is free and valuable content will draw traffic.
- eBooks are the future of publishing and magazines are next.
- Stale content is a negative influence of Web results.
- Google Wants New, Relevant and a High Volume of Content
- Fresh Content is more important than ever for Google’s search results.
- Google will continue to grow and Google+ will increase market share.
- Blogs and regular Website content updates will drive growth.
- Apple Slips
- Apple will start to struggle for the first time in a while in 2012.
- There is a lack of awesome break-through products.
- Service is dropping in the stores.
- Competitors are likely to come in.
- Lack of leadership will be evident in 2012.
- Excellent run for Apple could start to end in 2012.
- Offline Success Drives Online Growth
- Brands that are strong outside the Web will enjoy the most growth.
- Websites without a strong offline presence will struggle.
- More strong offline brands will embrace the Web fully in 2012.
- Wild Election Process
- The 2012 election will be won on the Internet.
- Fundraising will go online and voter influence will come from the Web.
- Obama will easily be re-elected with more online support than ever.
- This will influence elections at all levels.
- Website Knowledge Explodes
- Knowledge of Web marketing is no longer for the geeks or Web masters.
- This knowledge will explode among small to medium sized businesses in 2012.
- Web marketing terms will become an accepted and critical part of marketing.
- Integrated Media and the Death of Flash
- User preferences will drive the use of more media on Websites.
- Video, audio, written content, photos, slides, graphics and more will need to be on Websites to meet user needs.
- This will drive job growth for graphic design and Web media jobs.
- Flash will decline and HTML5 and other universal formats will emerge in 2012.
- Website Development Speeds Up and Budgets Fall
- CMS systems and Web savvy developers will build Websites faster and cheaper.
- CMS templates and modules will make Website success more about strategy, messaging and content and less about development.
- Good design is not going away, but development is now a piece of cake.
- WordPress will continue to lead the way along with substantial growth for Magento.
- This will also drive job growth in 2012.
Here are the action items from the Podcast:
- Be looking ahead at where the Web is going so it is not a surprise when you arrive.
- Set as a New Year’s resolution to include training and education in Web marketing.
- Learn more about CMS, open source platforms of WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Magento.
- All these things may not happen in 2012, but they are coming soon.
