10 Trends for Online Marketers in 2011

With a new year in swing, it's time again to focus on setting new revenue records in 2011 by investing in the marketing strategies with the highest return-on-investment potential. Small businesses have more at risk than big companies when it comes to capitalizing on new trends, so your timing should follow the old saying, "The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

The following list features top 10 online marketing trends for this year, as well as advice for whether you should be the bird (invest now) or the mouse (leave the trend on the sidelines).

No. 1: Location-Based Marketing

Advice: Be the early bird

Location is so relevant that Google has already started mixing local results and maps with other searches.Get your business ready for location-based marketing by claiming your spot on Google Places. Make your website more mobile-friendly with clickable phone numbers and maps. Also, prepare for more marketing features to be added to search results, such as mobile coupons, custom tags and logos.

No. 2: Instant Search

Advice: Be the early bird

Since Google decided to make search results and suggested key phrases appear instantly as people type, look for some consumers to abandon their first-choice, shorter search phrases in favor of these more relevant suggestions. For example, a consumer searching "desk lamp" might go with the suggestion "desk lamp reviews." If your business is optimized for shorter search phrases, it's time to evaluate the longer phrases to make sure you aren't missing potential customers.

No. 3: Social Media Monitoring

Advice: Be the mouse

This year, the reality will be revealed that social media conversations conducted by businesses aren't as personal, memorable or profitable as they would like to believe. Spend your time and money building a fantastic customer experience. Then, let your fans do the positive talking as you leverage your social media properties to reach your customers with social marketing campaigns.

No. 4: Social Media Marketing

Advice: Be the early bird

Savvy entrepreneurs are abandoning chatter in favor of running actual marketing campaigns on social media sites. Try a social sweepstakes, contest, group deal or coupon. You can use sites like Foursquare to reward loyal customers who check-in to your business, and services like Wildfire to help you run promotional applications.

No. 5: Mobile Marketing

Advice: Be the mouse

While 2010 showed us that many people use text messaging, email and social media on their smartphones, most consumers still aren't comfortable snapping a picture of a bar code.

If you want to dabble in mobile marketing this year, start by building an application, mobile website or text messaging campaign. If you own a retail store, try an in-store promotion so you can walk your mobile users through the process of snapping a bar code or texting a short code to retrieve a coupon and redeem it at the register.

No. 6: Online Advertising

Advice: Be the early bird

Banner ads may sound antiquated, but display advertising is destined to become hot this year. In fact, it's now easier for small businesses to place display ads on millions of websites by going through a few ad networks that have purchased most of the space available on publisher websites. Those ads can be tailored by geography, behavior and category of interest. It's a great way to boost the results from your pay-per-click budget this year because combining search marketing with online display ads generally increases the results from both.

No. 7: Email Marketing

Advice: Be the early bird

Facebook has announced plans to add a more familiar looking email inbox and social media integration with email marketing tools is well underway. Mobile applications are making email easier to use on smartphones, and the HTML functions on phones are making branded emails look prettier on mobile screens. It's probably time to give your email marketing a facelift.

No. 8: Social Shopping

Advice: Be the mouse

People already share their purchases socially, but newer social shopping technologies, such as Swipely and Blippy, make it possible to share with just one click or swipe of the credit card. If your products stir excitement, or you can offer a group discounts, give this technology a try.

No. 9: Instant Messaging

Advice: Be the mouse

This could be the year when website visitors begin to expect instant answers to their questions. If you have customer service teams or a sales force that are in front of computers or mobile phones all day, consider running an instant messaging test.

No. 10: Online Television

Advice: Be the mouse

Consumers will be able to customize their television feeds, browse the Web while watching shows, watch programs on-demand and even control their televisions with a mobile phone. Online television presents a huge opportunity for advertisers because the targeting options are so much better than traditional TV. However, you may have to wait to capitalize on this trend as the corporate television giants tend to be slow about making changes.

What is Online Marketing?

In its simplest form, the term online marketing refers to using the power of Internet advertising to generate a response from your audience. Also known as Internet marketing or web marketing, online marketing is used by companies selling goods and services directly to consumers as well as those who operate on a business-to-business model.

Common areas of interest within the field of online marketing include:

• Affiliate Marketing: In affiliate marketing, a business recruits associates to promote the company's products or services. The associates receive a commission or other similar rewards for every sale, visitor, subscriber, or customer they bring to the company. Amazon.com Associates Central is an example of an affiliate marketing program that Amazon.com uses to encourage private website owners to bring traffic to its site.
• Display Advertising: Display advertising involves the use of web banners or banner ads placed on a third-party website to drive traffic to a company's own website and increase product awareness.
• Email Marketing: Companies that use email marketing send promotional emails directly to customers. However, it can often be hard to distinguish between spam and legitimate email marketing messages.
• Interactive Advertising: Interactive advertising involves the use of animations and other graphic techniques to create ads that engage the viewer and invite participation.
• Search Engine Marketing: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), paid placement, and paid inclusion are search engine marketing techniques that companies can use to increase their visibility in the search engine page results from Google and its competitors.
• Viral Marketing: Viral marketing is a technique is which companies encourage customers to pass along information about their products or services. Company websites that let visitors email interactive games or funny video clips to their friends are an example of a viral marketing effort.
• Online marketing, regardless of the exact method a company chooses to use, offers several benefits. It's convenient, affordable, and provides the opportunity for companies to track results as a campaign progresses. In addition, Internet marketing allows even the smallest of companies to compete in a global marketplace. Online marketing is often related to public relations, customer service, sales, and information management. However, it is important to remember that these fields can be considered separate specialties as well. Glossary of Marketing Terms If you're interested in learning more about online marketing, there are many websites that offer glossaries of common marketing terms. For example:
• Marketing Terms is a comprehensive website for anyone interested in online marketing. This site features a dictionary with cross-referenced definitions and basic information for beginners, as well as links to in-depth articles that provide the information a marketing professional will need to succeed in today's business environment. For your convenience, this website also includes a printable list of commonly-used Internet marketing acronyms and abbreviations.
• Marketing Apprentice offers an easy-to-understand dictionary of terms related to the online marketing industry with a number of cross-references and related links. To use this dictionary, you need to scroll through an alphabetical listing of links and click on the term you wish to learn more about.
• Lazworld, an Internet marketing services provider, has prepared a brief glossary of common marketing terms website owners need to know. There is no search engine available, but the entire document can easily be printed for use as a desk reference.
• SEO Book is a dictionary devoted exclusively to the search engine aspect of online marketing. Some of the definitions can be a bit technical for the marketing novice, but the information is extremely useful for anyone who is determined to create a successful website.
• The American Marketing Association has a dictionary that contains definitions for several online marketing terms as well as general marketing information.