If you market online you need to pay attention to trends. As technology advances and how it is used changes, your marketing tactics should be evolving too. It is said that if you’re still marketing exactly as you were just two years ago you could be missing out on the latest opportunities.

In this post I’m going to look at some of the trends that have occurred this year and can be expected to continue into next year.

1. Changes to Google’s algorithms

In terms of market share Google looks to remain the number one search engine for some time to come. If appearing in its search results is one of your marketing tactics you need to keep up to date with their latest search engine algorithm changes. Follow the updates on Google Webmaster tools and expect the changes to keep on coming.

2. Responsive design

We have now passed the threshold where the majority of people access the internet via a mobile device. Having responsive online real estate will continue to become more important. Having a site that is not mobile friendly will eventually test the patience of your visitors as the standard of websites accessed via mobile devices improves.

3. Visual marketing

The increased use of video on websites and the growth of sites like Pinterest and Instagram are signs that visually presented information is becoming more important. Prospects are more likely to consume a visual presentation of your product or service and they are also more likely to share it on social media. Even the use of static images has been growing and pictures are being increasingly used to break up text to make content more interesting.

4. Local business listings

As more business owners realise the importance of online marketing we are seeing more business listings online, particularly in Google Maps. This may be a good thing If you can help local businesses get to grips with this opportunity, or it may pose a challenge if you want to appear high on Google’s search engine results but are not location based.

5. Segmentation

There have perhaps been more courses released about segmentation this year than in any previous year. Now most presentations about building a sales funnel will include paths for those who hesitate to purchase a first, second, or even third offer. As this how-to information becomes more available we can expect segmentation of lists and clients to become the norm in online marketing.