So, another year is coming to an end, and it’s been quite an eventful one for LeadGenerators. We’ve acquired more clients, grown in reputation and completely changed our working environment. On a wider scale, we’ve seen the face of online marketing continue its gradual shift in a number of key areas. Of course, many of you will remember that I boldly announced some predictions this time last year, so let’s see how I did:
Continued Move Towards Personalisation of Results
As the end of the year approached, it looked like I was going to be proven wrong on this one… until last month when Google unveiled SearchWiki – the technology I mentioned they were experimenting with this time last year! While it’s important to realise that people’s personalisations won’t (for the time being at least) affect what other people see when searching, it’s a decent indicator that search engines have realised that everyone has unique tastes and a ‘one size fits all’ approach to search is a little outdated and, dare I say it, ‘so 2007’.
Mobile Marketing Comes of Age
I said that 2008 would be the year when mobile internet finally loses its training wheels and becomes mainstream, and sure enough that’s what has happened. Nowadays many mobile phone tariffs boast of their free access to social networking sites, and products like the iPhone have their own inbuilt browsers. If you needed more proof that this is where we’re headed, then look no further than Android – the mobile phone operating system made by Google! Mobile internet dongles are also allowing people to connect to broadband wirelessly on their laptops too – basically, you no longer need to be sat at your desk to access the web, and that can only be a good thing.
Anecdotally I would say that mobile internet is still a long way off being a huge sales tool though. Why? Simply because for big purchases (such as holidays) people like to be in a comfortable, secure place and mobile can rarely offer that feel. That said, for browsing blogs and checking emails it’s ideal, so continue to pursue the sociable path and you should have some access to this growing market.
Universal Search Will Shake Things Up
Well, you can’t win ‘em all. Perhaps I got swept up in Google’s hyperbole about how Universal Search would change everything, but in the UK this year it really hasn’t. I’ve seen a couple of examples of what may or may not be a form of it, but if a seasoned internet marketer like myself is struggling to see the impact, then it’s safe to say it hasn’t done much. Yet. Still, 2/3 isn’t bad.
And a Few from the Leftfield…
As is expected, there were a few developments that made headlines that no-one saw coming this year, too…
February - Microsoft Tries to Buy Yahoo… Fails, Yahoo go into Freefall
It came from nowhere, but when Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo, it raised a few eyebrows in the office. Yahoo were struggling, Microsoft wanted a bigger slice of the search pie and it sort of made sense. Still, Yahoo spurned Microsoft’s advances, subsequently went into a kind of share freefall, and is now practically begging Microsoft to come back.
July - Cuil Launches – Nobody Cares
If you have a multi-million pound launch for a new search engine that gets several newspaper column inches boasting more pages indexed than Google, you have to be pretty sure of your product. Clearly it was all bluster in the case of Cuil.com, which launched earlier this year, and was hugely underwhelming. It still exists, but the results seem to be pulled completely at random, and it has become a figure of fun in many online communities.
September - Google Launches an Internet Browser
This one also came from nowhere. Google launched their own internet browser to try and take a slice of the Internet Explorer and Firefox pie: Google Chrome. What it means to marketers is yet to be seen, but you’ll want to watch this space and see how Google uses this, because their main focus has always been search and becoming the people’s gateway to the internet could be huge news in this area. If nothing else, it’s a great little browser – and at least one person in our office is a total convert!
To 2009!
So that was 2008, what predictions can I make for 2009, and will they have the same hit rate?
Social Media Fatigue
With many a travel marketing agency advertising that social media is the future, an awful lot of companies have pitched in with horribly obvious astroturfing (fake reviews, testimonials and the like). I have a feeling that this will reach fever pitch in 2009 and the general public will take recommendations with a huge pinch of salt. What’s the way around this? Be open, be honest as we’ve always advocated: if you can provide useful insight, and not just claim every product you offer is superb then people will trust you while others just get rolled eyes.
PPC Costs Dropping
The good thing about the credit crunch is that many company’s marketing budget is dropping, and thus PPC spend will dip. This makes it all the easier for a canny marketer to get more of that quality converting traffic at a cheaper price.
More Natural Linking Will Prevail
Currently targeted anchor texts are a great source of boosting rankings. The trouble is that they’re too easily gamed and it’s not the way people link naturally ‘in the wild’ People don’t link with, say, ‘Online Travel Marketing Companies in West London’ – they’ll probably just say LeadGenerators, or more likely ‘Click Here.’ As such, we’ll probably see Google lowering the heavy weighting anchor texts have.
So there’s my predictions. See you in a year’s time to see how right I am!
Travel, Cat Litter and Infidelity
The Future of Online Marketing in 2009
