As you know, there are always surprises that come every year online. Few people would have predicted that the Google PageRank would only have two updates and that one would come in December, and few saw the Hummingbird update coming all the way back in 2012. So, expect a few surprises this year as well as the ten trends listed below.

Image Credit: TechTrickPoint.com

1. The Internet will become less popular

Well not really. There is a plausible prediction that technology is moving fast enough so that the Internet will be replaced in a few years, but not in the year 2014. The search engine may become less of a power monster though.

This is only where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is concerned, as lots of companies are going to start looking for alternatives to climbing Google this year since Google has now made it harder than ever to get within the first 100,000 pages on their search engine results. This is all thanks to the Google Hummingbird update they released at the end of the year 2013.

2. Mobile analytics will be a bigger deal

Mobile Internet and apps are already a big deal, and it is in the interest of software and hardware companies to push the Smartphone and tablet market even more, as it is the only foothold they have had on Microsoft in generations.

Why does this mean that mobile analytics will become a big deal? Mainly because that is what happened when desktop Internet started to find its feet, so it is plausible that mobile Internet will follow a similar but speedier pattern.

3. B2B marketing success on social media will find a level footing

It is up and down at the moment, but it is going to find its footing this year with some companies enjoying up to 50% of their business to businesses leads coming from social media. The numbers have fluctuated so much over the last year that a normalization is just aching to appear, and that is probably what will happen in the year 2014.

4. Collaboration may be the only way to survive such a competitive landscape

Yahoo and Bing had the right idea when they collaborated instead of face oblivion, which makes you wonder how many other businesses are going to team up instead of going bust. This of course means that the online world will change as companies start to work together.

5. Responsive design will move further towards being the standard

Doesn’t this just seem like the most logical thing? Where one day all websites will switch from mobile to desktop on the Internet?

6. People will spend more on social media whilst it provides less

Social media networks are not really answering the calls that the business world wants them to. It is likely that the social media networks will start to make social media even more commercialized and they will lose viewers to the point where they reverse their actions. The end result will be that companies spending a fortune on social media will not get must return on their investment.

7. Social media will disappoint conversion hunters even more

The conversion rate for social media posts on Facebook went from 8% to 12% in the last eighteen months, and people think this is a sign of social media becoming more important in online marketing worlds. It doesn’t seem to faze them that the shift was thanks to the increased use of the Facebook mobile app(s).

A shift of just 4% from the whole mobile arena is tiny, and yet companies are investing thousands in to social media because of it. Despite it being a foolish move there is still going to be more advanced interest in getting direct traffic from social media posts. Good luck online business world–you will need it.

8. Google+ and YouTube build domination races

Google is very overdue for making unfair pushes with their social media networks. They own the biggest and most popular search engine on the planet, so surely it is only a matter of time before they start wielding this weapon to make people join or go to Google+ and YouTube.

9. More software will be developed to block online adverts

Where there is a need there are people willing to take up a cause. They invented TIVO  because people hated TV adverts and soon they will start concentrating more on creating online advert blockers. If they create one that stops auto start audio and video then they will be billionaires.

10. Lots of text is making a come back

This is simply based on comments made when they brought out the Google Hummingbird update. Comments were made about how Google would like to see more websites with articles that have more words (are in more depth).

Author Bio

This is a guest post by Kate Funk, an occasional guest-blogger and a full-time writer at Aussiewriter.com. Kate enjoys teaching others how to benefit from different marketing techniques as she a wide experience in networking.

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