5 online marketing trends worth watching in 2012

The New Year is just around the corner and for small business owners the often daunting task of developing a solid online marketing strategy for 2012 looms ahead, too. What should small business owners focus their marketing efforts on in 2012? What marketing strategies will yield high conversion rates and generate lucrative sales for small businesses in the New Year?

To find out, BizBytes turned to Roberta Backus, chairwoman of Backus Turner International, a South Florida-based branding firm and Guido Gaona, director of the technology practice at Burston Marsteller Latin America. Backus has been in business for over 32 years and her client roster includes companies like Lowe’s Home Improvement and Trump International. Gaona’s clients include Sony, HP and Intel.

Backus and Gaona have identified five trends that small business owners should consider when developing their marketing plans for 2012.

Online reputation management. “Your company’s online reputation is going to become more important than ever in 2012,” Backus said. “You’ve got to monitor and maintain your online reputation closely. You don’t want to lose a sale because of a negative post that appears about your company in a search result. It’s imperative that you take control of what’s being said about you online. You’ve got to spend time each day putting out positive content about what you do.”

TIP: Backus recommends spending at least one hour each day putting out positive content about your company. Once you’ve created quality content, get your friends and clients to share it on their social networks as well.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/

Top 10 Legal Issues for Marketers in the Coming Year

Self-Regulation at the Crossroads
Great strides were made in kids' advertising, food marketing and online behavioral tracking. The Children's Advertising Review Unit is self-regulation at its best. Marketers in the Food Initiative made practice changes legislatures couldn't pass without violating the First Amendment. About Ads is state-of-the-art in tracking data on the internet. But Congress and the FTC are impatient, and tensions could boil over in the coming year.

Celebrity Embarrassments
A surge in unseemly social-media behavior by celebrity endorsers indicates an affliction of bad judgment. It will get worse before it gets better, and brands will be embarrassed to the point of terminating contracts. Smart marketers will ensure that agreements allow them an escape from edgier celebs.
Clouds Ahead
The financial incentives make it inevitable that marketers will move their data and applications to the cloud. But with that transition comes the headache of security and privacy breaches. Once moved to a service in the cloud, control of data is reduced and risk increased. Will all the cost savings be lost to class-action lawyers?
Social Media Recalculated
The gold rush has been startling. Marketers have flocked to online services, including Facebook and LinkedIn, with no measurable ROI, at least not by any industry standards. But a study on digital measurement by the ANA, 4A's and IAB might finally lead to a currency everyone can agree on. Or it might not.
FTC vs. CFPB
Watch for a classic Washington standoff as the Federal Trade Commission parries with the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over regulating financial-services marketing. Dodd-Frank created the CFPB to watch out for consumers and the financial biz. But Congress left the FTC with jurisdiction, too. They're supposed to work out an agreement on who regulates what. And no doubt they will do that. But then come appropriations. The honeymoon will end there.

source:http://adage.com

Web Talent Marketing Named Sixth Best Link Building Agency for December 2011 by topseos.com

The independent authority on search vendors, topseos.com, has released their list of the best link building companies in the online marketing industry for the month of December 2011. Included in the list is Web Talent Marketing, an online marketing company from Lancaster, PA, as the sixth best link building company as the result of a meticulous evaluation process.

This evaluation process has been used to identify and evaluate the best online marketing companies offering link building services which leads to the creation of a list of the best companies in the industry. Web Talent Marketing was included in the evaluation in order to showcase their dedication to excellence as a top service provider. They offer consultation and link cultivation services which are custom tailored to their customers based on their needs.

topseos.com uses a meticulous evaluation process involving the use of a set of evaluation criteria in order to generate their list of the best. The set of evaluation criteria for link building services includes Assessment, Identify, Analysis, Acquisition, and Reporting. The evaluation process also involves connecting with at least three customer references from each service provider and obtaining information on their business practices and ethical link building procedures.

Source:pressmediawire.com