You’ll find predictions covering web design, mobile, music, search, social and more below in our marketing and technology predictions for 2012.

While our crystal ball severely over heated from all of the predictions, there is no doubt this year will be another one full of cool technology and marketing integration.

2012 Staff Predictions

TABLET: I think we’ll see the integration of tablet PCs with more mediums.  For example in the same way Nintendo’s Wii is introducing a controller that resembles a Tablet PC, I wouldn’t be surprised to see things like cable companies adopt this theme to improve their TV / Video On Demand user experiences.
Joe Barhorst – Developer

INTEGRATION: Social, Digital & Mainstream Marketing collaboration.  Example being a Coke ad synced across platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others.
Erin Moore – Project Manager

GOOGLE +: Since Google just introduced Search plus Your World, I see either a strong exodus from Facebook and Twitter to Google+ profiles, or many people being turned off by the new search and using Bing.
Alicia Neubauer – Social Media Intern

SEARCH & SOCIAL: Search engines will be pushing information from social networks towards the top of the search results.  This continues to emphasize a huge need for tools and apps to help combine and organize multiple social network platforms.
Travis Neiderhiser – Developer

WEB DESIGN: Responsive web design is going to be the major trend when designing/developing websites to suit multiple different devices.  I feel that companies will find this a huge advantage of having one website conform to any device without having to load content multiple different ways or for that matter having multiple budgets to support the design & build of different websites for their company.
Jeff Wagner – Creative Director

MUSIC: Technology focused on music sharing will engage music fanatics and freaks even more than the Spotifys of today. I’d love to see a solution connect the creators to the listeners on a tighter level.
Becca Tollefson – Project Manager

TV: I foresee interactive TV’s being the center of our media universe and this will gain even more traction in 2012. No longer will be the days of a central media server rather all media content will be streamed from a central source such as a TV to a more local device such as a computer, iPad or mobile.
Mike Rynchek – President

SOCIAL: The never-ending online social network and media coverage realms have continued to boom as we move forward in the age of technology. More companies begin to realize that connecting with the client and customer on a deeper level is more important than knowing “what’s hot” for the moment.
Lisa Ostrander – Executive Assistant

APPS: The app-centric approach to technology will increase and even spill over to the wider technology sphere.  This means increasingly specific apps that interact with other apps.  It also means a cohesive experience between devices.  As marketers and developers, it’s our job to sell an experience, not just any one app or site, and now more than ever it’ll be our job to make sure that is simple, cohesive, and engaging in an environment in the midst of dramatic transition.
Perry Govier – Developer

VOICE RECOGNITION: The integration of voice recognition technology, like Siri, into our daily routine. This technology will be used in everything from apps to make our lives easier, to selecting entertainment choices, to finding information faster and easier.
Jennie Eukel – Project Manager

MOBILE: 70% of Americans will own a smartphone (44% now).
Barb Vanags – VP of Finance & HR

VOICE RECOGNITION: More hands free technology on all devices. Apple always starts a trend, so I know we’ll see more devices with voice recognition like Siri.   I want my phone to know what I want to read and read it to me so I can drive and hear the stories I want.
Liz Tunheim – Social Media Manager

SOCIAL: Pinterest and its booming growth is going to find a beautiful way to deliver extremely relevant ads to you. Ads you, as a user, are happy to see because they will be integrated with the boards and pins of those you follow. These new “AdPins” will match the look and category of those items/products/yards/homes/quotes you would normally see on the boards you follow.
Jamie Lee Jacobsen – Lead Project Manager

FACIAL & VOICE RECOGNITION: Facial recognition software will allow for customized public display advertising based on age, gender, and other visible demographic metrics.  Also, this will become reality.
Tracy Henry – Search Marketing Associate

GAMIFICATION: There will be a bigger push towards “active interaction” through devices such as Wii and Kinect, which could influence everything from how we interact with games and movies to how we control our computers, or a presentation.
Travis Manick – Developer

MOBILE: Mobile devices will become as powerful as high end laptops. A user will have the ability to plug their phone into a screen and use it as a computer.
Ben Olsem – Designer

MOBILE: Consumers more and more are looking to utilize their smart phones (check-ins, deals, payments, etc.) and brands still know this. Last year was another large year in mobile adoption, but this year I think will be defined by consumers maximizing their mobile to better navigate all aspects of their lives (health, finance, social, etc.).
Nick Bryant – Senior Account Executive

SEARCH: Changes to search engine results and rankings continue to become more frequent at Google. Local, mobile, social and personalized results are all morphing at a rapid rate as Google mashes it’s technology and data across a massive audience.  Will it all be for the good of search or just the good of Google?
My prediction – Aaron Weiche

What will actually take hold in 2012? We might see all of these or just a few, but it’s easy to see that our industry is busting with innovation, growth and opportunity. No doubt this year will be another exciting one.

Do you have a prediction or comment to share on technology and marketing for this year?  Drop your comments below.

I’m proud to serve on the founding board of MnSearch along with eight other experienced and energetic search marketers from various backgrounds.  Our over-arching goal is to serve as an incredible resource and connector for the search marketing industry in Minnesota.

The newly launched MnSearch.org covers more on our mission and board and you’ll be in the conversation with our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

First Event, Lasting Impression

My role on the MnSearch board is that of events director.  I’m excited to have put together our first event for January 26, 2012 featuring Taylor Pratt who is VP of Marketing for Raven Internet Marketing Tools.  As a user of Raven Tools I’ve long admired both their product and service.

• Get all the details and register for the event.

Taylor will be presenting on Tools of the Trade for SEO and often speaks at SMX, PubCon and other events.  Bringing Taylor and Raven to the great (search marketing) north should be an outstanding evening and start to our events for 2012.  I want to help deliver topics, speakers and events that make attendees really look forward to the next one.   Have ideas? Just drop me a line at aaron@mnsearch.org or @AaronWeiche .

Professionals, hobbyists or those just wanting to see what search marketing is about are welcome to attend this event.

Conversion

In true search marketing form, we have an end goal.  We want to compel you enough to take the dive and become a member of MnSearch.  You won’t be just another point of analytical data to us, but a valued, informed and connected member of a great and growing industry.  We’ll have more information coming your way on membership soon.

Make sure you check out our first event, enjoy the networking, presentation, drink and food.  You have a home now for search marketing goodness in Minnesota.

Right Here, Right Now For Google Analytics

The first change, Real-Time, is a much needed and asked for upgrade to the newest version of the standard Google Analytics platform.  As its name implies, Real-Time returns results faster (as in instant) than standard reporting, which is ideal for tracking social media impact, online campaigns, recently installed code, filters, and website launches.

While real-time analytics services have existed for years in tools like Woopra and Chart Beat, making it’s way to a free stat platform with a mass audience like GA is big news.

Google Analytics is already a more comprehensive tracking and reporting application than most organizations require, and this new upgrade makes GA even more versatile.

Premium Offering Increases Reporting & Service

For those organizations whom have more extensive reporting needs, Google has introduced Google Analytics Premium.  Unlike the standard GA, Google Analytics Premium is a subscription application.  With Premium Google is offering:

• Processing power: increased data collection, variables and unsampled reports
• Advanced analysis:  modeling tools for testing and conversions
• Service:  expert service for installation, support and account management
• Guarantees:  service level agreements for all of the above

The increased processing power, advanced analysis, and live customer support make it a more viable option for large enterprise organizations who are currently using Omniture, WebTrends, or various other subscription based web analytics applications.  The price rumors have it at a six figure price tag though, yuck.

It will be interesting to see how strong the level of support is, an area that Google has struggled across many of the products and services (example: Places).

Many have been waiting for a next level offering like this from GA, especially the real-time reporting.

Quality decisions can only be made from quality data, and these new updates from Google will definitely help!

A mobile searcher is more likely to accomplish a specific task or objective in an almost immediate timeframe with local intent as shown in these mobile search stats:

• 70% of mobile searches lead to action within one hour, as opposed to online searches, 70% of which lead to action within 1 month.
• 50% of mobile searches have local intent: 20% for food and entertainment, 16% auto and 15% consumer products.

5 Common Mobile Search Behaviors

1. Fewer keywords: The Mobile searcher is using less keywords to find what they are looking for on their mobile device.  This is largely due to the smaller screen and a phone’s keypad.

2. Location is key: Mobile users are on the go and ready to take action. Another thing to consider is that GPS is standard on most smart phones so claiming your local profile on Google Places is key for users that are looking for directions and specific location details.

3. Mobile experience: Your site should provide a user-friendly experience on their mobile device accounting for the reduction in screen size, variance in navigation methods and the context of the user.  Mobile Optimized vs. Mobile Friendly are 2 common terms you may have heard.

Mobile Optimized:
This refers to structuring a mobile site to the meet the user’s needs. A mobile web design should be simple, have only the most relevant content, have directions if applicable, and have little-to-no large graphic elements.  Mobile optimized sites user browser detection to serve the user this mobile version automatically from their device.

Mobile Friendly:
This term refers to a site that has elements are viewable on a mobile device, this would exclude Flash sites, but isn’t optimized for the mobile users.  The screen size isn’t set for a mobile device so adjusting the size of your screen may still be needed.

4. Time: Mobile Searchers are looking for information more frequently on evenings and weekends.  The is the opposite of desktop users search behavior.

5. Browser searches vs. Apps: Browser searches continue to dominate the mobile search field at 73% but using apps to search is continuing to grow and catch up to Browser search volume. This is largely due to the convenience and ease of use Apps provide vs. the mobile browser search experience.

Mobile Search Final Thoughts

The key to your success with mobile search is using the combination of these 5 behaviors and building a simple but solid mobile presence.  Considering your user and their needs in the search and purchase process is a great place to start.

If you are a business that depends on local foot traffic or your target market is a technology and device savvy crowd, mobile is a must.

At Spyder Trap, we’ve seen as high as 25% of a clients web traffic coming from mobile devices like the iPhone, Android and iPad.  Whatever your number might be for mobile traffic and mobile search referrals, it’s only going to grow.

Web search serves a unique function for the healthcare industry.  Before search, medical questions were answered exclusively by health professionals or by researching medical books and journals.  But, with the advent of search engines and the medical websites they link to, people are now able to attempt self-diagnosis with a few simple keystrokes.

They cross-reference their research with the advice given by their doctor.  They can shop for specialists rather than relying on referrals from their primary physician.  In short, search has fundamentally changed the equation.  Let’s look at a few statistics around how search marketing has affected the entire healthcare industry.

Search Facts

Since the first http page was developed in 1991, countless attempts have been made to organize and retrieve information from the web.  Here are some quick search volume statistics.

• Over 16 billion searches were conducted in September of 2010 alone.
• As of 2009, 78.1% of adults in the United States use the internet.
• Google receives over 65% of all search engine traffic.

Search Statistics in Healthcare

As Susannah Fox of Per Internet puts it, “Our data consistently show that doctors, nurses, and other health professionals continue to be the first choice for most people with health concerns, but online resources, including advice from peers, are a significant source of health information in the U.S.”

Here are a few statistics on health search:

• 59% of all adults have looked online for information about any of 15 health topics such as a specific disease or treatment.
• 18% of all adults have consulted online reviews of particular drugs or medical treatments.
• 13% of all adults have gone online to find others who might have health concerns similar to theirs.
• 12% of all adults have consulted online rankings or reviews of doctors or other providers.
• 11% of all adults have consulted online rankings or reviews of hospitals or other medical facilities.

Many of these search activities can lead a user to a medical news and resource website like WebMD.com.  WebMD is a popular tool for researching symptoms, current health news and offers many health community features is the 174th most popular website in the United States with 86.4 million unique users per month on average.

Search Types & Strategies

Search engines display results in various ways, but the two most popular and well-known types of results are organic search and sponsored search.  Making efforts to have your website show in the results in the organic section is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Placing ads under the sponsored search results section is often referred to as Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing.  These two types of marketing fall under the larger umbrella of Search Marketing, often referred to as Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

To maximize exposure and to ensure you’re not missing potential patients, having the website for your clinic, hospital, or healthcare organization appear under all sections of the search engine results for relevant queries is essential.

A well thought out, expertly crafted SEM campaign can:

• Convert people looking for answers to patients
• Keep your current patients from considering other providers
• Reinforce the brand and build the reputation of your organization

Search Marketing Example

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is one client of Spyder Trap Online Marketing who utilizes PPC to great effect.  In June of 2011 alone:

• Over 9,000 visits were delivered to the Children’s website from sponsored search.
• Organic search delivered 36% off all traffic to their website, even more than direct traffic.

Ultimately, building a user friendly website with valuable information is just the start.  Implementing a strategy to present that website to the people you want to see it is what Search Marketing is all about.

If you’ve had experiences with Search Marketing for your Healthcare organization, please share with us your thoughts in the comments.

Overall the Minneapolis OMS was well coordinated and featured some quality local and national speakers for the audience.

The wide range of attendee experience from newbie to online marketing experts always creates a challenge for the presenters, but most handled it well.  With three different breakout sessions going at one time, I could only hit five sessions for the day, but here are my takeaways from them.

How To Convert More Visitors To Customers

Matt Dombrow’s session was my favorite of the day.  He outlined the importance of anticipating the conversation with a consumer online to take them from search to landing page to conversion.

The conversion conversation outlined by Matt consists of making sure you help the user get answers:

1. Where did I land?
2. What can I do here?
3. Why should I do it here and not elsewhere?

No doubt the importance of conversion in your search marketing should hit these basics and some of the other ideas Matt presented.

Advance Settings For Results From PPC & Display Ads

Jamie Smith walked through a few different approaches and settings to make sure you are getting the most from your paid search marketing.  He put an emphasis on reverse engineering geo-targeting to exclude areas as a useful approach.

Jamie offered some great advice when he discussed the use of negative keywords to outwork your competition.

Lastly from Jamie, was the recommendation to study the design and content of organic results and factor them into your landing page creation.  Since many top organic results hold and convert users, they must be doing something right!  Determine what those elements are and put them to work for you.

Driving An Engaged Consumer With Email, Mobile & Social Success

Email guru Sundeep Kapur put together a great session focused on email marketing. His vast experience and passion delivered some great insight.  While he offered 12 absolutes you need to engage in, these quotes really impacted me.

“Ask yourself, are you really doing everything your consumers expect online?”

” You must capture data to drive personalization. Get to know them at every step!”

Sundeep shared many of his segmentation and engagement strategies that can be applied to any email marketing campaign for greater success.

Google Remarketing

Lisa Raehsler presented on Remarketing with Google and outlined both steps and settings to generate success with this feature.  This underutilized approach can help you get back in front of customers who have already visited your website.  Her preso is up on SlideShare.

One great Remarketing use Lisa pointed out was to apply it to those who abandon your shopping cart with targeted ads that will motivate them to return and buy.

10 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People

Susan Weinschenk, Ph. D has written a few books on web design and the human mind.  Her session drove home the fact that most people make decisions unconsciously, can only focus on 3 to 4 things max at a time and that peripheral vision is more important than central vision.

While the audience took part in some fun exercises to prove these statements, my biggest takeway hit upon trust in design.  People evaluate the trust of your website by taking in the “look and feel” and this happens in under one second.  Design matters, a lot.

Great People

All of this online marketing information was great to learn, be reminded of and take in, but as usual it was the people I sat by, talked with and met that made the day great.  From connecting with new peers in the industry to catching up with old friends to meeting new prospects, it’s better with solid people.

Hopefully you followed my tweets from the day as I shared many tips and pieces of information along with some occasional humor.

If you attended #OMSmin, let me know your thoughts on the day.

This year’s edition surveyed 33 local search experts including myself and focused on both the Blended Place results and the Pure Place results ranking factors.

The changes in local search ranking factors this year have greatly increased the value a quality website brings to the mix.  In years past, almost all of your local ranking was determined by factors outside of your website, not anymore.

Overall Top 10 Local Ranking Factors To Focus On

1.    Physical Address in City of Search
2.    Manually Owner-verified Place Page (check your verification)
3.    Proper Category Associations
4.    Volume of Traditional Structured Citations (IYPs, Data Aggregators)
5.    Crawlable Address Matching Place Page Address
6.    PageRank / Authority of Website Homepage / Highest Ranked Page
7.    Quality of Inbound Links to Website
8.    Crawlable Phone Number Matching Place Page Phone Number
9.    Local Area Code on Place Page
10.   City, State in Places Landing Page Title

The report dives further into the needs of both pure and blended results as well as factors to avoid (negative practices to avoid).  This years edition also has an addendum that explores why Google displays a Pure or Blended results page.

Reading this year’s edition as well as past editions will greatly help your local search understanding.  While there are clear numerical breakdowns of the factors at work, expert comments on each topic provide extremely valuable insight for anyone.

You can read David’s summary of the 2011 report as well as follow him on Twitter via @DavidMihm.

Some of the information was reinforcement of paid search campaign best practices, but Brad also discussed a few detailed strategies, as well as overarching commonalities of the best run Google AdWords search campaigns worldwide.

Here are five of my key takeaways from the day:

1. Apply the same principles for evaluating any ad campaign to evaluating online ad campaigns.  Setting specific goals for each online campaign is essential to evaluating it’s success.

2. Consider the lifetime value of a customer when determining your cost-per-acquisition goals.

3. Conversion rates for ads in the top three positions are NOT significantly better than other first page positions.

4. Scheduling is underutilized as a way to maximize return on investment.  When are your customers shopping?  When are they buying?  What time of month are they buying?  What time of week are they buying?  What time of day are they buying?

5. Test, test, and test again.  Test your ads.  Test your landing pages.  Test your ecommerce funnels.  Test.

My overall takeaway is that there is no limit to the amount of time that can be spent tweaking Google AdWords campaigns to move closer to your goals or improving your margins, though at some point it becomes an issue of diminishing returns.  However, if you or your agency has reached its goals, consider updating them.

It’s a matter of leading or falling behind.

Google’s AdWords Certified Partner status recognizes our search expertise and knowledge of best practices and the latest tools to effectively manage search campaigns.

Spyder Trap’s search marketing services include paid search, search engine optimization (SEO) and search marketing analytics.

This partnership and certification includes exclusive benefits that we’ll be able to share with our clients.

The Google AdWords Certified Partnership represents just a part Spyder Trap’s ongoing mission to learn, innovate, and lead in the ever-changing world of search engine marketing and online marketing.

It’s usually after this create and launch process that companies then start trying to answer the questions “How do we get more targeted traffic?” “Where are the leads from our website?” and “How do we appear higher in Google and Bing’s search results?”.

Many companies turn to search engine optimization and marketing as an afterthought or a phase two of their online improvement and that’s a mistake.

Search From The Start

At Spyder Trap, we’ve found that putting search last is often the wrong approach to a successful website. In almost every web design project we take on, developing traffic, interaction and leads or sales from Google or Bing is a must.

To make that happen, we deeply integrate search engine optimization, analysis and research into the project from the start.

Research To Make Informed Decisions

Looking at search upfront and during the design and development phases plays a big part in understanding many valuable pieces that factor into your website’s success. Performing keyword research, competitive research and other search analysis provides data, information and insight that you need to make big decisions.

Here are 10 benefits to having search integrated at the start of your web design process:

• Gauge the interest in your service or product offering
• Define your keyword targets
• Insight into the type of content you should cover, what is valuable to a user
• Insight into needed website features like e-commerce, blogs, forms, etc.
• Insight into information architecture (navigation, sections and pages)
• Design and usability, especially call to action features
• Creating user goals and conversions/engagement to build around
• Ensure needed technical and SEO friendly code practices are met
• Ensure proper content management systems are used (search friendly ones!)
• Understanding who you are competing with in search results for traffic

Search, design and development all excel when the three work together in the planning and production phases. Building a website and then setting out to optimize it for search can cause rework in both the design and the development of the site.

Nobody wants to take steps backwards in time and budget when they can be easily avoided.

When the opportunity arises to design or redesign your website, make sure you give search it’s fair shake in the project upfront. Without it, you’re missing a key ingredient in your long term online success.