As the years fly by the search marketing industry continues to evolve and grow at a rapid pace. While it can be a challenge to keep up with everything, here at Anvil we like to not only know what’s going on here and now, but project ahead about what we think the next big things will be. Below we provided our general thoughts on the way things are trending and also threw in some more out of the box predictions on where things are headed. Check out our predictions for 2011 and see if you agree with where we think things are going.

Pay-Per-Click

The holiday rush is over and the dust has settled – now is the time to start thinking about looking back at the blur to get ready for the 2011 season – the holidays seem to come earlier and earlier each year don’t they? Here at Anvil we see the Holiday season only getting bigger in the world of PPC in 2011. Starting to plan in June isn’t going to seem so crazy this year – besides you don’t want to be like that sad parent searching for the hottest toy on Christmas Eve do you? Along with the holidays being a major focal point of 2011, we think display and Google ad extensions are both going to be prominent features this year. Expanding your campaigns into display will increase your reach, so why not test it out? – but make sure you use CPC rather than CPM. Google is constantly evolving and ad extensions are only getting more and more advanced. Taking advantage of the extensions that are key to your industry will be crucial this year.

What we think will rock the boat:

• You’ll be able to serve ads and offers to users based on where they are physically located
  • Mobile searches will be become location based targeted (if you’re standing by a Target – you’ll see a Target ad).
  • Users will be able to point their phone at a store and get served ads/coupons from the store.

Website Conversions

When it comes to increasing conversions in 2011 your landing pages are going to be important. Utilizing A/B testing and more complex multi-variant testing will be essential – it’s important to never think they are good enough. Utilizing third party tools like Usertesting.com to examine how users interact with your site and shopping cart will help you to decide where you need to make improvements and reduce barriers to getting website conversions. Lastly, factoring in your competition when examining your conversion rate will also help increase conversions – after all if your prices don’t compete with others then customers are most likely going to go elsewhere – no matter how good your ad or website is.

What we think will rock the boat:

• Videos will convert more than ever before
  • Having videos that focus on unique selling points of a product and show a consumer the difference rather than just tell them the difference between your product and a competitor’s will drive conversions.

Social Media

Mobile location based apps are going to be the shining star in social media this year. With more and more people owning smartphones and tablets it is crucial to realize that consumers will be getting their information while on the go and advertisers should understand what the best ways are to reach potential customers on these devices. Just like in 2010, Twitter and Facebook are going to become even more powerful in the world of marketing. Having solid and optimized strategies for both these platforms will make all the difference in 2011 – optimizing tabs and ads as well as tracking sales from social media will no longer be an option this year – it’s a must.

What we think will rock the boat:

• Facebook places will actually take off and other LBS platforms will fight to stay contenders.
• Social media spend will take up more and more of the marketing budget and traditional advertising will tank unless it is utilized to send people online.

Local Search

Location, location, location – building on the momentum from 2010 local search is only going to become more powerful this year. Here at Anvil we see mobile continuing to dovetail with local with more apps being created and local search results giving you even faster access to a business – who doesn’t love being able to call a business with the click of a button? Google has admitted that local is big on their radar and we see Google Places developing even more this year. Claiming and optimizing your listing will be crucial if you want to be put front and center in consumers’ searches. Reviews on your Google Places listings and other listings like Yelp will have more and more of an impact this year. Monitoring as well as gaining positive reviews from customers will matter big time.

What we think will rock the boat:

• Reviews, reviews, reviews! A marketer’s job will be to get reviews and good ones – reviews are going to be the key driver in rankings and a bad review will hurt.
• Local search will become more social with more and more companies interacting with consumers through listings.

Search Engine Optimization

It’s become quite clear that all the naysayers who thought SEO was dead were wrong, so where is it headed next? This year structure data in the form of rich snippets will be big. Google already stated in 2010 that they are pulling this data in and will only continue to utilize it – so if your site isn’t capitalizing on this, it needs to. The link building diamond in the rough this year will be infographics. When done right they can bring in tens of thousands of links to your site and spread like wildfire through social media sharing. Not to mention a sweet graphic can make a seemingly boring topic intriguing.

What we think will rock the boat:

• Page authority will become more important than PageRank and more focus will be put on quality links rather than the quantity of links when it comes to link building.

The year is off to a fast start and new developments are coming daily. We’ll have to see in December if the Anvil team’s more out of the box predictions were on point – either way we’re excited for what’s to come.