How the Internet of Things will Impact Digital Marketing

Right now, it’s probably pretty safe to say that the Internet of things really isn’t having an enormous impact on your life. You’ve read about it, you’ve been aware of its existence for quite some time and you are continually told it will be the biggest revolution since the Internet itself. But at the same time, you don’t see a great deal of evidence of it actually happening.

But what makes this particular subject different than the usual chatter is one simple thing; it really is going to happen. The simple fact of the matter is that the reason the Internet of things hasn’t yet taken over is the way in which the consumer public in general doesn’t seem quite convinced for the time being. But they will – you only need to look at the way technology has become a part of everyday life to know this is the case. It might be a while before the Internet of things becomes the new standard, but it absolutely will happen – sooner or later.

And when it does happen, there are going to be quite spectacular changes for those who work in digital marketing. In this instance for sure, it could indeed turn out to be the biggest thing to happen since the Internet itself came about.

So with this in mind, what follows is an outline of four ways the Internet of things will alter the world of the digital marketer once and for all:

1. Conversational Queries Take Over
First of all, we are slowly but surely entering an era where conversational queries are gaining ground on standard text search standards. Rather than simply using one or two obvious keywords, we are now telling computers exactly what we want, in order to get more accurate and targeted results. The simple fact of the matter is that if you have ever interacted with Siri or Cortana, you are well on your way to becoming dependent on conversational queries. Even if it seems a little clumsy and far from perfect for the time being, it really won’t be long before you forget that conventional search engines ever existed. Suffice to say, a pretty important development and transition from the perspective of the digital marketers.

2. SERPs Disappear

Given the fact that it is entirely possible traditional search may no longer exist in the future, this would effectively mean that SERPs would be wiped from the face of the Earth. Right now, millions of marketing professionals the world over are embroiled in the constant battle to hit the highest of high levels in SERP rankings. It’s an industry worth billions, but one that technically could soon be worth absolutely nothing at all. Well, that’s not true entirely, as rather than investing heavily in topping visible results rankings, it will instead be a case of focusing on how to top the invisible rankings behind the scenes.

3. Google May Be Forced to Share
Given the way in which approaches to search and web interactions are set to change so radically due to the Internet of things, there’s a very strong possibility that Google will face new competition. Of course, they have the power and indeed the buying power to snap up and capitalise on the kinds of opportunities few others can hold a candle to. But at the same time, the way we find videos, products, information and so on will be so radically different than it is now, that the Google we know today may be in at least some capacities obsolete.

4. Personalisation Will Be Everything

Last but not least, location services and cookies may have worked wonders for personalisation, but we really have only just seen the very tip of the iceberg. When the Internet of things takes over as the new standard in our lives, chances are everything we do on a 24/7 basis will be monitored, tracked and used for a variety of purposes – marketing included. Even the way we drive and our sleeping habits could potentially be transformed into the kind of data marketing teams will be crying out for.

Small Business Link Building – DIY Tactics to Try Today

While most small business owners understand the value of link building, the overwhelming majority do nothing about it. Even if they hire others to tackle the job on their behalf, they themselves tend to make no effort whatsoever to contribute to the cause. Which is a shame, given the way in which strong backlinks have a multi-pronged beneficial effect on the business they point to.

Of course, most business owners would argue that they a) do not have the time to get involved in link building and/or b) lack the expertise necessary. In reality however, there are various simple yet incredibly effective approaches to make a real difference starting right now.

So rather than just sitting back and wondering whether you could and should be doing more, here’s how to give yourlink building efforts a boost starting today:

1 – Why Not Ask?

First of all, chances are that whatever niche you’re in, there are literally thousands of businesses just like you that are gagging for good-quality links. As such, why not make the first move and simply ask them outright if they are interested in a link exchange? Worst case scenario, they say no and you try elsewhere. Best case scenario, you get seriously powerful and invaluable links free of charge. Send an e-mail, make a telephone call or even go visit them in person. There’s absolutely nothing to lose by trying and if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

2 - Complementary Products and Services

Take a moment to think about the products and services you sell. Now, take another moment to think about the kinds of products and services that complement what you yourself have to offer. You run a taxi service, how about a car wash or motor spares shop? You sell toys for kids, how about children’s clothing or kidder theme parks? Think not about your rivals, but those that offer something within the same niche that you and they alike could send business between. Once again, you need only pick up the phone and ask.

3 - Use Infographics

Never underestimate the power of infographics when it comes to link building. And for two very good reasons as well – the first of which being that research has shown that infographics are exponentially more likely to be read, shared and to generate links than most other types of content. Not only this, but you can create (or have created) one outstanding infographic and have it published a thousand times over, without search engine spiders picking up so much a word of duplicate text. If you aren’t already working with infographics, it’s high time you started.

4 – Contests and Competitions
Last up, there’s one very slightly sneaky approach to link building and traffic-generating that’s more than worth exploring. In a nutshell, you run some sort of competition on your website, but instead of creating a competition page, you add the info to an existing product page or even your home page. You list your contest in competition directories, you ask as many sources as you like to feature it and in doing so, you get a ton of high quality backlinks to the permanent pages of your website. And just as long as you make sure that the competition itself is legit and relevant, you aren’t breaking so much as a single rule of any kind!