The internet and all that appears on it is changing constantly. One of the most shocking examples of how far things have come in a very short time is the realisation that Google is little more than 20 years old. Mobile phones have only become a thing in the last 25 years and until very recently most of the world accessed the internet via dial-up.
It has all changed very quickly and it continues to change at pace. So, if you are in the digital space as a blogger or publisher as a social media expert or e-commerce, you need to focus hard to stay ahead of the game and to position yourself to win as the environment changes.
Here are a few of the latest trends that you need to embrace, or face being left behind.
1] Power of search
Most websites or digital properties are discovered via a search engine, so it is very important that if you haven’t been paying attention to the SEO of your site that you start looking at it seriously.
The director of an SEO agency in Melbourne confirmed recently that while the art of optimising for search has been around for a long time, that it is constantly changing and becoming more complicated.
It really is a place that needs expert guidance. It also needs the realisation that SEO is not about a few keywords or link placements, it is a full strategic integration that takes a lot of focus and effort to get right. But if you get it right the rewards are great.
2] Content is changing
The nature of content that people are consuming is changing rapidly. The days of words are slowly becoming fewer. The modern internet user enjoys a rich-media experience and they far more likely to interact with images, video, and voice than with only pages of words.
Podcasts and videocasts are on the rise and picture heavy sites are loved – the Daily Mail is a great example of this. Their traffic has risen exponentially since they adopted a far more image-intensive strategy.
3] Paywalls
The idea that quality content needs to be paid for is here to stay. The old business model of the internet being funded by advertising is slowly but surely being seen to be dead. The rates that are obtainable through internet advertising are simply too small to sustain publishers and they need to find new ways to generate income.
And so, the wheel has come full circle – where traditionally a newspaper was sold for a cover charge, that is now the route that digital publishers are going in order to ensure that they can continue to operate.
4] Artificial Intelligence
AI is everywhere and its influence is growing rapidly. Computer-generated reporting is now a thing. The stories that are served up into your news feeds are all generated using algorithms that are designed to feed you what they think you will like. Bots as customer service agents are on the rise. Artificial intelligence is here to stay.
