We’ve seen some interesting new trends when it comes to online marketing and the changes that are expected to happen in 2012. Online business model changes, rise in social media advertising, online television, as well as mobile marketing are all things that are expected to take place in 2012. But there are a few other things that are expected to be more important this year. Mainly when it comes to promoting your website through natural search results on Google. Here are some of them:

• Content and Site Design Will Matter More

Google has recently made some changes to their algorithm which penalizes low quality websites that are built for the sole purpose of attracting clicks on search engines. This increases the quality of search results overall, as searchers are now less likely to be directed to a website that has irrelevant content or is just a dumping ground for advertisements. Quality, relevant content will be necessary. As Google is now showing snippets of websites when a user hovers over the search results, having a site that is attractive to the user is also going to be a lot more important. Working on the design elements of your site is thus recommended.

• Google + Will Matter More For SEO

While there is some debate as to whether Google + will ever have any relevance as a personal social network and few people now expect it to be a serious rival to Facebook, it looks like Google + will matter to business users a lot more. This is because Google + results will also be indexed in search engine results and will be given a high degree of relevance, just like YouTube videos are shown in search results. Whether or not you believe Google + will be important in your online marketing strategy overall, it would be a very good idea to have an account on the network.

• Rating, Review and Consumer Opinion Sites Will Become Very Important

While these sites have existed for more than 15 years now, review websites are going to get more relevance in search results. Already, we can see results for comments left about a certain business appearing near the top of search results when that business name is searched for on Google. For business owners, this means two things. First, offering a quality product or service, which will avoid consumers complaining about them on these sites. Second, monitoring search results for their business name, associated keywords as well as entries regarding them on review and opinion websites. Many of these sites give the chance for business owners to respond to any comments, both positive and negative. This will give potential customers that are checking out your business a good feeling that you care about their opinions and that you want to help them resolve any issues that they may have. This applies to any business that targets the consumer market, whether online or offline. Review websites for Business to Business companies, while not as popular, still exist and should be paid attention to as well if this is the line of business in which you operate in.

It is no secret that video marketing is an excellent way to bring in visitors to your website, and simply to promote your business on the internet. However, just like any other kinds of marketing activities, video marketing needs to be done well in order to bring you good results. While many online “gurus” claim that YouTube can bring you instant success, the reality of things is a bit more subdued. Yes, video sites such as YouTube are an excellent marketing platform, but they are not magical solutions where you can expect to get thousands of visitors to your website just because you have uploaded one video. Here are some quick tips that will help you get the most out of the time, money and effort that you spend on creating videos. You will see that by applying them, the returns that you get from your YouTube videos will probably increase.

And remember one thing, while many experts mention “YouTube” all the time because it is the most popular video sharing site, these tips will work on any other video sharing site that you can use as well.

• Keep current about recent news developments related to your industry

When something new comes out, or people hear about something that they are interested in happening, they increasingly turn to YouTube to watch some information about the issue. It is thus important that you upload a video as soon as something interesting happens in your niche. For example, if you sell mobile phones, this could be the release of a new model of the iPhone or BlackBerry.

• Give practical information (how to videos)

In addition to finding out about recent happenings, people use YouTube for video guides on how to accomplish something. If possible, provide some interesting content which tells the viewer how to do something that is related to your niche and don’t forget to include a link to your site for them to find more information and related products and services.

• Integrate your social media efforts

This simply means that you can include a link to your Twitter or Facebook profiles in your videos or in the video description. The more people you have that follow you on social networks, the more effective your efforts will be and using video sharing sites to gain more followers is definitely a great idea.

• Give something for free or another type of special offer

People always like to feel special and to have something given to them for free. The possibilities are endless with video marketing. For example, if you promote IM related products on your site, you could offer a free report on how to make money online and include a link to it in the video description.

If you don’t have anything to give away, why not instead give a special discount for viewers of your video who click on your link and proceed to your website? It is much more effective than simply linking to your site with no special offer for your viewers.

A lot of companies have made blogs a strong part of their online marketing strategy, but not everyone knows exactly how to use their blog in an effective way. If you’re thinking about using a blog to help promote your product, service, or website, there are a few important things to keep in mind before diving in.

One of the most important things a blog can do for you is give your company a personality. By posting interesting stories relating to your product, and how customers are using it, you can shape how people view your product. For example, if your company sells blenders, it might be fun for your visitors to see youtube videos showing how to make the perfect smoothie, or maybe even recipes for the perfect margarita. By doing this, you’re associating your company with that awesome new smoothie recipe in the customer’s mind, thus impacting how they view you, and your product.You have now given your company a friendly personality by sharing something useful with the customer.

A blog can also help you to make all of the details about your product or service more consumable for the reader. A blog post showing someone using the product can get the idea across way better than a lengthy step by step set of instructions. When consumers are forced to sift through pages upon pages of dry reading material to learn what they need to know about your product or service, they will often lose interest, and try to find what they’re looking for elsewhere. By presenting information about your product or service in a short, easy to read blog post detailing how someone else is using your product or service, consumers suddenly begin to see that information as useful, and understandable, rather than overwhelming, and frustrating.

This one’s going to seem a little odd, but bear with me. You should avoid making blog posts strictly related to your product. Be sure to talk about things related to your niche, but not directly related to your company. If your blog feels like nothing more than an ad for your company, web savvy visitors will likely pass it by without a second glance. If you’re providing quality information they want to see, they’ll stick around and read a few other posts, some of which will be about your product.

Keep your blog friendly, and informative, and you’ll see the benefits. Your visitors will find your company more approachable, and customer friendly, and that in turn, will lead to sales.

Youtube has recently stated that they now receive 1 billion views aday from people all around the world watching videos.  Since they are now owned by Google they are offering a partnership program called Google adsense that allows you to make money from advertising from viewers watching your videos.

If you have a youtube account that has 1000′s of viewers youtube will invite you to join their Google adsense partnership program that will allow you to place Google adverts on the right hand side of your videos and also text ads at the bottom of your videos.  If a viewer clicks on those adverts you instantly earn a commission.  You can earn anything upto $5 a click depending on what the adverts are.

To get started you will first need to setup a youtube account and start making and uploading videos regulary then once you have a certain amount of viewers watching your videos (around 100,000), Youtube will then invite you via email to join their partnership program.  They will ask you to join Google adsense and then adverts will automatically appear on your videos and on your youtube channel.

If you also have a website or a blog it is a very good idea to place your website url in the description as this is a great way to drive traffic to your website and also helps with SEO for your search engine rankings.

The best way to get loads of views and star ratings on your youtube videos is to get as much traffic to your channel as possible.  Some ways to do that are:

1.) Embed your youtube videos into blogs, forums, as many websites related to your video audience as possible

2.) Submit your videos to social networking sites – twitter, digg, facebook, myspace, bebo, etc..

3.) Email all your friends and family to view and rate your video