My Predictions For Small Business Websites in 2009

I wanted to share some of my predictions for 2009 for small business online marketing and specifically websites. I’ve been listening to other business owners, reading the technology blogs and studying the trends taking place in small business online marketing. Below are some of the biggest trends and thoughts regarding the future of small business online marketing.

1. Small business owners are already ahead of big corporations - The biggest trend is SOCIAL MEDIA and it's not going away any time soon.  In fact, it's just going to get bigger.  The good news is you are ahead of the game and big corporations.  Why?  Because as a small business owner, you are the brand, the personality, and the face of your social media strategy.  Corporations will have to find employees and others to be a part of social media where you can start right now.  If you haven't joined Twitter or Facebook yet, run now and get started.  But remember to put your picture in your profile.  Don't use your logo in place of your picture.  Don't try to act like a big corporation.  That's the biggest thing you have going for you is "you"; because, people don't want to work with big corporations, they want to work with people they have relationships with.
2. Small business websites will be more interactive - Enter forums, social networking, video, audio, integrated blogs, and much more. Small business owners are fed up with websites that just sit there and don’t actually bring in more clients. Websites will have integrated lead generation and ways to interact with their website visitors.
3. Video marketing will become bigger and more mainstream - With the addition of the flip camera, video is becoming more mainstream and easier to use. It’s also easier to upload video to your website with sites such as Youtube and other video sharing sites. More small business owners are turning to their webcam or flip video camera to get their message out to their potential clients. And as advertising is expensive, producing your own video becomes a great way to get out there in a big way.
4. Twitter will become more mainstream - With the recent twitter phishing scam and tweets being sent from a passenger on an airplane crash, it is a sign that Twitter is becoming just a little more mainstream. It’s not there yet and is still a very small community, but it’s getting bigger; which means more small business using this to effectively promote their websites, blogs, and businesses.
5. Facebook will continue to grow - Every one of my friends is on Facebook now! It is certainly now mainstream. They have integrated advertising similar to Google advertising and it continues to grow as a great place for business networking.
6. Economic downturn entices businesses into social media - You see a trend here right? More and more companies are saying “what the heck might as well try social media since I don’t have much of a marketing budget.”
7. Standard search engine optimization will become social media-savvy SEO- Even though there is a lot of hype about Facebook and Twitter a lot of consumers will not join these communities. But they will instead be spectators and will be served YouTube videos and blog posts via Google search. So combining a blog and other social media strategies with search engine optimization will be the best website traffic strategy.

So what do all of these technology predictions mean to you as a small business owner? Become a joiner of social media and show your personality rather than trying to look like a big corporation.