The internet, or certainly the internet as we know it today, hasn’t been around for much longer than 10 years. Yet during this time we’ve seen huge changes. AltaVista and Yahoo first dominated online search, the dot com boom and subsequent disaster brought about the demise of companies such as Boo.com and Webvan.com, and subsequently Google has grown to dominate the internet, becoming the world’s most powerful brand with an estimated value of $86bn (£43bn).

But where is the online marketing industry heading? Where are the new opportunities and how can these opportunities be exploited?

• We all hear about overnight internet success stories. Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire at the age of 23. The YouTube founders went from zero to a company valued and purchased by Google for $1.65 within 18 months. But discounting these anomalies success takes time. It takes time to build a customer base, develop a reputation, and leverage that reputation.           
   
• The web is little more than a decade old. We may have seen the rise of Google, Facebook and YouTube but the opportunities are still endless. The user base of the internet is huge and growing all the time – small niches can and will become even more profitable.     
    
  
• Opportunities are endless. You can start blogging for free using platforms such as WordPress or Blogger. Your blog can be promoted for free through participating in online forums and developing a presence on social networking sites. When you have a large readership this influence can be leveraged to earn money or promote new business interests.       

• Whilst opportunities are endless quick ways to make money online are being eradicated. Duplicate content filters are improving, landing-page quality score is helping to prevent PPC arbitrage, Google is hand-editing search results and doesn’t want to index thin affiliate sites.     
    
  
• For most online businesses SEO is essential. Don’t neglect it in the startup phase. Business startup guides talk guerrilla marketing, generating press coverage, and PPC ads if you’re lucky. Almost without exception SEO is never mentioned. Yet if you don’t have visibility in search engines it’s like having a store located in a countryside retreat. People will visit you if you’re great, but if you’re not truly great you’re going to struggle.      
   
  
• Viral marketing is huge. Through distributing a simple voucher to staff Threshers created widespread media coverage and bumper sales on the lead-up to Christmas. Viral marketing is cost-effective, welcomed by recipients, and something that all businesses should be looking to harness.        

• Disruptive marketing is in decline. Television, radio and newspapers ads to a slightly lesser extent are all intrusive. The user experience would be better without them. We’re in a new age now, one where social networking is facilitating a new form of marketing, one where customers do the marketing for you.   
      
  
• Social networking is where the new opportunities in online marketing will emerge. The power will lie with those who have the network and reputation to spread ideas.       

• Google is changing. Since the start Google has been a links-based search engine. If you attract incoming links you will rank well. Google recognizes that this strategy is flawed in the long term – you only have to look at their assault on sites that buy or sell links. In the future behavioral data is going to be used much more heavily. The task for webmasters will shift from optimising for search engines to optimising for human users.      
   
  
• Google isn’t going to stop growing. That’s a fact. It’s valued at $86 billion and this will only grow. You have a choice to either develop a business model which adheres to what Google wants or try to break away from their stranglehold through developing sustainable business models.        

• Finally, it’s worth doing something you enjoy. No one ever became great through doing something they didn’t like or believe in. Work doesn’t have to be work – find something you enjoy, keep learning, and the results will follow.