Guest Post by Charles Dearing

If there's one thing business is about, it's about learning to adapt to changes in the marketplace and evolve.

This is nothing new; for a long time before online business was invented, companies have had to adapt to new technology and marketing methods in order to stay in business.

A technique that worked well one year suddenly doesn't work well the next, and a strategy that made you money one year might become saturated with competitors within a few years.

What can you expect to happen in 2012 and 2013 as far as online business? Here are a few changes to keep an eye on...

1. Proximity and Smartphone Marketing

Mobile marketing has already taken off. Companies communicate with consumers by getting them to scan coupons on a smartphone. This spells big opportunities for those working with local businesses, if you're flexible and creative. Help them set up promotional campaigns with QR codes, “text this number to get a coupon” deals, and loyalty applications that track purchases made when they're in stores. You can even get on board with proximity marketing before it becomes hugely popular by helping stores reach out to people who want to receive ads from nearby businesses.

2. Reliance on Outsourcers and Freelancers

Companies who are still struggling from the economic downturn are willing to listen when you offer them services and they don't have to pay your pension plan or provide benefits. Independent business owners can easily clean up in areas like IT outsourcing, marketing and communications, and just about any freelance service.

If you're willing to travel to their office once or twice to get to know them, so much the better, but some companies are starting to rely on video conferencing instead.

3. Social Media Marketing

Any online business that relates to online social marketing and social media will do well this year. Even staid businesses that resist change are recognizing the importance of social media in purchasing decisions, reputation management, and being seen as a thriving business. If you can manage social media, you're set. It's more than just appealing to customers, though; those with a knack for listening to what consumers want and communicating that in business terminology will succeed.

4. Changing Demographics

Keep an eye on population trends and changing social demographics. Social policy changes create hot business opportunities. For example, who would pay a small fee for a service that told them what the implications were for their healthcare and how to opt in or opt out in the face of upcoming US healthcare reforms?

What about services to help same-sex couples get married in a state where it has just been legalized? Baby boomers are starting to retire, and they're looking for active, engaging hobbies - such as working online for a little extra income. Can you provide online teaching catering specifically to them?

5. Gaming and “Gamification”

People who are bored at work and want to play Facebook games are looking for engaging social games that take full advantage of the platform's versatility. If you can design games, you're all set, but you can even promote others' games or help the game companies with just about any product or service they might need (web hosting, website design, communications, accounting, etc). Online business owners should be aware of this trend and its implications for marketing throughout 2013 and beyond.

These are just five trends that can provide fantastic opportunities for the entrepreneurial online business owner...

Think about your main business activities and focus; if you can take advantage of any of these trends, you might just end up being one of the “early adopters” who make great profits before the rest of the world figures it out!

Author Bio:

Guest post contributed by Charles Dearing, for WhoIsHostingThis.com - A review site and webmaster tool that enables you to discover which web hosting company any site is hosted with. See here for information on how to get a Host Clear Review.

Guest Post by Dan Norris

I spend a lot of time online, and I like to know whether my efforts are being rewarded.

In this article we'll look at 8 metrics I follow across my businesses to get an understanding of how well things are going.

1. Revenue

Revenue / Profit is always number one because of how important cash-flow is.

However it's sometimes not the best predictor of future success so I like to look at this month's invoicing vs last month's as well as long term trends.

But it's not the only thing I look at...

I use Xero for overall profit calculations but also look at individual sources like PayPal and Google Adsense to look at the revenue from different parts of my business.

2. Campaigns in Analytics

Campaigns in analytics are super powerful. If you are organized enough to use a tracking URL in your marketing efforts online it's a great way to measure specifically which campaigns are giving you the best conversions and return on your time or money investment. Some online services also automatically create campaigns for you, i.e. Feedburner, MailChimp etc.

3. Conversion Rates

For anything that isn't specifically tracked as a campaign you can still look at your conversion rates from different sources. If you have a goal set up (i.e. opt-ins, or sales etc) you can look at your conversions and then look at the sources to work out which referring sources are converting better than others.

This is better than just looking at the amount of traffic a source is providing because that doesn't provide necessarily information about how targeted the traffic is and how likely they are to become a customer.

4. Google Rank for Keywords

If you are like me you'll rely a little bit too heavily on Google's natural search traffic. I use rank tracking tools to see where I am ranking for various keywords and sometimes just use a new incognito window in Chrome for a quick check. Keeping an eye on this will notify you of issues well before they are noticed in your traffic.

5. Traffic

No internet marketer can get by without traffic so I'm constantly looking at my traffic, mainly total visits this month vs last month, number of visits to specific blog posts, who are my top referring sites etc.

If you run an affiliate program this can provide great info on who your top affiliates are. You may also use an external service for managing the performance of affiliates.

6. Newsletter List Size and Engagement

Newsletter opt-ins are an important part of my funnel in all of my online activities. I use MailChimp which provides some great info on monthly opt-ins, overall list size, number of unsubscribes (none hopefully) and opens and click throughs. Opt ins are useful to work out whether your site or other sources are being effective in encouraging people to opt in. The remaining stats are what I use to work out which email topics are working well and working out the frequency of my emails etc.

7. Server Uptime

Unfortunately I've found most hosts don't give you reliable information on when your server goes down or ongoing uptime percentage reports. But not much could be more important for the internet marketer. Servers going down is going to reduce opt-ins, reduce your amount of customers and your income so it goes without saying that you need to stay in top of this. Pingdom.com's free service is great for this which provides notifications and also reporting on an ongoing basis.

8. Social Media Metrics

I am pretty active in social media and use it to drive traffic and potential customers to my sites. I like to know how influential I am in my given markets and what kind of reach my posts are getting and what people think of them.

There are a few things I use for this including Klout (overall influence) Facebook insights, just checking out the interactions on Twitter and I also like to keep an eye on the comments and trackbacks on my blog.

What did I miss?

I know there are more things to look at and there are a few that I use that didn't make my top eight list here. What are yours? Did I miss any?

About the Author:

Dan Norris is the founder of Web Control Room a free tool that enables internet marketers to understand their data and make better decisions. By talking to the sources you love (MailChimp, Xero, Analytics, PayPal etc) it provides a scannable one page chart showing what is going well and what isn't.