If there’s one thing you can expect from this time of year (besides plenty of New Year’s resolutions broken by January 17), it’s predictions about the year to come. People love to make them, and people are often either kind of right or absolutely, totally wrong.
When it comes to your website, your business and your digital marketing efforts, there’s a lot of predictions flying around online.
Here’s some of the predictions we’re hearing about that matter to you. Whether or not they’re right or not we’ll know come December 2014 — but consider these at least a hint of trends you need to stay on top of (or understand better).
Forbes (sharing information from Ora Interactive) says that responsive web design has “become the bare minimum starting point, to optimize for multiple mobile devices.”
eMarketer says that mobile will move to the “center of the multiplatform landscape.” This is due, they say, to the momentum in daily time spent on mobile devices compared to the plateauing use of desktops.
The Next Web says there will be a heavier focus on mobile, as “developers are taking it a step further to help along with the fact that so many more devices are accessing the Web, and so many more users are using their phones to browse the Web.”
With more than 1 billion smartphones expected to sold worldwide in 2014, according to Credit Suisse (and reported by CBS), mobile will be a dominant landscape over the next year.
We’ve really heard this almost every year for the past five or six years, but the trend seems to be pointing to the expanded landscape and the new (and popular) players hitting the scene.
Social Media Today says that Instagram will be the King of Social Media in 2014, as social media becomes more visual, sponsored posts become normal and the importance of storytelling grows for brands and businesses looking to connect with their customers.
Forbes has three big social media trends: using images and short video as viral content, Google+ Authorship for expertise and authority, and serving all mobile platforms.
Mashable (sharing information from PR Daily) points to the opportunities in taking advantage of major media moments – like Oreo’s viral tweet during the Super Bowl Blackout – to publish timely content and add to the conversation.
The Next Web really knocks it out of the park here, so click over and read their whole article for all the details — but here’s some of their predictions for web design trends in 2014:
What will 2014 be the year of for your business and online presence? There’s plenty to do — but like we’ve said before, do it right before you do it all.
Ready to make 2014 a great year? Let’s have a chat and see how we can make it your best yet.