Google is slowly implementing “personalized search.” Bing has recently added a new “trusted search” feature. Facebook is setting up a foundation to enter into the search engine market as a completely new and unique entity. With all these new announcements and updates, only one thing is certain: the internet is changing – and it’s changing fast.

This change happens within all areas of technology. It’s a cycle that always repeats itself regardless of the medium.

With the internet, though, this cycle has occurred over the course of only ~15 years. For most technology mediums, it takes significantly longer. However, the cycle is the same no matter how long it takes to occur.

The Birth and Death of Marketing Trends

To illustrate this cycle, think back to the late ’90s. At this point, the internet was still a new development. Of course, it still IS a new development but things have changed so quickly that it no longer feels new. During this time period, a lot of people were making a lot of money online. It didn’t matter who your company was – as long as you could set up a website and sell a product on it, you were making money. Simple domain names were selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Month old web startups were selling for millions of dollars.

Of course, that didn’t last forever. Eventually, people got a hang of how the internet worked. At this point, a few major players began to emerge and they changed the internet completely. Google is first and foremost among these top dogs.

Once Google came along, internet marketing underwent a metamorphosis of sorts. Making money was no longer as easy as building a website and selling any old product. During this time, people made money by learning how to use search engines to their advantage.

The next development was Web 2.0, or, the “social web.” Now, instead of simply using Google to find information, people started using the internet to connect with their friends. It started with Myspace, but soon Facebook would come along and alter the face of social networking, forever.

Of course, you probably know the rest of the story. Here’s the important key, though: whenever a new “innovation” would come out, everything else that worked before was DEAD. This happened incredibly quickly then and it still does now. Pick up an internet marketing book from last year and all the information is virtually worthless now. You’ll never be able to make money on the web like you could in the late 90’s or during the search engine boom. Once the next innovation comes out, the ways we make money today will also be dead.

Remember, everything mentioned so far is on the internet. The internet itself encompasses all these aspects. The internet is not immune to this cycle. So what comes after the internet? No one knows for sure… all we know is something WILL come after the internet.

Change is happening right before our eyes and there is literally nothing we can do about it. So the question is this: are we going to sit around and watch change occur, or are we going to embrace change and allow it to help us earn more money?

With any change, the cycle begins all over again. Not everyone was able to get in on the late 90’s internet boom. That’s okay. Not everyone was able to get in on the gold rush either! Luckily for us, the internet cycle is much faster than the gold rush cycle. When the next invention comes out (and it will come out soon), those of us who are prepared for it will be in a prime position to take advantage of it.

Although we can never know what the future has in store for us, we can keep an open mind as we market our products and services. Use what works now, but be open to changing your strategy. We’re in a very volatile time period right now. The bad news is that this volatility will continue until the next big “boom” is over.

How to Stay Up-to-Date on the World of Internet Marketing

By now, you realize the world of internet marketing is always changing. The best thing you can do for yourself is to keep updated at all times.

If you’re looking for a way to stay updated on ALL new innovations with internet marketing, fill out the form below. We won’t send you spam (of course) – only the newest innovations within the world of internet marketing!

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