The overall economy is expected to grow just 2 percent. The times may be dire in 2012, but you can be sure that internet marketing has still much potential to reach. In order to keep your online business afloat, there are some ways you could keep your online business going.

1. Set Goals

Start your year by setting goals for your internet marketing regardless whether you are getting started or already in the midst of your business. If you do not have a goal, you will not be sure of your direction and what you are doing to achieve. Take that goal and live and breathe it. Set steps to reaching these goals.

2. Promote your service/products

If you are starting out in internet marketing, launch that product or service that will solve a problem. Businesses are created to solving problems. Google provides real data on the number of searches for product or service on a monthly basis and this will be a good guide to check whether the product or service that you are going to launch popular.

If business owners have an existing online business, upgrade or incorporate more interactive websites eg social media, blogging and real-time updated approach. You will have to try to get your articles and information into as many prospects hands as possible. It is important to get your tailored marketing campaigns to reach prospects at the right time with the right message. As internet marketing is a fast moving industry, always look out for new tools that will help business owners better analyse their customer behaviour.

3. Focus on Marketing

Marketing is the key to your online business. Many business owners focus on the wrong things or do things the old ways, your business will increase in tiny steps or continue spluttering along. Internet marketing is a fast moving industry. Business owners should be able to able use effective marketing strategies.

Mobile marketing is an example of the fastest increase that you will see in 2012’s digital marketing landscape. As more people are using mobile devices to access the internet more than ever before, it is expected to grow at astonishing rates over the next few years. You will not be tapping on potential customers if you are not planning to use mobile marketing. There are a lot of new and exciting marketing strategies formulated every day in an attempt to penetrate into the mobile marketing. In January 2011, there were statistics that show that out of 600 million Facebook users, 1/3 of them were accessing their Facebook accounts using mobile devices. That amount to 200 million users. These figures indicate the impact mobile marketing will have on your sales, profits and ROI in your online business.

Video marketing is also on the rise and should keep growing through 2012. Picture speaks louder than words. Marketers are starting to comprehend that people would rather watch an entertaining video than reading an e-book in PDF file or a plain textbook. People attention span is short. They want to get information fast and in an entertaining manner. "How-to" instructional videos are ideal for people searching to find immediate solutions. These videos are the best way to show that you are knowledgeable in your niche, and that show you as an authority and expert.

Hone your search engine submission process so that you can get the best exposure possible. You may explore search engine marketing, wherein you pay to have a text ad appear when visitors search for certain keywords.

Spend most of your time on marketing and being where your customers are. Monitor and evaluate every marketing channel and give it a dollar per value to compare effectively. Tweak and improve every marketing collateral and refresh it every 2-3 months.