Simon Paul Thurston

 I have been involved in the world of online marketing and business for years now, and if there’s anything I’ve learned first and foremost it is this – when you just start to think that the internet has stagnated, it decides to change on you.

 The internet has always kept marketers busy trying to “guess” the next best thing.  In the late 1990’s we had those nifty ads that people agreed to view for money.  You signed up – and simply promised to keep the window open while you were browsing the internet, and based on the amount of time you kept the window open, you would receive payment.  It was seen as cutting edge marketing – putting money into the consumer’s pocket simply for viewing the ads.  I remember letting seven or eight windows run all at once so that I could accumulate every last cent.

 Creative – yes.  Successful?  Not quite.

The returns were nowhere near the investment required for the marketing.  By the time most users accumulated the necessary $20 to $50 in the account to qualify for a payment – the companies offering the advertising sign-up service fell through and closed up shop.  It was the end of an era.  However, it certainly wasnt’ the end.  Marketing and business on the internet has matured and grown along with the growing online population.  The dot-com bust was far from being a bust – more like a correction.  I will share with readers some of the latest online marketing trends.  The internet continues to grow, and a few rising markets are providing unique niche markets for the savvy entrepreneur…

Storage Hosting and Sharing of Mobile Media

According to a 2007 Pew Internet Project survey, over half of all adult Americans have used a mobile device to conduct non-voice data activities such as texting, emailing, taking a picture, looking for maps or directions, or recording video.

Of those who took part in the survey, 38% in 2002 stated it would be very difficult to give up their cell phone.  47% said it would be very difficult to give up their television, versus 38% who said it would be difficult to give up the internet.  Five years later, in 2007, the survey found that 51% would find it very hard to give up their cellphone, and for the first time ever, the internet (45%)  surpassed television (43%) in terms of which technology users find it harder to give up. 

When we examine how the mobile devices are being used the most, taking pictures is at the top of the list – 58% of users have taken a picture with their cell phone, and 15% do it almost every day, behind only text messaging at 31%. 

What this means to the entrepreneur is that a large majority of mobile phone users have a growing need for image hosting services to share these mobile phone pictures with family and friends.

Storage Hosting and Sharing of Video Data

A 2008 Pew Internet Research report indicated that the number of users of video sharing sites has nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007.  An amazing 48% of internet users said they had visited a video-sharing site such as YouTube.  A year earlier, in 2006, only 33% of users had ever visited such sites.  On an average day, 8% of users visited such sites on a daily basis, but in 2007, only a year later, 15% of users used these sites daily.

This represents a very rapid growth in the online video hosting and sharing niche within just the past year, and from all indications it appears that this niche has no sign of slowing any time soon.

Teen Social Networking Content

The cutting edge market trends are those from teens – more of whom are taking advantage of social web technologies to keep in touch and share information with eachother.  According to a 2008 Pew Research report, “content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.” According to this report 35% of all teen girls blog. [17] 

This rapid growth of the niche market of social networking encompasses all avenues of hosting, from video hosting, posted by twice as many teen boys as girls, to photos, where teen girls dominate by 54%.  Image hosting is huge among teens – nearly half (47%) have posted photos to the internet. 

As these teens mature and continue to take advantage of these social networking tools they’ve learned to use as teens, this niche market is only going to grow and mature along with them. 

Article Publishing/Information Hosting

Another important element of web content that is seeing a great deal of growth over the past few years include Information Hosting.   Google no longer focuses solely on keywords, but is now placing more ratings value on quality content and fresh, content updates.  Information hosting includes the services that store either “free content” or articles at some cost.  According to Pew Internet research – a 2007 report indicates that more people than ever are turning to the internet for answers to common everyday problems.  This represents a niche that is seeing some tremendous growth.

According to the report, 58% of internet users who had recently experienced one of 10 possible problems over the previous two years had used the internet to get help.  This number actually surpasses the number of people who turned to professionals such as doctors, lawyers and financial experts.  It surpasses television, radio and the public library by a margin of more than 30%. 

This means that a large market share of users are turning to articles, blogs and forums for information on how to solve problems in their lives.  In my opinion – creative entrepreneurs should be taking advantage of these unique, rapidly-growing niche markets – before its too late, and the opportunity is gone.