In the world of B2B marketing, the fourth quarter is like a wind-up toy slowly coming to a halt. The third quarter is when marketers are busy, priming the sales pipeline. If the deal’s not done by Thanksgiving, it’s probably not happening…unless your client suddenly needs to empty out their 2011 budget. There’s plenty of discussion about 2012 budgets in Q4, but it’s a rare company that can commit to start spending in January.

So, it was a pleasant surprise this past week to be super busy working on proposals and projects. I think some consistently positive economic news has generated a little confidence in the executive ranks, emboldening marketing folks to get going. Clients are now talking about branding and complete site redesigns, not just tweaks. That’s what we like to hear!

We always kick off the new year by looking at year-over-year stats for our clients, using Google Analytics to provide visual reinforcement for the gains of the past year. We’re really enjoying some of the bells and whistles in the new GA interface…one of the best is persistent dates and comparisons, which made these YOY comparisons a snap. (Googlers, please get busy on restoring email and PDF exports…our clients rely on getting these!)

Some of the new energy in the search marketing world is coming from Google+ and the emphasis on social search in their current direction. This should not have a significant impact on B2B marketers at present, but it’s a trend to watch. By all means, set up a Google+ page for your business, and learn about Circles, which is the clever organizational tool they’re using to help you filter your communications. Social marketing, whether it’s PR or your blog or now Google+, is creating links for your site in the biosphere of relationships and interconnectedness…your site needs to be an active part of the community
of your industry.

The continuing tweaks Google is making to the Panda release of their indexing shows more emphasis on freshness, on a positive user experience (especially page load times and engagement), and on quality. Sites with lots of ads at the top of the page are seeing their rankings go down. After all, a site visitor wants to see your content, not a bunch of AdWords ads. It’s always good when Google reinforces the message of quality…we’ve always been about quality content and thoughtful site architecture, so our clients’ rankings remain remarkably consistent, through change after change in the mighty Google algorithm.

The start of the year is a good time to revisit your web strategy. Have you opened up your site to mobile users? Are you migrating from Flash to HTML5, to the benefit of all those visitors using iPads or iPhones? How are you doing with your rankings? Are you missing opportunities because you’ve been complacent about reaching all the people searching? A fresh analysis of the Total Available Search Marketâ„¢ right now can open up new possibilities for growth…and drive a brilliant 2012.

John Rasco

I’m always happy to get past the interminable drudgery of “best of” articles at year-end, but with Dave Barry’s ever-ready wit to balance the painful process of a month-by-month goodbye to 2011, this is a refreshing sendoff.

In an election year, I’m sorry to have to point out that the next version of this article is 12 long months away, leaving us only a few interim bright spots to enjoy: the Darwin awards, international Talk Like a Pirate day, and maybe your birthday. Oh, and don’t forget your anniversary!

Well, there’s also all the small victories of successful search marketing programs…and resurrecting the blog begins the process of improving our website’s relevance and boosting our own rankings. Marketers everywhere should resolve to add content as often as possible, as a simple, low cost way to stay in front of the “voters” who assist your financial race to the top.

RefreshWeb wishes you all a wonderful 2012.