Staying on track with marketing trends

When I was reading a blog post today on a site I visit regularly, one sentence really stood out:

“I believe that the hardest part of SEO is simply keeping up with the trends. “

Boy, you can say that again!

Marketing has changed by leaps and bounds since my first little job marketing paperback books to rural libraries. Email marketing, SEO, SEM, social media -- the tools are definitely bigger and better today. The challenge is using them effectively.

Earning my Master Certificate in Internet Marketing from the University of San Francisco has kept me up to speed on SEO changes. The newest information I can find about title tags, URLs and external links reflects changes I’m trying to bring to the site I work on at my job.

Now I just need to stay on top of all the other marketing pieces floating around in the online universe, such as mastering Twitter, building a personal brand, networking and keeping my technical skills up to speed – just to name a few. My blog is one element of those efforts. By posting here more regularly and sharing what I’m doing to keep up with online marketing, I hope I’ll start to hear from others who are tackling these challenges too. Maybe we can give each other a tip or two!

Networking is next on my list. I’ve joined the Social Media Club KC, where I hope to not only meet some local social media geeks but also learn how they’re using social media in their personal and professional lives. I work alone on my in-house web site and online marketing efforts, so it will be great to hear what’s working (or not) for others in my field.

Keeping up with the trends is hard. But not impossible. Here’s to keeping those career development balls in the air in 2010 and maybe even adding a few more to the mix.