As the year 2010 is in full swing, it’s hard to believe how things have changed in recent years.  Internet marketing tools and strategies have come along way since 1995. Back then, the idea of just building a Web site was a fairly exotic concept. Google had yet to be founded and  Facebook was something that was printed by upperclassmen and delivered in hard copy to students on campus.

While all of this certainly makes us feel a bit nostalgic, we’re also thinking ahead…and trying to help others do the same.  At the risk of sounding self-serving (at least we admit it), here are a few things that we think Internet marketers should strongly consider this year:

1.  Increase Links to Your Site – This is not always an easy task, but one that’s very important in Google’s eyes.  Do your best to increase the number of quality links (structured the right way from the right sites) coming to your site.

2.  Incorporate your Twitter Feed Into Your Site – If you’ve leaped into the social media realm, go ahead and display your tweets somewhere within your site.  It will help your site to stay red_right_arrow_100fresh and build Twitter followers.  We did it on our page here…take a look to your right.

3.  Do Some Keyword Research – All of your search engine efforts won’t get you anywhere if you’re targeting the wrong words to begin with.  Consider performing historical (think the past 90 days) keyword research to find out what phrases your customers are actually using.  Just going with your hunch can send you pretty far down the wrong path.

4.  Configure Performance Goals in Google Analytics – Most have Google Analytics installed, but few have taken the time to configure behavioural goals and monitor site performance.  This can be a silver bullet for some sites.  Time invested in truly configuring this product can we time well spent.

5.  Use bit.ly to Monitor Link Performance – Many of us are in the good habit of creating and publicizing shortened links for others to consume.  Take a moment to create a bit.ly account in order to monitor the performance of these links and learn what content and headlines are generating interest and activity.

6.  Develop and Utilize Your Email Messaging Capability – This would have made the list in 1995 but still remains untapped.  People are attached to their email–literally.  But this connection remains untapped by marketers.  Start developing that connection.  What’s the catch?  You have to make the messaging about them — not you.  Sadly, that’s not the nature of most email strategies.

7.  Create a Social Media Policy – Simply ignoring Twitter and Facebook and dismissing them as ‘time wasters’ no longer flies.  In fact, it hasn’t flown for a while.  Intel has a good policy to look at as a blueprint.  Remember, social communication is going to happen with or without you.  If you don’t formalize your stance, you may be missing important opportunities and asking for trouble.

8.  Explore the App Economy for Opportunity – BusinessWeek recently published a cover story on the App Economy, the exploding area of iPhone, Blackberry, and Facebook applications.  Like any gold rush, there is a frenzy to create the next big thing.  For many companies, though, there are real and practical opportunities.  Take some time to consider whether having an app would represent real opportunity for your business or organization.

9.  Create a Wiki To Foster Collaboration – Wikis have been around for some time (i.e. Wikipedia), but many traditional companies have begun to embrace the opportunities.  While the name is funny, the opportunities for communication and collaboration are serious.  To learn more, explore O’Reilly Media’s description as a starting point.

warren-buffet-3 10.  Invest in Yourself – Warren Buffett has said that the best investment we can make is in ourselves.  Consider resolving to regularly reading and learning more about the Internet marketing realm.  Good Web sites to consider reading regularly are Seth Godin’s Blog, ReadWriteWeb, and Mashable.