Three web predictions for 2013

If you’ve been following along with my column this year, thank you, and I predict you’ll be in for a few victories in 2013. I want to finish with three predictions for you next year.

1. Your business blog will get some real traction

If you’ve made the commitment to blog and are still waiting to see ‘results’, hang in there because I feel 2013 will be the breakthrough for you.

Darren Rowse, aka ProBlogger, says that the biggest hurdles in blogging are the three month mark and the one year mark. When you get through these, you’ll see big improvements.

Seeking comments on your blog is a great way for it to gather momentum. One great piece of advice I received from my South African friend David Graham is to reach out to your friends in the industry to leave comment on your blog. This accelerates the traction on your blog and gets more people sharing it!

2. You’ll hire someone you first connected with on social media

As your start-up grows you’ll be looking to recruit people to join your team. My bet is that you’ll end up hiring someone you already know through Twitter or LinkedIn.

Making the right hiring decisions is one of the most important factors in a business and if you already know people through social networks, it makes recruitment that much safer. For me, it sure beats shuffling through the resumes of complete strangers!

3. You’ll win your first client via your web strategy system

Since you’ve been publishing remarkable content and sharing it, you’ve been allowing people to discover you, like you and trust you. You’ll have been building a small army of fans, many of whom you won’t have met yet, but these are the people who will be ready to buy from you in 2013.

And since you’ve been involved in online communities, you’ll have connected with a whole bunch of people who will no doubt become advocates, clients or both!

Congratulations

Well done on your web successes this year and thanks for sharing some of these with me. I look forward to hearing more about your personal web strategy victories, so please feel free to email me on adam.franklin@bluewiremedia.com.au.

My new year’s resolutions

As for me, I plan to release more free tools that I hope you find useful, write a book based on what I’ve learnt over the last eight years in business and on the web, and I also hope to start a podcast. Thanks in advance for holding me accountable to these goals!

Merry Christmas!

If you’re looking for a light read over the Christmas break, check out my free Web Strategy Secrets eBook.

Finally, thank you for reading my StartupSmart column this year. I truly appreciate your support, emails, comments, tweets and connections. Have a Merry Christmas and see you back here in 2013!