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Online marketing is no longer an uncertain proposition just for early adopter risk-taker types. It’s become mainstream. 2006 was the year of growing adoption of online marketing for every sized company and industry. The question is no longer, “should we delve into search marketing?” The proposition is now, “How much of our budgets should we spend? Should we outsource or allocate in-house resources to: SEO, paid search, email, viral marketing, video, blogging…” and so on.

So with majority adoption of search and well-known online ad formats, what strategy should you take for increasing revenue in the year ahead? Should you delve into the newer formats (video, consumer generated content, social media) or stick with what you know?

1st, refine your existing online advertising programs. Most companies are now at least somewhat comfortable with some form of email and search advertising. Now is the time to take a look at what you are spending time and money on and determine your real return.

In this article, we’ll focus on one refinement technique for the most universally utilized online marketing tool: paid and natural search.

2nd, explore newer online ad territories – carefully. It seems that technology advances faster than widespread business adoption with the newer and less documented formats. Smaller companies find it difficult to compete with the mega-production long-format video ads and user-generated content campaigns of the biggest and brightest brands. But don’t let the opportunity pass you by to get involved. Newer outlets include online video, social media, consumer-generated content, and online virtual reality worlds like Second Life.

A primer on where to begin your exploration is below.

Search, refined:
If you’ve finally got natural search engine optimization outsourced and you think that your company is positioned well with your paid campaigns for your most popular keywords, try looking at the “long tail” of search: the less frequent keywords that actually convert at a higher rate. These terms are nearly always worthwhile to optimize for – both naturally and in paid campaigns. Too much focus is often put on the keywords that selector tools and web statistics say are the most common and boast the greatest numbers. But while they get traffic to your site, do they convert quickly? If broad-spectrum words are used that reflect early-stage research in the buying cycle, users will glean what they need at that moment in time from your site and then move on to a competitor or review site to add to their knowledge u base.

For instance, a top search term at OneCall, an online electronics store, is “61 hdtv.” That’s a general keyphrase, used at the beginning of a searcher’s quest for a product. The long tail phrases that reflect a late stage point in the buying decision would be the more refined, “sony 70 SXRD rear projection tv.” Capturing more visitors that used specific search terms to land at your site is where the faster money is.

So whether you sell products or services, available online or locally, refine your strategy for capturing the more precise, late-stage phrases that your audience uses. To accomplish this, you’ll need to compile data from your website statistics, site search data (if available) and major search engine keyword selector tools.

Explore, a primer:
Develop a strategy to explore a new online ad outlet every quarter of 2007. To minimize your risk on these new initiatives, first set some realistic goals. Do you need better brand awareness? Want to distinguish your customer-centric local business from the big-box retailers? Is it better communication with your existing customers? Or do you want to entice prospects with your demonstration of technology adeptness?

This is where caution needs to be applied: don’t assume that an engaging video ad, for instance, automatically results in enough sales to recover the development and exposure costs. That video ad might be more of a long-term, branding asset than an immediate sales boost. Over time, as people see and share your visual experiment, you’ll have a better chance at engagement. They’ll learn something about your company before they arrive at your site, and more exposure generally means better brand recall. Accompanying it, search campaigns should reflect the promotion, tone and keywords featured in your rich media ads.

After you decide on a test format to explore, set aside a small but appropriate budget. Since this is an exploratory enterprise, put forth little investment or brand backlash potential. Initially, steer clear of user-generated content opportunities that could overexpose your brand or allow uncensored reviews before you’re ready to deal with the potential for criticism in a positive and proactive way.

2007 is the year for revving up profits by refining your existing online marketing initiatives and then exploring newer models for promoting your brand and engaging your customers. Stay tuned for more actionable ideas in the months to come.