Internet marketing showed no signs of slowing down in 2016. With 2017, expect growth in the business to continue and for several trends to emerge.

As always with internet marketing, staying on top of trends proves at least half of the business. Sweeping technology advances continue to drive the business. You want to stay out in front of the waves of change, which tend to come quickly.

2017 Internet Marketing Trends

What follows represent some of the possible internet marketing trends that will emerge this year. Nothing here is new, but should increasingly become part of the internet market’s toolbox.

Augmented Reality

The wild success of Pokémon Go represents just the first in what should soon be a huge number of games that use augmented reality to enhance the gaming experience. To get some idea of the potential revenue, consider the fact Pokémon Go made $10 million in revenue every day during its peak in the summer of 2016.

Live Video Streaming

While certainly not new, live video streaming should continue to become a dominant form of marketing in the coming year. With the success of such platforms as Facebook’s live streaming, people continue to demand more “in the moment” video streams. Examples of live video streaming include NFL games on Twitter and the 2016 presidential debates. It’s only a matter of time before big brands find ways to leverage this technology to their advantage on a big scale.

Native Advertising

Nothing new here, either. However, consumers continue to avoid traditional advertising, both on the Internet and pretty much everywhere else. Native advertising involves placing advertising within the context of the web page. In another words, it looks like regular content. Sneaky? Perhaps. But consumers have shown they are more open to this less obtrusive way of advertising. It’s already used by big brands such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

Niche Marketing

This trend should continue to pick up speed. The consumer market continues to become more fragmented by interests, while more marketers continue to crowd onto the playing field. Finding ways to focus on niche groups will continue to provide solid marketing opportunities. That requires a lot of effort, particularly in knowing a topic thoroughly and providing content that is timely and relevant for consumers.

In Content, Every Line Matters

The attention span of consumers continues to get smaller and smaller. One study found that 59 percent of people will share an article on social media without every clicking on it to actually read the content.  That could be the one statistic internet marketers should think about every day. The term “dense content” has started to take hold. Essentially, it means making every line of content matter, including the headline.

Quality Content Still Rules

That said, shorter content does not mean bad content. The Internet overflows with irrelevant, poorly written content on just about every topic you can name. This could be the reason for the short attention span – so much content is not worth reading. Focus on providing content that readers actually have an interest in rather than just filling space to place advertising.

These represent just some of the trends that should continue and emerge in 2017. For internet marketers, the time has never been better in terms of opportunity. However, making the most of that opportunity requires staying sharp and on top of the latest trends.