7 Keys to Succeeding With Online Marketing in 2026

First published in 2014, rewritten in 2026 so the advice holds today.

Back in 2014 this post set out seven practical things to work on if you wanted to get ahead online. Most of the underlying ideas were sound and still are. A couple of the specific tactics, though, are long gone. Here's the updated version, kept honest about what's changed.

1. Publish content consistently, and make it genuinely useful

This was true in 2014 and it's still true now. Search engines, and increasingly AI-driven answer tools, favour sites that demonstrate real expertise and update regularly. The bar has risen: thin blog posts written purely to hit a keyword rarely perform. Write for the person with the buying question, not for the algorithm.

• Publish on a regular schedule you can actually sustain, rather than a burst followed by silence
• Answer the specific questions your customers ask in support tickets or reviews
• Update older posts rather than leaving them to rot

2. Be active where your customers already are

The advice to post beyond your own site still stands. Industry forums, Reddit communities, and Q&A platforms remain good places to build visibility, provided you contribute properly rather than dropping links. Quora and niche subreddits have largely taken the place of the generic Q&A sites mentioned in 2014.

Social media is part of this too. Google+ closed to consumers in 2019, so drop that from any plan still referencing it. Focus instead on the platforms where your customers spend time now: Instagram and TikTok for visual and younger audiences, LinkedIn for B2B, Facebook still for community groups and local reach. Post content that earns engagement rather than pure promotion: short videos, behind-the-scenes material, and genuine answers to questions in comments.

3. Make reviews part of your process, not an afterthought

Reviews don't appear by themselves. This was true in 2014 and remains one of the highest-value, lowest-cost things an e-commerce business can do. Build it into your order or service flow rather than treating it as a one-off campaign.

• Send a follow-up email or SMS at the point a customer has had time to use the product or service
• Use review-collection software that automates the ask after purchase or visit
• Make it easy: a direct link to your Google Business Profile or Trustpilot page beats a vague request

Google Business Profile reviews carry particular weight for local and e-commerce search visibility, so prioritise that platform if you have to choose one.

4. Use video, but keep it short

Video testimonials were underused in 2014 and they're still a strong trust signal now, but the format has shifted. A polished two-minute studio interview is less likely to get watched than a genuine 20 to 60 second clip shot on a phone. Ask happy customers if they'd record a short clip about their experience and results. Authenticity matters more than production values.

5. Retargeting still works, but the mechanics have changed

The core idea from 2014 is unchanged: someone who has already visited your site is a warmer prospect than a cold audience, so showing them a follow-up ad makes sense. What's changed is how that audience gets built. Third-party cookies, the technology the original approach relied on, are being phased out across browsers, and Universal Analytics (the tracking tool many businesses used at the time) was replaced by GA4 in 2023.

In practice this means leaning more on first-party data you collect directly, such as email lists and logged-in customer behaviour, and on the retargeting tools platforms provide natively.

Test more than one approach. What works for reaching new customers varies by business, and the platforms themselves change their targeting options often enough that it's worth reviewing your setup at least once a year.

One piece of 2014 advice to drop

The original version of this post recommended claiming "Google Authorship", a feature that let Google associate content with a verified author profile in search results. Google discontinued Authorship in 2014, not long after this was published, so there's nothing to claim. The underlying goal, showing search engines that content comes from a credible, identifiable source, is now addressed through clear author bios, consistent use of schema markup, and demonstrating real expertise on the page itself.

The fundamentals from 2014 hold up well: useful content published consistently, genuine presence in the communities your customers use, a steady flow of reviews, honest video from real customers, and retargeting to bring warm visitors back. What's changed is the plumbing behind each one, and it's worth checking your own setup still matches how these tools actually work today rather than how they worked over a decade ago.