Lee Odden lays out a few popular marketing trends to help your small business this year. The following are a few excerpts from his article entitled “5 Search Engine Marketing Trends That Impact Your Business“. Online & Offline Marketing Integration – Forrester Research estimates $917 billion worth of retail sales in 2009 were “Web-influenced” in contrast to $155 billion of consumer goods sold online in the same year.  Small businesses must pay attention to customer search online influencing offline purchases as well as the influence of the in-store experience on searching and purchasing online. Mobile Device and Local Search – Companies must recognize consumer trends towards mobile search with the proliferation of smart phones. The web experience has definitively extended beyond the personal computer to mobile devices such as iPhones, Blackberries and iPads.  Marketers must understand their customers’ use of mobile search and what the marketing opportunities are. Companies that serve customers in specific regions or with geographically specific needs must be present in local search results, map results and specific geo-location queries. Segmenting potential customers through geo targeting with paid search advertisements will help focus the right ads on the right customers. Paid search AND SEO boost overall SEM performance – According to Vanessa Fox, creator of Google’s Webmaster Central and author of “Marketing in the Age of Google, there have been several studies that show click-through rates, conversion rates and revenue are all higher when both organic and paid listings appear for a search. While many small business marketers assume that they should scale back investment in paid search once their SEO efforts achieve a top organic placement, companies that leverage both can realize significant benefits. Whether it’s incorporating online and offline influences with search, diversifying ad networks, leveraging local and mobile or extending search marketing efforts to social media, small business marketers that capitalize on these trends now will also be in a position to capitalize on a competitive advantage. Lee Odden is the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing an online marketing agency specializing in Social SEO and Content Marketing services.