The only thing we know for sure about 2011 is that it'll begin with a "20" and end with an "11". Everything in between is educated guesses, wild speculation, and wishful thinking.

Some of the bloggers I follow have posted predictions ranging everywhere from increased adoption of cloud computing, to 2011 being the year when you have to establish a strong personal brand -- when you have to "stand for something" in order to be trusted, all the way to a global financial meltdown. One guy's predicting his new business will become a multi-billion dollar empire in 10 months. Not to be a dream stealer, but I'll believe it when I see it.

That said, here are my predictions. Whether they're educated guesses or one of those other things...well, call back in a year, and I'll let you know :-).

Prediction #1: More Focus on the Fundamentals

The economy has been stinking up a storm for several years, and despite what your elected officials would have you believe they've accomplished, whatever recovery some people may be enjoying is leaving a lot of people behind.

Clever tricks that used to generate bursts of income when people had more money to play around with are less effective. I predict that as more and more people realize that, it'll become harder to sell internet marketing products that focus on tricks and gimmicks. Not impossible, mind you -- there'll always be people looking for an easy button (and some will be buying even more desperately) -- but the market will become more leery of such things.

Expect more training to focus on the fundamentals. What'll be interesting is to see how people differentiate their teaching of the fundamentals from others'. One approach would be to pioneer new ways of applying old concepts. Some things never change, but the technology of 2011 is a lot different than the technology of 2005. So there's plenty of room for innovation, even if you're sticking to the fundamentals.

Prediction #2: More of the Same

Even as internet marketing training trends toward the fundamentals, some people who already have a loyal following will keep their reality distortion fields up and keep churning out the kinds of products their followers have bought in the past.

Reader Comment:
Antone Roundy said:
Right, there are a few different strategies people use, based on how long their average subscriber stays on -- pricing the first few months high, offering a lifetime subscription for some amount greater than the average they make from one subscriber,...
(join the conversation below)

They'll have more trouble picking up new followers this way, and depending on how successful they are, they'll probably branch out in new directions behind the scenes, but don't expect an end to things like gurus selling their latest one-true-system at the standard $2,000 price point.

Prediction #3: More Focus on Continuity Income

I'll go with Ryan Lee on this one. The harder it becomes to get new customers, the more important it becomes to keep selling to existing customers, and the more desperate people will be to learn how to do it.

The most reliable way to make repeat sales is to get your customers into a program where they're rebilled automatically. I predict that more training will focus on building continuity products, and some marketers who've lived off of frequent product launches in the past will shift their focus toward getting customers into continuity programs.

I'll stop there for now. What do you think is coming in 2011?

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