Let’s change it up for this section with a quick discussion of all the “noise” we all see on the Internet regarding online marketing and how to get ahead (and stay ahead) of the competition.

There’s a lot of great information out there, no question about it. That’s the wonderful thing about the Internet: You could pretty well find the answer to almost any question you might have — if you look long enough… and hard enough… and find a source you can trust on the topic.

Those are important caveats. The downside of the Internet is that it’s a massive pool of information, some legitimate, some not. Some extremely useful and topical, some theoretical and/or dated.

And then there’s the matter of determining whether you’re receiving objective information or something that portrays itself as being objective while actually promoting a particular viewpoint or service — an issue that’s existed virtually since the Internet came into existence.

We take a lot of time to keep up with all the trends in Internet marketing, because that’s how we can serve our clients best. We do a lot of research, and we’re always amused when we come across a piece about “the big trend for 2014” or “the next big thing for your business,” and it turns out to be something we’ve been telling our clients for some time now.

Here are two “new” trends for 2014 that have been around for a while, with notes about how they matter to your business:

Mobile will be huge in 2014: This gets the “well, duh” prize. Of course mobile will be huge in 2014, because it’s already huge.

This has been the course for Internet traffic for well more than a year now, and it’s only going to be bigger this year. Because, you know, things that keep increasing, by definition, tend to get bigger.

But this serves as yet another reminder that you have to be focusing your online marketing efforts on mobile. Global mobile traffic now accounts for 15 percent of all internet traffic. If your site isn’t using responsive design or optimized for mobile devices, you’re facing a big problem.

Visual content is the new big thing: Here’s another one. Visual content has been an important component for a couple of years now. That’s why infographics, galleries, and videos have become the norm on sites strongly focused on driving site traffic, improving conversions, and leaping to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).

As we’ve been saying for more than a year now, content is king. Google wants your site to have strong content, and that doesn’t just mean written content. By adding visual content to your site, you keep site visitors happy (and thus prompt them to convert) and you keep Google happy.

If you haven’t taken the plunge into adding visual content to your site, there’s no reason to wait. It’s easier than you might think, and your Ring Ring Marketing representative will be happy to explain the process in a user-friendly way.