Over the past year, we've been encouraging businesses small and large to focus their marketing efforts on online mediums, including SEO, Paid Search, Ad placements, and Social Media. According to a new study released by eMarketer, online ad spend will finally surprise print spend as it reaches the $40 billion annual spend mark in 2012. That's a lot of money! This is just one more major indicator of the importance of online marketing and why you should be implementing it into your sales efforts if you haven't already. The study shows an estimated increase of 23.3% over the next few months, from the $32 billion spend in 2011, to roughly $39.5 billion in 2012. Print advertising, which includes magazines and newspapers, is estimated to reach around $33.8 billion. Emarketer has reason to believe that this trend will continue. According to the chart above, online ad spending is estimated to continue increasing at a steady rate, eventually reaching up to $62 billion in the next four year. Print advertising, on the other hand, is facing a definite decline, dropping slightly over the next few years. With the amount of opportunity there is for businesses of all sizes to market online, and the relative ease to get started, there simply should be no question. You need to start promoting your business online if you haven't already. More and more people are spending money online because it can be cheaper, it's reach is much larger than print, and you get more information about your customers and visitors than ever. For a great overview of marketing opportunities out there, and how you can get started, check out Unbounce's "Noob Guide to Online Marketing".