For brands there is a clear case for reaching out to consumers online with content marketing – millions of Brits use the internet every day and the number not hooked up is falling rapidly.

New figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal 43.5 million adults are now online, one million more than this time last year.

Businesses and brands are responding, increasing their digital marketing budgets consistently while cash for other media stays flat.

But there is still work to be done; there over seven million British adults who are not online.

Most importantly, however, young people are by and large 100 per cent internet-savvy. Indeed the ONS data shows 99 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds have used the web.

The figures remain almost as good all the way up to people in the mid-50s, encompassing the vast majority of the UK's consumers.

A spokesperson for the ONS said: "Internet use is linked to various socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, disability, geographical location and weekly earnings.

"For example, those who are less likely to have used the internet include elderly and disabled adults."

"The bottom line is that content marketing is a great way of generating inbound traffic and making money online. The success of your online marketing depends on timely and effective implementation of online marketing plan. You also to use the right channels, engage your audience, and evaluate the effectiveness of your activities periodically. With all things in place, there is no reason why your content marketing should fail."

This come from this excellent blog post on How Content Marketing Delivers Customers.

Ultimately, that's what copy writing should be about - generating customers for your business. It's no use spending all your cash on loads of words if it doesn't improve your top line profits. Or, as this post points out, brand visibility.

There is loads to digest in the article and we suggest you check it out if you are unsure about the benefits of having loads of great content on your website and elsewhere.

Just to recap here are some of the benefits:

Improve search ranking 

Increase brand visibility

Generate sales by inbound marketing

Boost brand prestige

Generate buzz on social media via sharing of articles

Of course, these are just a few of the major benefits - find out more about our content marketing consultancy service.

At SXSW in Austin, Google head honcho on these matters, Matt Cutts, said there will be a large Penguin update in 2013.

Apparently Google’s search quality team is working on a major update to the Penguin algorithm, which he dubbed significant.

Penguin affects the way we do SEO and content marketing for all websites, but now merchants are being singled out for the algo treatment with Zebra.

"We have a potential launch later this year, maybe a little bit sooner, looking at the quality of merchants and whether we can do a better job on that, because we don’t want low quality experience merchants to be ranking in the search results," Cutts said.

Search Engine Journal helpfully explains the full ramifications (what we know), but here is a quick rundown of what Google is likely to be wanting 'good' merchants to have.

• A “view your shopping cart” link that stays on the same site.
• A shopping cart that updates when you add items to it.
• A return policy with a physical address.
• A shipping charge calculator that works.
• A “wish list” link, or a link to postpone the purchase of an item until later.
• A way to track FedEx orders.
• A user forum that works.
• The ability to register or login.
• A gift registry that works.

So what does it mean? We'll all have to keep improving our websites and content to ensure we stayed at the top. So not much then, just the usual one-step ahead game we have to play all the time to satisfy Google.

Global ad spend will increase by three per cent in 2013 based on current prices, according to Warc. The report also shows spending will rise by 5.4 per cent in 2014.

The forecasts cover TV, newspapers, magazines, internet, outdoor, radio and cinema advertising.

So the global market place is looking healthier, but what's the situation look like in the UK?

The IPA Bellwether report reveals over a third (36 per cent) of marketing executives plan to raise 2013 budgets in comparison to last year.

Internet advertising was the strongest performer in the first three months of 2013, rising 8.9 per cent, according to the survey.

In terms of content marketing, online search/SEO spend was up 1.8 per cent.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit and author of the Bellwether report, said: "An upturn in business confidence and corresponding increase in budgeted marketing spend for 2013 augurs well for the wider economy. However, while the Bellwether is suggesting the economy is recovering, it looks set to be another challenging year for businesses and the pace of economic expansion is likely to be modest."