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Everyone in marketing "has an opinion about how a website should look, function and complement offline marketing campaigns," says a post at the Resource Nation blog attributed to Geoff Kenyon, "but rarely does everyone have the online marketing experience to make the efforts successful." As a result, the initiatives they ... more
Social media has become an important marketing tool for small businesses, particularly younger firms: 32% of small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) in operation for 0-6 years use Twitter, compared with just 7% of those in business for 11+ years, according to a report from BIA/Kelsey. Meanwhile, Twitter use among SMBs doubled, from ... more
Frequency has become an increasingly hot topic for email marketers. A recent article in The New York Times, for instance, reports research results from marketing firm Responsys that show large retailers sent an average of 152 messages per subscriber in 2010—a 15-percent boost in email volume from 2009. Sounds like ... more
Driven primarily by Facebook, social networking is the fastest-growing mobile content category in the US: Nearly 58 million mobile subscribers accessed a social networking site at least monthly via mobile device as of December 2010, up 56% from the previous year, according to a report by comScore. more
In a recent post at Search Engine Watch, Rob Chant notes that if you're doing any marketing at all, measuring the performance of your website is still critical to your success. And although your Web server likely has a basic tracking tool already installed, he argues that Google Analytics (GA) ... more
Driven by changes in consumer behavior and competitive forces, 80% of marketers say they plan to increase the volume of digital projects in 2011, with much of those investments focused on corporate websites and social technologies, according to a survey from AnswerLab. more
Some 171 million US Internet users watched online video in January 2011, engaging in nearly 4.9 billion viewer sessions during the month, according to comScore Video Metrix. Google Sites, driven primarily by viewing at YouTube, was the top video content property, attracting 144.1 million unique viewers, followed by Vevo with ... more
You may still be a bit worn out from a crazed holiday season, and you might not want to think about in-depth analysis and reporting. But, as Kelly Lorenz of Bronto says, this is "the perfect opportunity … to improve [your tactics] for future years' holiday seasons." Although Lorenz acknowledges that ... more
"The most successful websites may start with an aggressive initial push to obtain links," writes Samantha Wells at the Daily SEO Tip blog, "but afterwards, it is inevitably the case that those sites retain authority because people willingly link to them. The challenge thus becomes to find influencers and readers ... more
In a recent post at Search Engine People, Wayne Barker notes that keeping up with SEO trends can be truly challenging, even for those who work within the industry. Staying current can be even tougher for small businesses that operate without much of a marketing budget, let alone an SEO ... more
Google's Android operating system (OS) accounted for 40% of smartphone visits to Myxer's mobile content site in December 2010, up from 12% a year earlier, toppling the once unshakable BlackBerry from its leadership position for the first time, according to a report by Myxer. more
Nearly one-half of mobile apps users (47%) say when using apps, they click or tap on ads more often by mistake than on purpose, suggesting that click rates may not be the best measurement of mobile ad effectiveness, according to a survey from Pontiflex. more
Yahoo Sites comprised the top-ranked Web property in December 2010 attracting 181.2 million unique visitors, followed by Google Sites with 179.3 million and Microsoft Sites with 177.0 million, according to comScore Media Metrix service. Meanwhile Amazon recorded its highest month of traffic on record from the holiday shopping surge. more
Some 13.36% of email message opens occur via mobile device with the iPhone comprising more than 65% of that activity on average, according to a study from Knotice, which also finds that mobile email open levels are highest in the early-morning hours but vary dramatically by industry. more
Are you dissatisfied with the results of your Google AdWords ads? A low "Quality Score" could be to blame. If you've tried all else but aren't seeing results, give these three unconventional tips a shot at bumping up your score. more
US direct and digital advertising expenditures are forecast to reach $163.9 billion in 2011, up 6.2% from 2010 levels, according to a report from the Winterberry Group. Of that total, digital spending is expected to reach $31.6 billion, up 14.0% from the previous year. more
Google Sites led the US explicit core search* market in December 2010, accounting for 66.6% of total searches conducted during the month, followed by Yahoo Sites with 16.0% and Microsoft Sites with 12.0%, according to data from comScore qSearch. more
Your About page is one of the most important pages on your site, says Lisa Banks in a post at the Site Reference SEO blog. Done right, it can help boost rankings and stimulate inbound links, she notes. Banks' interest in About pages was recently stirred by influential blogger Chris Brogan's ... more
Mobile campaigns continue to be a powerful ad channel for marketers, outperforming online advertising by roughly three times across a variety of metrics, including ad awareness, message association, and purchase intent, according to a study by InsightExpress. more
One way to build trust is to position yourself as an authority on topics associated with your product or service. Blogging helps, but any blogger knows that expert blogging demands research, dedication of time, community management, consistent cross-marketing—and it can take months, even years, to gain an appreciative audience. So you say ... more
Only one-half (50%) of B2B marketers formally measure the return of their online marketing investments, but those who do say online is more effective than traditional marketing channels, according to a report by AMR International. more
Though few consumers actually make purchases using mobile devices, smartphones are playing an increasingly important role in shoppers' buying decisions, particularly when they are visiting physical stores, according to a new study by ForeSee Results. more
You've no doubt optimized your site and marketing materials for top keywords, but have you thought about the influence they can wield in less traditional ways? Consistently optimized messaging across all of your company content—from its name and description to your employees' titles to your site content—helps create an image ... more
How does advertising yield improve when targeting digital ads to certain audiences? How much influence does the type of content users are reading when the ad is shown have on yield? This article summarizes the results of an extensive study on the subject. more
The ad recovery is gaining momentum: Total US measured advertising expenditures reached $94.06 billion in the first nine months of 2010, up 6.4% from the same period a year earlier, according to data from Kantar Media. Ad spending in the third quarter was up 8.7% over 3Q09 levels—the largest quarterly ... more
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