Before you start soliciting links and becoming active in online communities, it's best to first ensure that your site's content, structure, and design are in peak condition, Virginia Nussey advises in a recent post at the Bruce Clay blog: "Before you can expect a site to develop inbound links, you have ... more

Blogging has lost appeal for most teens and young adults in the past three years, but social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are more popular than ever, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. more

Among the 38 brands that ran TV commercials during the Super Bowl this year, 75% reported twice as many blog posts about their brands on Sunday, compared with levels on Sunday evenings over the previous six months, reports Radio Business Report, citing research from Prophesee, the social media arm of ... more

It'd be an understatement to say 2009 was a tough year for Domino's Pizza, what with the awkward employees-abusing-food scandal. A quick recap: two bored employees recorded themselves doing unpleasant things with food, and the video wound up on YouTube. Domino's responded swiftly enough, both terminating the employees and releasing an apologetic YouTube video ... more

More than half of advertisers (62%) say traditional TV advertising is less effective than it used to be, and many plan to shift their attention末and budgets末away from traditional TV to social media, online video ads, and branded advertising, according to a survey from Forrester and the Association of National Advertisers ... more

The Great Recession has certainly not spared nonprofit organizations. With contributions down an average of nine percent, many charitable organizations have been forced to cut services. Some even face closure. Fortunately, though, the news is not all bad. "With the right marketing mix, savvy nonprofits are able to leverage social-media marketing ... more

You'd think that to get half of your subscribers to click through, you might have to give away a million dollars every month. Publishers Clearing House actually does give away millions of dollars, but that wasn't enough on its own to earn a significantly higher-than-average response rate on its email ... more

Here's how Pioneer Electronics earned amazing click-through rates on its targeted online ads. more

"They say an Internet year is … equivalent to seven normal years," says Kevin Gibbon in a post at SEOptimise—meaning that we can witness seven real-world-years' worth of change in one year online. To help search marketers keep up, Gibbon offers seven ways to stay on top of the competition in the ... more

Sweet news, hardcore Twitter users! Hootsuite—the Twitter management tool developed with marketers in mind—just released an app for the iPhone. That means you can now access the handy features of Hootsuite in any old roost! We first covered Hootsuite shortly after Canadian company Invoke Media launched the adorable owl-themed service. It made ... more

Mobile couponing is still in its early stages, yet nearly two-thirds (66%) of younger adults (age 18-34) who own a mobile phone say they are at least somewhat likely to try receiving and redeeming bar-coded coupons via their mobile phones, compared with 46% of all adults who say the same, ... more

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of US consumers have HDTVs in their home, and another 12% are looking to purchase one within the next two years, bringing the potential market penetration to nearly three out of four households (74%) in the US, according to a new study from ORC. more

Americans love their music: 72% of consumers surveyed consider themselves passionate about music,* and one-third (33%) say they "would give anything" to meet their music idols, according to a recent survey from Synovate. more

Remember when we told you about Twitcam, the service that lets you stream live video via Twitter? This is kind of like that, but with more oomph and less lag. Say hello to tinychat, which lets you host live Web meetings, TV shows, music jam sessions—or whatever else you wanna do ... more

Though most companies (75%) say mobile marketing is at least somewhat important to their marketing plans this year, many are still unsure about its practicality and ROI: 32% of marketers and business professionals cite not knowing how to make a business case as their biggest impediment to executing a mobile ... more

Newspaper websites attracted an average monthly unique audience of 72 million visitors in the fourth quarter of 2009末37% of all Internet users末according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). more

Some companies seem addicted to email campaigns that shout breathless, time-sensitive offers. Each week, it seems, they tell subscribers about special deals that simply can't be missed—only to make a similar offer the following week. In a post at the Email Marketing Reports blog, Mark Brownlow provides a screenshot with 19 emails ... more

If you tune in to Access Hollywood or flip through the pages of Us magazine, you'll see features on the clothing, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics favored by trend-setting celebrities. In many cases, these products were provided as "gifts" from companies eager for the editorial coverage that a celebrity's interest can ... more

We recently encouraged businesses to expand their local search horizons and add more local flavor to their national search campaigns. Now, in a post at the Content Rich blog, Jon Wuebben offers more arguments for growing local roots in your search campaigns.  Wuebben quotes Neg Norton, president of the Yellow Pages Association, who ... more

Google's Android has been available as an open-source platform for just over one year, but the new mobile operating system has already gained significant market traction: Android users initiated seven times more downloads of mobile entertainment content than iPhone users in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Myxer. more

You're probably familiar with the story of The Little Mermaid. In this classic tale of unrequited love, a girl exchanges her voice for the chance to be close to a prince. It's a parable about finding the right voice amid the melee. Faced with a plentitude of uncertainties about social media, ... more

As the marketplace continues to change and evolve, there's a possibility that you've developed a new vision for your company and a new commitment to your industry. Perhaps, in the process, you have even determined that you need a new name or a new way of talking about what you ... more

In anticipation of a stronger global economy, digital marketing末fueled by social technologies that interact directly with customers末is positioned to thrive in 2010: 81% of brand executives expect increases in the volume of digital projects during the year, according to a survey form the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA). more

Too often, argues Julia Rubiner in the Editorial Emergency newsletter, automated email messages lack the human touch. "They frequently sound like they're coming from a robot for whom English is a second language," she says. "If you're trying to connect with people and persuade them to take action … you ... more

Only 38% of US adults age 65+ are online末a significantly lower rate of Internet adoption than both the general population (74%) and the next-oldest group, adults age 50-64 (70%), according to research from Pew Internet. more