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

When building an online community, there are some underlying principles that hold true whether a company is large or small, and among those is a genuine commitment to openness and fostering a dialogue. When starting a blog, companies need to be prepared to embrace those principles; they must also be ... 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

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

What do bartenders and websites have in common? Both need to be optimized to succeed. So says Jill Whalen in an amusing article at Search Engine Land. She demonstrates how the rules of optimization may dually apply to 'tenders and 'sites alike: Rule #1: Optimization shouldn't turn people off.  ... more

Belgian beer label Stella Artois has added a splash of engagement to its marketing strategy with Le Bar Guide. Developed by Acrossair, Le Bar Guide is a free app that points users to the nearest bar serving Stella. Run searches by ZIP Code, or switch the augmented reality feature on—and have ... more

More than ever, a successful lead-generation program relies on a steady stream of new content. And since the pressure to produce high-quality whitepapers and blog posts can be intense, Ardath Albee recommends the "Rule of 5" to ease your load and maximize results. "The Rule of 5," she explains at the ... more

Last summer, a happy couple sent ripples through the Net when their video, JK Wedding Entrance Dance, hit YouTube. The video depicted a wedding entourage dancing down the aisle to Chris Brown's "Forever," concluding with the bride cutting the rubber in the general direction of her nervous, but giddy, groom. Great ... more

The purpose of a subject line or headline is, obviously, to persuade a reader that she must look inside. But if your tantalizing teaser promises far more than the email or newsletter can possibly deliver—or, worse, proves to be deceitful—you'll be doing your cause more harm than good. According to Seth ... more

Your own keyword analytics data is the most valuable marketing asset of your company, says WordStream’s Larry Kim in an article at MarketingProfs. The data contained in the keyword report from your Web-analytics application—which tells you how people are finding your site through paid and organic search—comprise a far more effective ... more

Ever wish you could take your favorite Web strategist with you wherever you roam? Well, sure enough, now you can. App developer MotherApp brings you the Web Strategy iPhone App, which lets users read blog posts, reviews, news and other updates from such names as Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Brian Solis ... more

IT buyers are among the most active participants in social media. In fact, over half of technology decision-makers employed some type of social media, according to Forrester Research. So there's never been a better time to start conversations—using a variety of social tools—about your software and solutions. But what makes ... more

You might travel to tradeshows around the country, but have you ever considered the marketing potential of the journey itself? Consider how Griffin Technology, a maker of iPod accessories, has made an event of its marketing team's otherwise mundane trip from Point A to Point B. At the CES Bound blog, ... more

As Max Starkov writes in an article at Hotel Interactive, the hotel industry is the perfect candidate for managing customer relations via mobile devices. "Using the mobile space to provide intelligent, unobtrusive and highly personalized services convinces customers that this is their service," says Starkov. And one of the hot tools ... more

Let's say you sell trendy furniture for family-friendly prices. What's the best way to push product and spread brand awareness? Well, you could try developing and offering: A showroom. Pros: People see products in context, and they can buy them right then and there! Cons: You don't reach potential buyers who aren't ... more

It looks like Facebook is definitely here to stay. As of this writing, based on Alexa site rankings, it's the second-most-visited website on the Internet. That kind of reach can pack a whale of a punch for any B2B brand that gets its Facebook presence right. So, what's your best point ... more

"Links allow your readers to select which offer or detail they want to understand better or read more about, without distracting them with information that may not be useful," writes Maria Pergolino in a post at the Marketo blog. Another benefit: They also enable marketers to gauge a reader's interest ... more

According to research from SEMPO, more than 64 million US wireless subscribers surfed the mobile Internet in May 2009—almost twice as many as in the previous year. That accounts for more than 20% of the total US population, 28% of US wireless subscribers, and more than 40% of desktop Internet ... more

Finally, a barcode-scanning app that works like a charm. For a mere $1.99 at the App Store, RedLaser, an application developed by Occipital, turns any iPhone into a functional barcode scanner. All you have to do is open the app and snap a still picture of a product's barcode. Once ... more

In a recent post at the Retail Email blog, Chad White highlights a host of interesting takeaways from this month's Winter Email Insider Summit. Among them are some hot email marketing tactics you may want to consider implementing, such as these: Give email credit where credit is due. "By withholding emails and monitoring sales," ... more

Major search engines now have their own image-search functions that provide image-search listings in regular Web-search results, writes Pandia Search Engine News in a recent article. And although searchers may have different reasons for using image-search engines, all of those searchers may be potential customers, subscribers, or readers. So, if ... more

Ever heard of Movember? It's a movement of men who shave their faces at the beginning of November and spend the rest of the month growing a saucy moustache, which they proceed to show off on Flickr, in blogs and across their social networks. It's now a worldwide phenomenon! What's Movember about? ... more

"[T]here is altogether too much guessing and not enough proving in email marketing," says Stephanie Miller in a post at the MarketingProfs Daily Fox blog. "With inboxes overflowing, subscriber fatigue growing and competition from social networks increasing, it's no longer enough to broadcast out your best guess as to what ... more

When McDonald's launched its specialty coffees earlier this year, its banner ads inviting consumers to "McCafé Your Day" were all over the Web. Great branding, but does such online advertising send customers to local establishments? The short answer: When combined with search, it does! According to Christa Hoyland, editor of QSR Web, Google research ... more

If there's anything Second Life has taught us, it's that people like having a place to come back to—a virtual hideaway where you're always well-coiffed and surrounded by friends, and everybody knows your (avatar's) name. Well, here's some good news for mobile marketers: virtual living just got a whole lot ... more