Paul Chaney says, “Marketing is one of the many tasks small business owners tackle every day. According to a survey by Constant Contact, an email service provider, small businesses spend an average of 33 hours per week managing marketing activities that include search engine optimization, email, and social media. With everything there is to do,... [Read more]

Aaron Agius says, “Want to succeed online? It’s pretty much universally agreed upon that, to do so, you need to appear high in Google’s organic search rankings. Unfortunately, this is getting more difficult to achieve, due to two factors: not only do the organic results found on pages with Google’s paid ads experience lower click-through... [Read more]

Spencer Kollas says, “Earlier this month, I attended the Email Experience Council’s (EEC) conference. Much of the discussion sparked during and after the event surrounded whether email engagement is used by internet service providers (ISPs) to determine inbox placement. The brunt of the conversation has been inspired by a particularly controversial... [Read more]

The easiest way to start marketing online is as an affiliate. However, that’s not as easy as in the past, because: #1. Conversion rates, EPCs and profits per promo are all declining. #2. Email delivery rates, open rates and clickthrough rates are also declining. #3. Potential customers are becoming reluctant to buy due to skepticism. #4. More... [Read more]

Mohammed Zaman says, “In today’s email marketing world, how you retrieve consent from your subscribers is becoming ever more critical. Why? Between ISPs like Mail.ru requiring senders to have expressed consent and the introduction of CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Law), making sure you have consent from your recipients has become increasingly important. What... [Read more]

Ohad Rozen says, “A basic testament to any human existence are the five senses: sight, hear, touch, taste and smell. Besides the fact that science continues to prove that there are more than five, for budding business owners and marketers alike, such senses are ideal to appeal to when selling products online. Such tactics are coined,”experiential... [Read more]

Sam Lloyd says, “SEO marketing can be confusing. After all, when it comes to SEO there are a million things that you can do. From link building, to promoting content on social media, to keyword research, to competitive research, to building out landing pages, to internal link building, to producing content and everything in between. With so many... [Read more]

Today, at Noon, EST, James Jones is releasing his new software, Drag ‘n Drop Illustrator . This software allows you, even if you are not an artist, to create attractive images for • Kindle Picture eBooks • Comics • Hidden object ebooks • Children’s Kindle books • And more; just about any graphic project you might have. Drag ‘n... [Read more]

Jawad Khan says, “If you hire an online marketing consultant, chances are that starting a business blog will be one of his first recommendations. After all, some 79% of companies that have a blog report a positive ROI for their inbound marketing. Moreover, a well-managed blog builds not only credibility for a company but also brand loyalty and... [Read more]

James Green says, “Each year, marketers look forward to seasonal promotions to drive a spike in sales. Prior to each event — whether it’s the Super Bowl, Mother’s Day or Back-to-School (BTS) — search and site activity send strong signals of buying intent, which is critical to new customer acquisition and retention. Understanding how,... [Read more]

Zia Daniell Wigder says, “eCommerce growth continues unabated around the world, with eCommerce being cited as a driver of overall economic growth in markets from China to Nigeria. Indeed, online retail revenues continue to soar in every market that we forecast—China alone will generate more than $1 trillion in eCommerce sales by 2019. As eCommerce... [Read more]

Look at many of the videos on major websites. Even in the background when a speaker is making a presentation, there’s often movement going on. It could be abstract or it could be a scene in a city or something as simple as clouds floating by... [Read more]

Jill Rowley says, “It’s not unusual for reps to get fired up about social selling at the beginning of a new month or quarter … and then trail off a week or two later. Social selling doesn’t deliver immediate results, and salespeople can become frustrated with spending time on something that isn’t bolstering their closing power in the... [Read more]

David Moth says, “Email is the marketing channel that refuses to die, no matter how much scorn people pour on it. In fact, the emergence of the multichannel discipline has actually given email marketing something of a boost. Our new Reality of Multichannel Marketing Report, published in association with dotmailer, examines the extent to which email... [Read more]

Louisa Chan says, “Flash mobs. People are attracted to these spectacles. We drop what we’re doing and gather around to watch, but then we leave. We go back to what we were doing before we were interrupted. No one really knows who orchestrated the performance. The entire experience is short-lived and doesn’t make any profound impact. Now,... [Read more]

Benji Wilson has had five best-selling Kindle books and over 110,000 downloads in all. He attributes his success to his research into the category system Amazon uses to classify books. By his careful use of the right categories, he was able to increase his sales dramatically... [Read more]

Karissa Bell says, “Samsung isn’t the only company looking to challenge Apple Pay’s increasing dominance in mobile payments. Google announced Monday that it has acquired technology from mobile payments app Softcard, and that Google Wallet will soon come pre-installed on Android phones from three of the four largest U.S. carriers. Softcard... [Read more]

Morgan Chessman says, “Building marketing strategies for small businesses is one of my favorite things. In my first marketing role, I worked in the marketing department for a small company before moving on to Distilled, where I’ve been lucky enough to continue working with small businesses that have enormous potential. Despite the various... [Read more]

Dawn Ellis says, “We are living in the social age; where we all have the power and the potential to have our opinions heard by millions. With every social post you distribute, you’re actively impacting your image and contributing to your social print. There are thousands of articles online promoting what should be included in your social media... [Read more]

In 2013, Arbitrage Underdog was released to marketers around the world. Now, it has been enhanced (they call it “reloaded”) with new capabilities and works even faster and provides better results than ever before... [Read more]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Only 27% of B2B leaders say their inbound marketing efforts are very successful in helping to achieve important objectives, according to a recent report from NetProspex and Ascend2. Some 66% of B2B leaders view their efforts as somewhat successful, and just 7% say inbound marketing has not helped their business at all. The report... [Read more]

Samantha Murphy Kelly says, “Facebook believes that one day we’ll be able to connect with friends in virtual reality, so users can eventually experience someone’s vacation as though they’re right there with them. Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox revealed on stage Tuesday at the Code/Media conference the company’s vision... [Read more]

Ginny Marvin says, “Advertisers looking to drive calls from their paid search ads, now have the option of setting up a Call-only campaign or adding call-only ads to existing campaigns in Google AdWords. As the name suggests, when users click on either the call button or the Call-only itself, the phone number appears in the standard prompt to... [Read more]

Graham Charlton says, “Good checkout design is essential for ecommerce success. It’s all about making transactions as possible for your customers, and avoiding any unnecessary friction. Here’s a checklist of checkout success factors, along with questions to ask of your own checkout. Enclose the checkout The only place you want customers... [Read more]

Rene Lacerte says, “Late payments can be one of the most frustrating parts of owning a business — not to mention being potentially crippling to the bottom line. As the lifeblood of any business, healthy cash flow gives business owners the means to pay employees and procure the goods they sell. In contrast, when times get lean and cash dries... [Read more]

Jason Klein says, “Contextual marketing has quickly become a buzz word in digital marketing, but the industry has lacked a detailed explanation of what it means and how it can be applied to new and existing programs. Worse, the term “contextual marketing” is often being used to refer to basic personalization. While it is true that knowing... [Read more]

Mark Walker says, “In the latest Content Marketing Institute research, there was a clear conclusion: Those who document their strategy are more successful in the long run. However, only 21% said they were able to effectively track ROI (rising to 35% for those who had a documented strategy). A huge number of marketers still guess about their success.... [Read more]