Digital marketing is an inexpensive and flexible way for small businesses to reach a larger audience. When paired with a targeted direct mail campaign, digital marketing can help a business stay ahead of its competitors and reach as many people as possible.  The phone book was once the place everyone went to find information about […]

According to the 2017 Census.gov estimate, there were about 47 million senior citizens living in the United States. However, that number is about to double – the Population Reference Bureau estimates that there will be nearly 100 million Americans over the age of 65 by as soon as 2060. Based on all of that, it’s […]

Every business should have a referral program. Referral marketing is an automatic way to get new leads and sales, and it doesn’t require any effort from your part. If you have tried other forms of marketing, you’ll find that you will stop earning the moment you stop promoting. But that’s not the case with referral […]

As a manufacturer, what will set you apart from your competitors? The answer is marketing. Effective digital marketing is critical in all industries, and the industrial manufacturing world is no exception. Your business needs clear industrial manufacturing marketing strategies in order to rise above your competition. How do manufacturers market their products? By using many […]

This is an update from a blog originally published on April 9, 2019.  We are at the start of a new decade, and social media has become the standard tool for business-to-business and business-to-consumer connections. While the social media landscape is more crowded than ever, it has never been more important for brands to have […]

Marketing has become increasingly sophisticated and necessary for all types of business over the past few years as technology and customer expectations have evolved. Potential customers expect you to have a presence. Construction companies and contractors without a digital footprint can lose out to their heavily-marketed competitors, which is why strong digital marketing for construction […]

This is an update to a blog originally published on March 7, 2019.  Globally, nearly 1.5 billion people log into Facebook every day. The power of the platform to engage and connect people makes it an important resource in the arsenal of any marketer. Those who have paid attention to the news over the past […]

Google recently announced its latest update to its Search algorithm, and it’s a big one! The BERT update is said to be one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of search. It is believed that it will affect up to 10% of all searches. So what is BERT and how is it going […]

Social media continues to change how people interact with each other and with businesses. One of the most popular platforms for the younger generation is Snapchat, which is an image and video-based platform. Users can send and receive private photos to each other, or they can create ‘stories’ that are broadcast to their followers. Between […]

Are you re-doing your website, but concerned about your rankings? When redesigning a website, SEO marketing experts “think like Google.” Here’s a high-level view of how Google works: Google “crawls” your website – scanning every page, paying attention to URLs, meta titles, meta descriptions, headers, markups, tags and content. Google creates an “index” for your […]

When you’re selling products online through an eCommerce platform, having images of each product is a must. Images, in addition to detailed descriptions of each item, will provide your prospective buyers with the information they need to make a purchase decision. After all, when was the last time you purchased something online that didn’t have […]

According to Nielsen, the most trusted form of promotion continues to be word of mouth advertising. In other words, when people are looking for a service or product, they are more likely to pay attention when the recommendation comes from someone they feel they can trust. For brands, working to nurture an outstanding customer experience […]

Introduction The world of marketing is constantly changing. In the auto sales industry, the automotive digital marketing trends 2020 has to offer are vitally important to you and the success of your dealership. A few years ago, a bit of radio and print advertising would have been sufficient car dealership marketing strategies to bring customers […]

While using Facebook to advertise, it’s important to stay up-to-date on your target market and what the people in that sector are interested in. Facebook has a variety of different targeting options that you could use so that you can better find your target market and target your ads to fit those specific people. You […]

Having an online presence nowadays is not optional, especially for builders and contractors. The majority of customers look online to find a contractor or builder for their project, and if you’re not marketing effectively, they’ll fall to one of the many competitors that are. Here, we’ll tell you why digital marketing for contractors and builders […]

B2B companies that want to generate leads and boost their growth often turn to reporting tools for accurate feedback and data collection. Google Analytics is one of the major industry standards for tracking, analyzing, and reporting site data. The current W3Tech survey shows that 56.8 percent of all surveyed websites use Google Analytics, which a […]

These days, more people are using voice search than ever before. In fact, about one-fifth of the search queries on Google today are voice-based. Most people have access to or own at least one voice search-capable device, whether it be a smartphone with voice assist or an independent voice device like Amazon Alexa or Google […]

It’s that time again! 2018 is behind us and a new year of digital marketing trends is on the horizon. It’s no secret that search engine optimization is one of the most important aspects of your company’s digital marketing strategy today—so what SEO trends will 2019 have in store? We’ve got a few predictions. 1. […]

If your business is going to survive, you need to understand the importance of performance marketing trends and how they will affect you and your customers. Marketing experts identified a number of trends going into 2018 that they thought would be especially influential. Here is how some of those top trends panned out: The Rise […]

It’s no secret that having a blog (and keeping it updated) can be beneficial to your overall branding and SEO strategy. However, did you know that the length of your blog posts can have an impact on your SEO outcomes? Over the years, Google’s algorithms have changed a great deal—with the overall trend being that […]

Do you (or your marketing team) write every piece of content that you post to social media? If so, then it may be time to revisit your strategy and instead consider social media content curation. Believe it or not, bringing in some other voices from within your industry to share their messages on social media […]

Have you ever considered outsourced marketing services for some or all of your company’s digital marketing needs? If so, then you’re not alone. In fact, one study found that 56% of B2B and 62% of B2C marketers currently outsource at least one aspect of their marketing. So, how can you know whether or not the […]

The user experience on your organization’s website is undoubtedly important. When potential customers or clients come to your website, they expect to have a pleasant experience and to be able to find all the information they initially came to your site in search of. If they don’t have a good website user experience, there’s a […]

The world of marketing design is constantly changing, and staying on top of these trends in your own marketing strategies is a must if you want to be successful. Fortunately, we’ve done some of the hard work for you by compiling a list of what we believe will be some of the top digital design […]

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may generate billions in sales, but they are by no means the only opportunities for capitalizing on the launch of the holiday season. Since 2012, Giving Tuesday has encouraged consumers and business leaders alike to embrace the spirit of generosity. A carefully planned and expertly executed Giving Tuesday campaign can […]

There’s no denying the importance of establishing strong brand awareness, regardless of the industry in which your business operates. And with so many people using different facets of the web to inform their purchases these days, having a well crafted and carefully executed digital marketing strategy can make all the difference in helping your business […]

Perhaps you’ve only experienced one aspect of the print industry previously, or maybe much of your company’s print and mailing needs have been handled by others. Still, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with how this important facet of business operates, as it will help you to better understand how your company works on […]

In the world of manufacturing, having a sound digital marketing strategy is just as important as it is in any other industry. Specifically, successful digital marketing for the manufacturing industry allows organizations of all sizes to connect with their customers in a meaningful way. Simply put, companies that use digital marketing in the manufacturing industry […]

According to Emarketer, brands will spend more than $46 billion in programmatic advertising in the United States in 2018. Within just two years, they also estimate that 86.2 percent of all the ads displayed on digital channels will be purchased through this automated strategy. The popularity of programmatic advertising lies in its ability to help […]

Social media marketing is here to stay. More than 50 million small businesses use Facebook for their advertising, while millions more rely on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other platforms. If you want to succeed in the age of social media, you need to understand what makes these networks so popular, and that starts by learning […]

An accurate business mailing list of current customers could be a goldmine for your company’s marketing department. Mailing lists for marketing provide leads for sales, focus groups for testing new products, and consumers to provide feedback on satisfaction. These business marketing lists should be updated regularly so they remain current and as effective as possible. […]

Since it was first introduced in 2015, Google’s Answer Box has been the Holy Grail of marketing. Containing a brief snippet of text from one of the pages that comes up in certain search results, this box makes an instant impression on anyone who sees it. Marketers are constantly on the lookout for Google Answer […]

Knowledge is power, and that’s as true in advertising as with any other business activity. So it’s little wonder why modern firms devote so much effort to competitor research. By getting a sense of how other companies in your industry are promoting themselves, you can design a strategy to counter their publicity and capture their […]

The video mailer card always delights and surprises recipients. If you are not familiar with video mailers,  they are innovative and engaging tools that are one of the newest ways to make a strong impression on potential clients. Once you see them in action, it’s easy to see why these marketing mailers can give you […]

Why is digital marketing important? Each company will have different specific goals in mind, but most are trying to achieve growth by reaching more consumers and convincing them to purchase. To do this effectively, you have to take advantage of all the most valuable marketing resources and technologies, and in the modern world, the internet […]

With as much content as there is floating around the World Wide Web these days, it’s no small feat to create share-worthy content that “goes viral.” If you maintain a blog on your website, then you may be wondering what makes content viral and how you can make your blog post go viral; after all, […]

Over 67 percent of marketers recognize that data-driven marketing improves the speed and accuracy of their objectives. It also has a dramatic impact on revenue. Brands that expect revenue increases are 2-2.5 times more likely to have consistent sales and marketing data. This is likely because brands that understand the impact of their efforts on […]

Competing for a high-ranking position on Google’s SERP can be a challenge. The digital SEO ecosystem has expanded from a mere 130 exabytes back in 2005, and is expected to hit 40,000 by 2020. More than a billion websites also live online. This means that for nearly every business niche, multiple businesses will compete for […]

Since 2014, Google has been pushing site owners towards HTTPS over HTTP. At the I/O Conference that year, Pierre Far had announced that the search engine giant wanted to convince people that “all communication should be secured by default.” Since the start of that initial conversation, HTTPS has become increasingly prominent across all websites, even […]

As a contractor, you’ve likely got enough on your plate when it comes to managing your current projects, taking on new ones, and seeking out new clients. Still, putting some time and effort into your online presence and your digital marketing is a must if you really want your business to take off. For contracting […]

Pay per click advertising, also known as PPC, can be a powerful tool for any business. According to Google’s internal research, brands earn an average of $2 for every $1 they spend in AdWords. As the internet and visiting sites have become an increasingly prevalent feature of people’s daily lives, pay per click ads have also […]

Do you have a sound SEO strategy for your website? If not, then there’s a good chance your site’s SEO rankings are suffering. And unfortunately, when your site doesn’t rank within the first page of the search engine results, there’s a 75% chance that you won’t reach your target audience at all; that’s because 75% […]

Instagram has an estimated 800 million monthly active users, making it a fantastic platform for those who want to reach their prospects through a visual channel. Learning how to market on Instagram can help you captivate these users and bring more people into your sales funnel. Here is what you should know about Instagram marketing. […]

Customers today are digital. Google processes over 3.5 billion queries per day. In 2017, Statista reported that 81 percent of people in the United States had a social media profile, a 5 percent increase over 2016. Never before has there been a means to reach such an incredible percentage of your customers. According to Nielsen, […]

The story of SEO is one of new technologies. As Apple, Microsoft, and other tech companies develop new digital tools for users to search with, Google and other search engines must change the way they rank searches. New developments in search ranking, in turn, influence the devices and software consumers want, forcing tech companies to […]

According to a recent Cisco study, video is anticipated to represent more than 80% of all Web traffic by the year 2019. With this in mind, it’s possible that your website could be falling behind the curve if it doesn’t feature quality, engaging video. At the same time, creating your own video content can be […]

When Was Google’s New Search Algorithm Implemented? Every second, there are more than 40,000 searches on Google, which makes this engine one of the most important sources of information on the planet. Little wonder that modern marketers overwhelmingly focus on SEO or the art of raising their search ranks. The more effective a company is […]

If one thing is always true in business, it’s that the market is constantly in flux. Technologies and strategies that are cutting-edge one day may be behind the times the next, and businesses must adapt to survive. This is particularly true of the Internet, where both new technologies and changing consumer trends are felt instantly […]

Is it time to apply the adage “New Year, New You” to your website? When it comes to websites, 2018 is looking to be a year of innovative, even quirky, designs with more than a little disregard for previously adhered to rules. If website design or redesign is on your agenda this year, these new […]

Staying ahead of the ever-changing digital marketing landscape can be a challenge if you’re not sure what to look for and don’t have the funds to hire an in-house social media specialist. Facebook and other social media platforms are continually updating their algorithms and policies. Before you know it, your top digital marketing strategy no […]

For many businesses, the company website is the very first interaction a potential client or customer will have with the brand—and you know what they say about first impressions. If it’s been awhile since you’ve revisited your website design, now is a great time to consider a total redesign as a means of improving your […]

If you’ve spent any amount of time trying to access websites that are not responsive, you know first-hand just how frustrating this can be. Hopefully, if you have a website of your own, you’ve taken the time to conduct usability testing and ensure that your design is as responsive as possible across all devices, including […]

In terms of getting your message in front of the widest possible audience on social media, Facebook is still incredibly hard to top. As of 2017 it still averages roughly two billion active users per month, with the average user checking in an incredible eight times per day according to a study conducted by comScore. […]

You’ve built a database of contacts whose demographics and needs vary significantly; now how do you use that list to ensure the right messages get to the right contacts? Here, we’ll introduce you to email segmentation in MailChimp and show you how to do it so you can send every contact the content that’s most […]

Programmatic Platforms For Marketing “What is programmatic Marketing?” is an important question to know the answer to. Over the next few years, programmatic advertising is projected to grow exponentially, an example being a major brand like P&G setting goals of buying 70-75 percent of their digital advertising through programmatic systems. Forrester projects that this system […]

PPC strategies evolve at an extremely rapid pace, but it pays to keep up. The secret to standing above the competition often depends upon understanding the latest PPC advertising innovations. Here’s our roundup of coming online trends and PPC strategies you can use to succeed. The methods highlighted here can work across all industries. Your […]

Takeaways For Holiday Marketing Campaigns Like most annual New Year’s resolutions, creating the best holiday marketing plan can get lost in the fast pace and immense distraction that busy holidays bring. Your solution: get started now–with inspiration from the best digital marketing campaigns, tactics, and email marketing campaigns seen this year. Tell Your Story, Share […]

Chatbots have quickly become a hot topic of conversation as major companies like Facebook have begun to adopt them. They have also become increasingly prevalent across a variety of ‘personal assistant’ devices, such as the talk chatbot entities that live in the Amazon Echo, Google, Microsoft, and Apple devices. In 2017, an estimated 35.6 million […]

Like all business sectors, the industrial and manufacturing industries have not been left behind in the digital revolution. An estimated 94 percent of B2B buyers report that they use the internet to search before deciding what to purchase. Considering that many organizations in the industrial and manufacturing sector will be targeting these prospects, the value […]

Having a solid search engine optimization (SEO) strategy can make all the difference when it comes to the success of your business, regardless of whether you have a brick-and-mortar business or an online service. Specifically, a sound SEO strategy can help improve your company’s lead generation efforts without the need for a huge marketing budget. […]

An estimated 81 percent of customers and 94 percent of B2B buyers report that they perform research online before making a purchase. The Google website ranking of your content and the visibility you receive on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) directly impacts how many of your potential customers hear about you before they make […]

Influencer marketing is your ticket to the next level of outreach and awareness, regardless of the level you occupy now. Vloggers and other influencers are the single strategy that has grown regardless of industry or scale. 84% of marketers used a blogger in 2016. 59% of brands will increase their budgets to pay influencer marketers. […]

Video seems to be almost everywhere today, and customers want more. Forty three percent of people say that they want to see more video content from brands. The value of this form of advertising also becomes clear from the marketer’s standpoint– 51.9 percent of marketers say that video produces the best ROI. 51.9% of marketers […]

In 2016, holiday sales increased over 4 percent, surpassing projections of $655.8 billion to reach an incredible $658.3 billion. That holiday season also saw a 12.6 percent increase in non-store sales, which reached $122.9 billion. During the incredibly popular shopping time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, brands have the opportunity to drive high amounts of revenue […]

There’s no denying the important role social media plays in the lives of today’s consumers. With nearly 70% of the United States population active on at least one social media platform, it’s more important than ever for businesses to use social networking to their advantage. Specifically, the Snapchat app is one social media platform that can […]

For businesses of all sizes, it’s common to notice seasonal trends when it comes to web traffic performance and even social media engagement. And while “seasonal” trends can refer to trends that literally change with the seasons, they can also refer to trends that shift with national events and even holidays. By anticipating seasonal trends […]

Forty percent of customers say that they will click off a website if it does not load within 3 seconds and mobile internet usage has surpassed desktop internet usage. Customers like fast websites, and Google has been working to provide this ideal experience for them. In 2015, this led to the introduction of accelerated mobile […]

If you’re in charge of advertising or marketing at a senior living facility, you may have overlooked the importance of one of the most vital marketing assets out there: your retirement community website. What many people don’t realize is that, these days, nearly 80% of the “Baby Boomer” generation spends time on the Internet each […]

Social media marketers rely upon content curation as part of their social media strategy. Not only does it help support a campaign with third party validation, but it can build a company’s brand. Take advantage of three benefits of content curation to achieve social media marketing objectives.   1. Content Curation Provides Third Party Validation […]

Digital marketing techniques can move the needle forward. Your technology company can gain new leads and establish thought leadership with the strategic use of digital marketing. Learn how digital marketing can help achieve business objectives and improve revenue.   1. Benefit from Content Marketing Tech companies large and small use content marketing as part of […]

At their core, B2B marketing and traditional direct-to-consumer marketing are quite similar. After all, business purchasers are people, too! They have their own wants and needs, and as a marketer, your job is to convince them that your company is best positioned to satisfy them. Despite this, you cannot afford to run a B2B marketing […]

The majority of Fortune 500 Companies use marketing automation for good reason. It has been shown that marketing automation offers businesses remarkable ROI. B2B Marketing and Research reported that: After a single year of using marketing automation, 32 percent of businesses saw an increase in revenue. The percentage increased to 40 after year two. Can […]

The digital world dominates a significant portion of the modern consumer’s life cycle– an estimated 81 percent of shoppers say they do online research before buying a product. To effectively reach these online customers, brands need to understand how to leverage social media marketing. The various social media platforms serve an important role as the […]

Content marketing has become one of the most popular approaches to digital marketing. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, over 85 percent of brands are using this tactic to reach their leads and customers. So what’s all the hype about? What’s the importance of content marketing? Below, we’ll discuss how to create engaging […]

When it comes to social media, one thing is clear – this powerful channel for communication and connection is here to stay! In fact, about 70% of the U.S. population uses at least one social networking site, and more than half use two. What’s more, the number of social media users worldwide is expected to […]

Think about the last time you needed a product or service that you had not purchased before. Where did you turn to research your options and find local companies? There is a good chance that you may have started on Google or a similar search engine. This is the same journey that your customers take […]

In today’s digital marketplace it is vital that brands focus on increasing their online visibility, especially if they want to remain competitive. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an important part of increasing your online visibility. There is more that goes into optimizing your website and online profiles for search engines than just using keywords. […]

As 2016 comes to a close, marketers are starting to make predictions about the upcoming digital trends for the new year. One of the best ways to do this is by looking back at the big digital marketing trends that made a splash in 2016. Below, we’ve put together a year in review to recap […]

The holiday season is one of the most important times of the year for most businesses. With the shopping season in full swing, it is vital that brands work to maximize sales by taking a more strategic approach to their holiday advertising. But with so many ways to reach and engage your target audience, it […]

Black Friday – just the mention of the shopping holiday can send some retailers into a frenzy. While Black Friday used to be the king of the holiday shopping season, Cyber Monday has now moved in to become a favorite among holiday shoppers.   Though Cyber Monday began as a way for smaller retailers to […]

Mobile marketing is more than just a trend, it’s now a necessity. Mobile device use has exploded over the past decade and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. In 2013, there were about 4 billion mobile users. By 2017, that number is expected to be over 4.75 million. It’s not surprising, then, to learn […]

There are still many people who browse the internet to buy products or find information who do not notice whether the sites they visit are http or https.   And for website owners running personal blogs or other non-commercial sites, the differences between them may not matter much. But for businesses that need to collect […]

A simple Google search for the key phrase search engine optimization yields more than 18 million results. So despite some reports to the contrary it clearly remains a hot topic, and for good reason. Businesses know that a prime position on the first page of Google search results still gives them the opportunity to attract […]

Google AdWords is one of the leading pay-per-click options for marketers, and has been throughout its history. The company is continually updating and improving on their advertising options. Their newer extensions programs, when used correctly, can help your business see tremendous marketing success. Scroll down to learn more about Google AdWords best practices! Google Adwords […]

Emojis are slowly taking over all forms of communication with a technological base. We send these symbols with text messages, birthday wishes on social media posts, and in funny blog articles that we write. There are a million and one ways that we manage to include emojis into our conversations each day. At this point, […]

When consumers look to further their education on a particular company, product or service, they will go online and conduct a basic search. Their search engine of choice is often the search engine giant – Google. The decision to use Google stems from the fact that this search engine presents a reputation of providing top […]

Let’s talk about podcasts. This growing digital file medium tickles the ears of many a listener and proves valuable for your business. Through the ages, the power of the human voice to tell stories and transport us outside of our current reality has drawn a following. Today, the ability to use voice online enhances blogs, […]

The hashed symbol of the hashtag confuses generations. For some, this symbol continues to represent “number” while it might mean “pound” for others. But, modern culture dictates yet another meaning and purpose for this tic-tac-toe board shape. The hashtag gains popularity and power as users understand what it is and the benefits of its use. […]

Social media is a powerful tool for business marketing. However, many businesses are not taking advantage of it.  They see social media platforms on the news with things about the latest celebrity spats or business faux pas posted for everyone to see.  What many business owners don’t think about is all the positive things that […]

Only 2 percent of online shoppers become customers on their first visit to an online store. This fact does little to boost sales, not to mention profits. To grow a business’ customer base, retargeting brings back those window shoppers for a second look and proves to convert them to customers   What is Retargeting? This […]

If you have a business in today’s world, you need to be present online. Some may feel that staying relevant on the Internet is tedious and requires a management team. With the growing worldwide web, it may be hard to stand out. Luckily, there are tools at your disposal to help you manage your business […]

Google is rapidly growing in its market segment, with more than 900 million users worldwide. Businesses are finding that taking advantage of Google’s unique pay-per-click advertising program, AdWords, and strategically placing their ads in Gmail, are both increasing total page views along with the time users are spending on their individual Web sites. The First […]

Is social media measurable? Maybe – if you know where to look. Instead of measuring hard data like return on social media investment, we use “soft metrics” like reach and frequency to determine the success of our social media campaigns. Here are 5 metrics you can begin to consider as you run your social media […]

Google Shopping is a completely different experience from a normal Google Web search. Google might have made a name for itself with its free search engine, but have you ever thought about where it gets its money from? Nothing in this world is free – at least, that’s what they say. Google Web search is […]

How are you optimizing your mobile marketing efforts to take advantage of the increase in holiday shopping? Mobile marketing around the holiday season depends heavily on text blasts sent strategically in order to help impulse shoppers find gifts for friends and family. In this article, we’ll show you why Christmas ‘tis the season for mobile […]

You’ve heard it before: content is king. But with the changing Google algorithm, our content marketing efforts must change, too. And it all starts with great content. Here’s why:   1. The Rise of Content as a Service Content as a Service is a new field in content marketing. Instead of thinking of the work […]

The landing page. This is the tried and true digital version of the classic sales letter. It is often torn apart through testing and optimization, reconstructed, retested, and torn apart again until sales begin to tick steadily upward. Anyone that cares about conversion rates uses landing pages — they’re the first, and hopefully only, page […]

The business world moves a mile a minute. That’s why it’s never been more important to reach out to grab the attention of new customers and stay fresh in the minds of existing customers. Read on to find some best practices for maintaining and expanding your email list to help you stay connected to your […]

Fonts: we all use ‘em. But how much of a difference does your choice of font make to the success of your advertising campaign? Making the right choice Fonts are the tapestry of language that underlies all of our communication in nearly any non-broadcast media. Technically, “fonts” are just the computer files that enable the […]

It’s a fact: SEO professionals can spend thousands of hours a year managing a large site’s SEO. When you start digging into your Search Engine Optimization, the depth to which you can plumb your site’s content and the search engine possibilities are endless – limited typically only by your budget. On the other end of […]

When considering a marketing plan, users of paid media often invest unilaterally: “We are running television ads,” or “We use exclusively digital marketing.” While many strategic considerations go into the media vehicle you select and the proportion of your budget allocated to that vehicle, it is generally regarded as a mistake to invest unilaterally in […]

In today’s world, online PR is ruled by pageviews. If you can convince a publisher that your content drives traffic, you can get them to write up a post paying only lip service to the traditional role of journalism in order to capitalize on that traffic. The key to getting picked up by increasingly trafficked […]

One of the most important steps to a successful inbound marketing campaign is conversion rate optimization, which can help you maximize the ROI on every marketing dollar you spend. There are typically two ways to increase the number of sales you’re making through your landing page: increase traffic or increase conversions. Increasing traffic can be […]

For businesses, one of the most difficult things is building their subscribers lists by adding people who willingly accept to receive emails. Fortunately, while people might not be willing to allow you into their inboxes, they will not have the same restrictions for their friends. So, if you can get your few subscribers to forward […]

A lot of search engine optimization professionals have been thrown for a loop over the past few years by algorithm updates made at the big search engines. It used to be that if you were the top search result for a particular keyword, you’d reach everyone who searched for that keyword. This made search engine […]

Change. This is one of the only constants online – things are always changing. To keep up, it’s crucial for business owners to do an annual SEO audit to ensure that their website isn’t missing out on valuable web traffic due to changes in how search engines rank sites. While “SEO audit” might sound overwhelmingly […]

As digital marketers, we have a variety of channels we can use to reach our target audience. There are the tried and true organic channels, called “earned media” — like search engine optimization, social media, and content marketing – as well as your “owned media” channels, like your email list. But the third piece of […]

Marketing with social media is a must in 2015. But you have to do it right if you want to benefit from it. Customers still follow companies on social media primarily for coupons, giveaways, and discounts. And the fact remains that typically your most engaged followers are likely not your customers at all, but employees […]

Because of its low cost and high reach, email marketing is one of the best ways to nurture leads for online marketers. Often the only costs associated with an email nurturing funnel are one-off creative to build your emails and, in some cases, low monthly fees to send emails. As a bonus, once your funnel […]

Tentpole Marketing Definition & Purpose What is the definition of tentpole marketing? It’s the phenomenon that happens on search engines due to holiday or topical interest where, for a short period of time, certain search terms receive a deluge of search engine traffic. It’s named for the look of a search engine analytics graph which […]

The back-to-school shopping season is nearly here, and that means retailers will be selling everything from laptops to toothbrushes to parents of kids ages 5 to 25 who are headed back to school. As digital marketers, we talk a lot about long-term strategies like search engine optimization and social engagement building, but these strategies can […]

Vertical search engine optimization is the practice of optimizing your products and services for niche search engines, rather than Google. There are hundreds of thousands of “vertical search engines” on the Internet. Some vertical search engine examples include Yelp, which indexes restaurants, dentists, auto mechanics, and any other brick-and-mortar business, and eBay; both have a […]

If you have a restaurant or bar that takes reservations, this is an article for you. By implementing OpenTable functionality into your website, you can make taking reservations easier than ever for your customers. They’ll appreciate the ability to get on-demand reservations at your restaurant at any time of day and you’ll benefit from not […]

These days, Pinterest is crucial to marketing success. Not only is it retaining and engaging users twice as efficiently as Twitter was at a similar time in its history, over 80% of pins are repins, demonstrating tremendous virality at work. In contrast, under 2% of tweets are retweets. Pinterest users are engaged shoppers. According to […]

Mobile marketing is a hot issue, given the enormous breadth of smartphone usage, and many companies have taken the step to develop mobile-friendly websites to help customers find the information that they want quickly while on a mobile device. There are currently two prevailing schools of thought on the issue. Some marketers argue that it’s […]

Love is in the air, and social media is abuzz with honeys wishing each other a Happy Valentine’s Day. But more than that, consumers will spend $15 billion this year on Valentine’s Day related products and services. It’s easy to cash in on the contagious buzz that spreads around during Valentine’s Day if you have […]

It’s a new year and a lot has changed in the way people interact with websites and companies online since this time last year. In the U.S. alone, over four million people will turn 18 this year and begin to start forming real relationships with brands, products, and services. The growth of tablet devices has […]

Online marketing strategies are constantly changing. Free resources make it easy to keep up with the latest developments in the online marketing world. In this industry, it is imperative to continually seek educational opportunities to remain fresh and relevant. Check out these 10 free resources for the latest online marketing news and education (in no […]

While a lot of media professionals will lump together search engine optimization budgets with advertising budgets, the question of whether search engine optimization and advertising are the same thing is not as clear cut as it might seem. The ROI of small business advertising is often measured in weeks or months. Did our latest promotion […]

Most of us won’t remember the first ad we saw on the Internet, but I’m certain it was a bad ad. For me, it was probably while browsing the Web from within the walled garden of America Online, when the Internet was still in its infancy. It might have even been an ad for Bonzi […]

Being on the first page of Google’s search results pages for relevant keywords is a definite boon to traffic. As soon as a piece of your content makes it onto the first page, the traffic influx could be enormous depending on the keyword(s). There are four ways to get your content to Google’s first page. […]

Between quality and quantity, many marketers will advocate either quality first or a steady combination of the two. While the significance of quantity is hard to deny, great rewards await for those who are willing to take the quality of their content to the utmost degree. But how do you know when enough is enough? […]

Businesses that rely principally on local sales understand all too well the importance of building strong local SEO traffic. For many small businesses, local SEO optimization could be the sole factor that will decide whether their business will thrive online or go unnoticed in the vast sea of digital information. But with the global scale […]

Would you be interested in a process that could increase the ROI (Return on Investment) of your PPC campaign, increase your conversion ratio and reduce your bounce rate, all while improving the overall quality score of your campaign? Have you heard of Dynamic Text Ads? Dynamic text ads, as the name implies, are ads which […]

Online shopping for goods and services has steadily grown in popularity over the past several years. In 2011, e-commerce sales totaled $256 billion in the US, as compared to $72 billion in 2005. But although more people find it more convenient to shop online, brick and mortar stores still have one advantage. A brick and […]

Smartphones are fast becoming the way consumers shop for services and products, but many businesses have been slow to tailor their websites to mobile devices. Yet, according to a Google survey, a mobile-friendly website is a key asset to reaching new customers. Of the consumers surveyed by Google, 72% stated that it’s important for companies […]

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is crucial for any company with a website that wants to generate targeted organic search traffic. After all, a steady flow of targeted traffic could result in a steady flow of leads and customers. And this also very much applies to RV companies, both dealers and manufacturers. More […]

It has been about a year since Google decided to encrypt the referrer information of users who are logged in, whose personal identity information was available to advertisers. This move may have been an attempt to mitigate the potential loss of privacy for the users of the popular Gmail service, or, as some bloggers have […]

PPC VS PPM Advertising via PPC and PPM is the quickest and most sure-fire way to get your advertising message in front of thousands of people immediately. Other advertising methods, like SEO or email marketing, require several weeks to “ramp up” in terms of traffic. With paid advertising, you can start placing your advertising message […]

For the better part of a decade, Google has been the first name in search engines for both users and search engine optimization professionals. It’s about time, however, that marketing professionals take notice of Bing as a new source of potential traffic for their search engine marketing efforts. In this article, we’ll detail how Bing […]

An often overlooked place to hide some nitty-gritty search engine optimization is in the robots.txt folder in the root directory of your website. By uploading a simple file, formatted properly, you can tell search engine robots which pages to ignore, which pages to index, and what types of pages they are (mobile or not). If […]

Semantic Keywords For Your SEO What do you need to know about search engine optimization? What are semantic keywords, also known as LSI keywords, for “latent semantic indexing”? In a nutshell, when creating content, you want to make sure to include keywords for search engines related to your main keyword. Keywords for search engine optimization […]

Google Remarketing allows you to deliver targeted ads to users who failed to convert on their first visit to your site while they are browsing AdSense-enabled domains. As a result, your ads show up for users who are aware of your brand, and at the same time, you never waste impressions on users who have […]

Analytics completely revolutionized digital marketing. For the first time, it became possible to quantify the value of clicks, leads, and advertising without resorting to archaic techniques that print advertisers used, like coupon codes or landing pages, specifically designed for different campaigns. It saved time, energy, and money to be able to track everything in one […]

A splash page, or a page that functions as a gateway before users can see your content, is a Web design technique long extinct. They are almost universally disliked by visitors, they cripple your search engine optimization capabilities, and they typically don’t provide any user benefits except in certain circumstances. Visitors Hate Your Splash Page […]

Is it worth it to target these keywords? That should be the first question any potential SEO strategy answers. By evaluating your SEO and keyword competition, you can see how much work, and how expensive, it is to perform well for certain keywords. Evaluating Your Keyword Competition During Research The first step of any SEO […]

Google has been very busy! Since they released the Panda in stages over the last year, SEO professionals have been scrambling to implement their recommendations for earning and maintaining high rankings. And Google just released another update that attacks webspam called Penguin. Google remains the most highly-trafficked search engine in the world. This means that […]

Driving organic traffic to your website should be a big part of your online marketing efforts because — whether your site receives 1,000 or 100,000 visitors per month — these customers are essentially free to acquire. In a world where marketing departments stress over their customers’ “cost per acquisition,” having a source of potential customers […]

Even recently in search engine optimization history, even considering a dot-net or dot-org domain was tantamount to brand suicide if you hoped to push organic search engine hits to your site. Aside from the three main TLDs, .com, .net, and .org, there are now dozens of potential options for branding your company in a different […]

Google XML Sitemaps As part of Google’s Webmaster Tools, Google allows webmasters to upload a sitemap to their index. The primary goal of a Google XML Sitemap is to help with on-page optimization by informing the search engine immediately when new content is created, instead of waiting for the next time Google is scheduled to […]

Videos have become a driving force behind people utilize the Internet. Somewhere around 53% of all Internet bandwidth is used to stream videos, primarily on YouTube. This amounts to about 25 exabytes (26 million terabytes), and this number is expected to triple by 2014. This trend has occurred for a variety of reasons, from increasing […]

Google’s search engine algorithm utilizes dozens of factors to calculate a result’s placement in the search engine. The latest update to the algorithm highlights the “freshness” of results, adding additional ranking points for entries that were recently published. This helps searchers find relevant and accurate information, rather than old or out-of-date information. For search engine […]