By Laurie B. Beasley, president, Beasley Direct Marketing

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), it all comes down to the 800-pound gorilla: Google. Google is the main arbiter of value in the universe of Internet websites. Google changes how it weighs and assigns value on a regular basis, which means that what you were doing last year may hurt you next year, depending on Google’s latest efforts to assure that it has fairly assessed the true value of each site. This is not capricious on Google’s part — just good business. The trust that a Google user places in the quality of the search results brings them back to Google time and again. This allows Google to continue to expose users to paid advertising on the Google site, which is the largest part of Google’s overall income stream.

Constant Contact, a multiplatform marketing company, has created an infographic that’s perfect for small businesses wondering how they can take advantage of the summer. “What Today’s Social Landscape Can Offer Small Businesses Tomorrow” uses the company’s data to offer a look at how small businesses can experiment with some bolder social media tactics during the […]

If its stock price is any indicator, Groupon is in the midst of a comeback. As the company climbs the ranks of Wall Street, it appears to be cozying up to more affluent consumers. On Monday, Groupon announced Groupon Reserve, “the premiere destination for the finest things to eat, see, do and buy.” This new […]

Back in 2008, Altimeter Group principal analyst and author Brian Solis teamed up with Jesse Thomas of visual design agency JESS3 to create The Conversation Prism to serve as a helpful map of the social media landscape. Version 4.0 of The Conversation Prism has been unveiled, and it’s more expansive than ever. Before your eyes […]

By Debbie Qaqish, principal partner and chief strategy officer for The Pedowitz Group

This is the seventh article in a series of articles taking the CMO back to school to learn how to drive repeatable, predictable, scalable revenue performance from marketing.

In our prior article, we discussed how revenue marketing is innovation, so this leads me to the question: As the CMO, when is the last time you talked to the chief innovation officer or the chief strategy officer (CSO)?

Generating tons of leads is well and good, but it doesn’t mean much if they don’t convert. If companies want to earn their coffee, they have to convert their leads to sales, and that requires a comprehensive perspective, a well-informed strategy and proper training, among other things. That’s no small order, which is why there […]

Autoresponder emails can serve a variety of purposes, including lead-generation and lead-nurturing campaigns. But when it comes to using autoresponders for offering products to subscribers and customers, here are five things to bear in mind, according to GetResponse: –

People’s affections for their mobile devices far exceeds their sentiments toward mobile advertising. The solution is the “Rule of Reciprocity,” according to a study from Millward Brown and SessionM. The problem According to Millward Brown’s 2012 AdReaction report, only 9 percent of consumers have a positive attitude toward mobile advertising, an improvement of two percentage […]

Persona research helps content marketing efforts cut through the noise and reach the right customers. Before laying the foundation of a content marketing strategy, marketers should ask themselves six questions as part of their persona research: What types of content do your customers prefer to see? Where do your customers discover new content? What types […]

Marketers need to get better at building landing pages that cater to visitors’ awareness levels