Susan Warren says, ““There are so many ecommerce retailers who now believe that in order to differentiate themselves and establish better brand relationships with their shoppers, they [need to consider] opening brick-and-mortar stores,” Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief, Retail TouchPoints, said. According to Advertising Age, 80% of companies have increased digital marketing budgets for 2015. Whether it’s selling products on a website or through a mobile or desktop app, virtual marketing has become the norm. However, some ecommerce retailers have recently invested in the opening of brick-and-mortar... [...]

Katie Oakes says, “In today’s landscape, we often see display advertising being managed separately from email communications. Is there an opportunity to bring these two sid es together? Definitely, and that’s where the whole concept of addressable advertising gets exciting. Defining a single audience that will be the recipient of both your earned strategy – which is, say, email – and also your paid marketing – which is typically display ads, mobile ads or even television – is where the promise of cross-channel cohesion really comes to life. To deliver complementary paid and earned... [...]

Business.com staff says, “Email is out of control. It’s something we know at a gut level, but it can still be hard to address head-on. Email has infused our workdays and our non-workdays. It’s like the air, impossible to separate from the rest of our lives. But something must be done. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, employees spend 28 percent of their workweeks reading and responding to email—in other words, at least eleven hours per week. Furthermore, 43 percent of workers told the AtTask State of Work 2014 Report researchers that excessive email keeps them from getting... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “Email might not be the sexiest form of communication around these days what with smartphones and Apple Watches and pigeon-drone hybrids but it’s still going strong in the business world. In our recent email marketing census, 74% of marketers said they believe email still be one of the highest channels for delivering ROI in five years’ time. But email marketing is far from easy, and anyone like me who ignores 99% of the stuff that lands in their inbox will know first-hand how competitive this channel can be. I thought it would therefore be good to take a look... [...]

Demian Farnworth says, “You’ve launched. You now have loads of content on your blog. You’re happy with the growth and the traction you’ve gained. Your audience is growing — not as fast as you’d like, but you’re meeting goals. Things are looking up because you’ve created authority with what seems to be a solid and loyal audience. But the rush of new content ideas is slowing, and enthusiasm (both yours and your audience’s) is cooling. You’re worried about sustaining the momentum while deepening your authority and influence with your audience. And there’s a really good... [...]

Roy Hinkis says, “When Moz undertook this year’s Ranking Correlation Study (Ranking Factors), there was a desire to include data points never before studied. Fortunately, SimilarWeb had exactly what was needed. For the first time, Moz was able to measure ranking correlations with both traffic and engagement metrics. Using Moz’s ranking data on over 200,000 domains, combined with multiple SimilarWeb data points—including traffic, page views, bounce rate, time on site, and rank—the Search Ranking Factors study was able to measure how these metrics corresponded to higher rankings. These... [...]

Emma Snider says, “Just like a gatekeeper can prevent a salesperson from reaching the manager or executive they want to get in touch with, a subject line can block a prospect from opening a sales email. And it doesn’t matter how much research and time you put into the body text — your hard work goes to waste if the prospect deletes right off the bat. But what makes a good subject line? Simply writing a synopsis of your message usually isn’t a good idea. Think about it — would you open an email with the subject line “We’ve never met, but I would like... [...]

Doug Camplejohn says, “Data-driven marketing is on the rise. And no wonder: marketers would be six times as likely to report higher profits if they use data-driven strategies, a recent report by Turn and Forbes Insight discovered. That’s not surprising to those already harnessing the power of data, but the proliferation and availability of Big Data has not yet been translated into revenue for all marketers. Why? Many organizations still struggle to make sense of their data because of the massive volume and high velocity at which data is produced. Furthermore, because data is dispersed... [...]

Jared Hecht says, “Like your mother and your high school history teacher likely told you over and over again, you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet. With the growing accessibility of information freely available online, modern entrepreneurs in search of funding to grow their businesses have a huge leg up on generations past. Yet for every bit of accurate and genuinely helpful advice, there is an increasing prevalence of misinformation and myths surrounding the small business lending space. Unfortunately, much of that misinformation can give business owners bad information... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “Google is increasingly valuing ‘quality content’ when it comes to search rankings, according to a new report. This isn’t exactly news to most marketers, but the way in which Google determines quality is evolving. According to the study, positive signals such as the amount of time spent on a page are having an increasingly significant impact on rankings. This means it’s more important than ever to keep the reader engaged. With that in mind, I’m going to use this post to try and explain how you can achieve ‘quality content’ on your site based on some of the... [...]