Chris Ebbs says, “As of Q2 2015, there is still no convincing evidence that social shares affect Google rankings.You might want to read that again. Be it tweets, re-tweets, Facebook shares, or Google+ posts, there is just no solid evidence that they affect improvements in ranking positions.In recent years there’s been a big shift in the SEO industry. Search agencies and others are pushing the merits of content marketing as an activity that can help drive SEO success.Among the inevitable increase in content, something being widely misunderstood and purposely misrepresented by some... [...]

Barry Lavine says, “Unlike other marketing platforms that later added data chops, AgilOne began as a predictive customer intelligence platform and then added marketing tools.Today, the Sunnyvale, California-based company is beefing up its predictive powers even more, with the announcement that it is adding the ability of brands to assess which customers could turn into really big spenders — if encouraged.This goes beyond assessments of Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), vice president of marketing Angela Sanfilippo told me. In the standard LTV that AgilOne previously had, she said, there... [...]

Jay Lagarde says, “Less than 5 percent of customers who buy through Amazon take the time to leave feedback. For the two million third-party merchants who account for more than 40 percent of all Amazon transactions, this comes as frustrating news.In an ecommerce world largely focused on price, a quality seller reputation is one of the few opportunities for differentiation. With so few customers willing to leave feedback, however, many sellers get trapped into a race to the bottom and experience ever-dwindling profit margins.With this in mind, the days of hoping for automatic positive feedback... [...]

Rebecca McAdams says, “Hey Everyone!I’ve been at Forrester over a year and a half now, originally coming from an analyst support role, to more recently, working with Shar VanBoskirk to drive our research around email marketing. I’m excited to announce that, going forward, I will be leading our coverage of the technologies, services, and analytics that support email marketing.My first report in this new role was an update to our email marketing playbook assessment chapter. This report allows marketers to assess their email marketing campaigns around specific benchmarks defined by Forrester... [...]

Rainmaker team says, “How do you write about what you do so that it: a) sells the value of what you do, b) doesn’t sound over the top, and c) doesn’t sound like everyone else?Introducing the four-step copywriting technique known as: “Butterfly Moments” …Writing powerful, evocative, and compelling copy doesn’t have to be an elusive skill known only to a select few.In just a few simple steps, you can create content that describes what you do in a way that makes your customer say “tell me more!”“.How to Use ‘Butterfly Moments’ in Your Content to Captivate Customers‘Copyblogger’... [...]

Alp Mimaroglu says, “Using a landing page (see image, below), Wikipedia thanked its readers and the online community at large for taking part in the Wikipedia Blackout protests against two proposed laws in the United States Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).At the bottom of the landing page, Wikipedia urged readers to enter their ZIP code in order find their US representative and contact them to vote against the bills. It was an effective call to action: More than 8 million people filled in their ZIP code, and 3 million ended up emailing Congress to... [...]

Martin Beck says, “With user growth stagnant, Twitter is hoping to sell a new feature with old-school marketing.The social media network is launching a national TV advertising campaign tonight during the World Series. The first ad, called “Post-Season,” is a 30-second spot to introduce Twitter’s new Moments feature to sports fans. The ad highlights scenes from the Major League Baseball playoffs — Jose Batista bat flips, cursed Chicago Cub goat GIFs, spectacular catches in the outfield — as they appeared within tweets.It’s not the first Twitter TV ad campaign, but it’s a crucial... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “First-party data could prove to be the future of online display advertising, according to our new report Digital Publishing: Increasing Advertiser Value Through Data and Identity.Published in partnership with Signal, the report reveals the opportunities for publishers in the troubled digital advertising world.It is based on a survey of client-side marketers, managers and executives working within publishers that have an online presence.In this post I’m going to discuss three of the most important opportunities for digital publishers when it comes to using first-party... [...]

Lewis Howes says, “When I was 24, I was broke and living on my sister’s couch after a career-ending football injury. My dream of being a pro-football player was done. I had no work experience and a pile of mounting credit card debt. My arm was in a huge cast that was really uncomfortable (for six long months). I was feeling low.At Christmas that year, my brother Chris gave me a book that had just come out:The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I wasn’t a big reader (having struggled in school my whole life with dyslexia), but I finished that book in a few days. My fire was lit.Fast forward... [...]

Brian Watson says, “Earlier this year, based on my work at Adobe and my career, I wrote Is Time Really the Problem? Break the Bottlenecks in Content Production to challenge readers to discover and address the real hurdle in their content production cycle.One particular reader’s comment ended up challenging me. It came from Michael Aldea, a small-business owner: “Fantastic post … so, what happens when you look at your systems and find out YOU are the bottleneck. For smaller companies like mine, creating content is a matter of sheer workload spread over just a few. Any suggestions for... [...]