Susan Bidel says, “Marketers have always carefully calibrated their messages and the audiences they wanted to reach, and, for most of advertising’s history, the process was pretty straightforward. Marketers used content as a proxy for audience, and worked with known and trusted entities to carry out their plans. They bought space, delivered materials to publishers, and ads appeared. That was the process for the first banner ad, too, for AT&T on Wired Magazine’s website on October 27, 1994. While the intent of marketers has remained consistent as they have embraced digital channels,... [...]

Nathaniel Eberle says, “At HubSpot, we’re big believers in the power of inbound. Time and again, the inbound approach proves its effectiveness in helping businesses grow while providing real value to customers. We also believe in delighting our customers and giving them the tools they need to stand out in a crowd. Literally. That’s why we’re thrilled to officially announce a program that’s been in development for some time, the HubSpot Guerrilla Marketing program. Guerrilla marketing is a creative and cost-effective approach to reaching your audience. On-location activations help... [...]

Sam Hollis says, “It’s been a few months since Google made an update that penalizes mobile websites that use certain pop-up forms (aka, interstitials) – an update that could lead to a decrease in rankings in Google search results. But for many businesses, the implications of this update went beyond their position in the SERPs. There was heightened concern over the impact on their email list growth, too. With 60 percent of online traffic coming from smartphones and tablets, mobile users represent a massive audience when it comes to list building. So what’s the status? Fortunately,... [...]

Astroblu has just released (on Monday) a new WordPress theme, the Uzicom Theme, and by using it, you can create fully responsive e-commerce websites. You are going to find the features of this theme helpful in building a productive site, particularly in e-commerce. This theme will save you the monthly fees that other platforms (such as Shopify) charge. Buy a license and it lasts a lifetime. Take a look at what it offers: • Fully Responsive websites • 1-Click install • Drag & Drop Layout Builder with visual composer • SEO Optimized • Retina Ready granularity • Beautiful CSS3 layouts •... [...]

Jonathan Long says, “If you’re starting a business and need an online presence, then you can’t ignore content marketing. Once you determine who your audience and you align your content topics with your search engine optimization strategy, you need to produce and publish the content. Businesses that find success with content marketing all have one thing in common — they are consistent. It doesn’t matter if you publish monthly, weekly or daily blog posts; you have to stay consistent and not skip a beat. Here are six ways to help you source content for your website, allowing... [...]

Emma Hinchliffe says, “Referring a friend to your company is an easy way to earn some extra money, but it requires keeping track of current job openings — and who all your former colleagues are. The career site Ladders has a solution: automating the referral process so that a website can tell you who in your network would be a good fit for all the jobs your company has open. That way, you don’t have to pay too much attention to what your company needs or troll LinkedIn looking for someone who might be a good fit. “Referrals are great hires for companies to make. They’re... [...]

Kevin Lee says, “One age-old question that often comes up when I chat with new prospects or new clients is, “Should I bid on my brand terms or generic terms where I rank in the top three organically?” This question is hardly trivial. It matters a great deal because PPC search budgets are generally constrained — and now, with other enticing options available from Facebook and other programmatic channels, we need to demonstrate that our search advertising budgets are being allocated optimally. Six key questions to ask before you begin The best way to answer this question is by using... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google’s A/B testing and content personalization solutions, Optimize and Optimize 360, are now out of beta. Google Optimize is now free for everyone and available in 180 countries. Google introduced Optimize 360 last spring as part of the new Google Analytics 360 Suite. The free version debuted in beta last fall, and the company says over 250,000 users had requested access. Google Optimize is designed for small to mid-sized businesses. It ties in with Google Analytics, and that data is used to inform website tests. A visual editor lets users drag and page drop elements... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “As more and more ad dollars shift to mobile and more and more advertisers, including struggling retailers, seek to drive foot traffic to their brick-and-mortar locations, is the time right for a cost-per-visit ad model? Location-based adtech firm xAd thinks so. xAd, which uses a proprietary platform to “[automate] geo-boundaries around key places and points of interest” and says it delivers ads to 500m users each month, recently announced a new pay-per-visit ad offering in the US that will allow advertisers to pay for ads only when they drive consumers... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “So today is April 1, which usually means we’ll try to feed you some stupid joke that will just make you roll your eyes when you realize the date. Not this time, internet. Brian kicked things off on Monday with three ways to get links that you haven’t heard 20 million times from people whose websites have no links. Plus he gets a little snarky, which you never want to miss. On Tuesday, our friend Jon Nastor showed us how we can actually get listeners for our podcasts. It’s a useful thing to know, since the #1 question on the minds of new podcasters is: “For the... [...]