Alex Jasin says, “A severe case of writer’s block could lead you to rethink how often you publish.But here’s the thing: Publishing regularly gives you a chance to be an authority in your field by consistently providing value to your audience. It gives you a chance to engage them in the comments, social media, and email. Most importantly, it lets you create a relationship with your audience.Instead of battling your writer’s block by publishing less, combat it by finding muses that help you deliver relevant content to your audience. Here are six tips.1. Look for inspiration in keywordsKeywords... [...]

Andy Taylor says, “There are plenty of options for particular metrics to drive paid search programs toward, but not every KPI is created equal. Here, we’ll dive into what your preferred KPI says about you and provide recommendations to help you assess whether your KPI reflects the goals you care about.All insights are at least slightly hyperbolic and assume you have a one-track mind for your KPI of choice. I bet some of you out there can keep two, three, maybe even more KPIs in mind when managing accounts, as you should. You’ll just have to meld the descriptions to uncover those deep... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google parent Alphabet Inc. announced revenues of $24.75 billion for the first quarter of this year, a 22 percent increase year over year. That’s above analyst expectations, and the stock is up in after-hours trading.Ad revenues were $21.4 billion, a 19 percent increase over Q1 2015. Google site revenues were $17.4 billion (up 21 percent), and network revenues were $4 billion (up 9 percent).Paid clicks were up on Google sites and network properties, 53 percent and 10 percent respectively. The trend of lower YoY CPCs continued, with Google site CPCs down 21 percent... [...]

Kim Walsh-Phillips says, “Most businesses focus on either profit or popularity when using social media marketing. Either they are focused on getting lots of followers and tons of engagements, or they are knee-deep in direct response data, split testing and data mining to achieve more sales. But just as Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were born out of an indecisive, Why not have both? attitude, you need to find a balance as you build your tribe. In other words…You can have both.I only had 360 followers when I started writing Ultimate Guide to Instagram for Business. I had a little... [...]

Nicholas Chowdrey says, “When we hear about the Internet of Things (IoT) we often think of consumer products like wireless thermostats and multiroom speakers, meaning business uses are often overlooked.Indeed, in a recent study by Dresner Advisory services, most industries rated IoT as not important.However, advocates of IoT say there’s huge potential for the technology to transform business intelligence, especially when coupled with big data. They see IoT as a core justification for businesses to implement big data analytics, ranking it in the top three use cases, alongside customer... [...]

YEC team says, “Snapchat spectacles were introduced last year as a means to take very short videos to post to Snapchat. Reactions to the glasses were pretty strong; the spectacles were in demand, but not easy to come by. But what about now? Are these devices something that businesses should pursue, or are they a technological oddity? To find out how important these wearable cameras will be in the future, we asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council:“Do you see Snapchat Spectacles being a game-changer for small business marketing? If so, how?”Marketing Through Snapchat SpectaclesHere’s... [...]

Jacob Baadsgaard says, “Ever feel like AdWords is one giant juggling act? You cut your cost per click, only to watch your conversion rate drop. You increase lead volume, but those leads don’t turn into sales. You finally boost sales, but now your cost per click is unprofitably high…When does the madness stop?With all of these apparently conflicting priorities, it can be easy to drop the ball a few times. Or, worse still, you might feel like AdWords isn’t worth the effort, throw your hands in the air and quit.However, there is a way to juggle all of your marketing goals —... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Quora, the Q&A platform that’s been around since 2009, has quietly grown into a business now valued at nearly $1.8 billion. In the past week, the company announced an injection of $85 million in funding and said monthly active users grew from 100 million to 195 million in the past year. It’s also prepped to put a lot more investment into its fledgling ad business that’s still in beta.As far as scale and reach go, the major ad-supported platforms — Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn — are significantly bigger than Quora is now.... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) this week released its numbers for ad spend in the US in 2016, and for the first time since the organization began tracking digital ad spend in 2004, spend on digital ads has surprassed spend on television ads.The milestone is one that industry analysts and observers have been waiting for and 2016 also brought with it another milestone: for the first time, mobile ads produced more revenue than desktop ads.All told, digital ad revenue in the US hit a record $72.5bn last year, up from $59.6bn in 2015. Mobile ads were responsible... [...]

Laura Forer says, “G’day, mate! If you’re doing business Down Under, you’ll want to check out this bonzer infographic by Vision6 and Litmus that illustrates some fair dinkum stats on how Australians use email.For instance, although Australia was once known as a land of outlaws, like Ned Kelly, today’s laws include strict anti-spam regulations that you’ll want to be aware of.And though half of Australians are reading email on mobile devices, webmail recently beat desktop platforms for second place.Telestra, which is the largest telecommunications company... [...]