Isla McKetta says, “”Picture it.”If you’re of a certain generation, those two words can only conjure images of tiny, white-haired Sophia from the Golden Girls about to tell one of her engaging (if somewhat long and irrelevant) stories as she holds her elderly roommates hostage in the kitchen or living room of their pastel-hued Miami home.Even if you have no idea what I’m talking about, those words should become your writing mantra, because what readers do with your words is take all those letters and turn them into mind pictures. And as the writer, you have control... [...]

Mark Feldman says, “The world of SEO seems to have gone from toddler to preteen in just the last 2 years, and the industry doesn’t show any signs of stopping. In early 2011, Google released the Panda/Farmer update, an update focused on ridding search results of weak content, leaving business owners without businesses, webmasters without websites and homeowners without homes.Then in April of 2012, Google released the Penguin update, in which 3.1% of search results were impacted. Unlike Panda, Penguin was aimed mostly at linking factors such as exact match anchor text and having connections... [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “Content marketing is an iterative process: We learn and improve by analyzing the success of the things we produce. That doesn’t mean, though, that we shouldn’t set ourselves up for that success in the first place, and the best way to do that is by knowing what our audiences want before we actually go through the effort to create it. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand (along with his stick-figure friends Rainy Bill and Hailstorm Hal) explains how we can stack our own decks in our favor with that knowledge“.Know What Your Audience Wants Before... [...]

Baer says, “Just how valuable is email to online marketers? The numbers tell the story:EmailExpert reports email marketing produces a $44.25 return for every $1 spent.McKinsey & Company reports email is almost 40 times more effective at getting new customers than Facebook and TwitterOver 77% of online customers prefer receiving marketing messages via email, according toMarketingLand.Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads, reports Unbounce.And 81% of digital shoppers in the US say they’re at least “somewhat likely” to make additional purchases as a... [...]

Greg Randall says, “Working alongside SEO specialists is an important part of any long term digital strategy.  What many retailers need to understand is, while looking for credible specialists with proven experiences, you can get started on your own.This article focusses on seven SEO initiatives retailers can execute whether you have a relationship with an SEO specialist or not, and in doing so will lay down a solid SEO foundation the business can benefit from.The challenge for most is where to start and what to focus on. It will all soon be clear”.Seven SEO tips retailers can implement... [...]

Charlene Inoncillo says, “The world of marketing and SEO continues to change, but are you changing with it? Staying on the cutting edge should always be a priority, especially since early adoption has proven more beneficial than ever. Sticking with what works isn’t enough anymore, and marketing isn’t just about analyzing our successes and failures or understanding our returns and losses. It’s about what we do next.In the presentations below, Rand and Dr. Pete will dive deep into where metrics serve us best, as well as what really works to drive traffic and what’s... [...]

Chad Pollitt says, “Many of the traditional channels for online content discovery are thoroughly understood and their adoption rates are high.The readily accepted channels—from SEO and PPC, to email and social media broadcasting—can deliver the best content to the right people at the right time.Today, however, the Internet is experiencing a deluge of content, and many channels for content discovery are bloated. Estimates say that  more than 2.73 million blog posts are written and published daily. Many industries are experiencing a content surplus, making it even more challenging... [...]

Travis Bliffen says, “As you know, SEO is a fast changing game and falling behind can spell disaster for your website.There are, however, a handful of tips that can help you stay on top of SEO this year.1. Schema Markup – Last year we shared tips with you about Schema markup and while at the time it wasn’t a major issue, its importance is growing in 2015. As search grows across numerous devices, Schema markup will be critical in making sure your site contents are properly understood and displayed.2. Diversification – Ever hear “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”?... [...]

Rand Fishkin says, “Today I’m going to make a crazy claim—that in modern SEO, there are times, situations, and types of analyses where correlation is actually MORE interesting and useful than causality. I know that sounds insane, but stick with me until the end and at least give the argument a chance. And for those of you who like visuals, our friend AJ Ghergich and his intrepid team of designers created some nifty graphics to accompany the piece.Once upon a time, SEO professionals had a reasonable sense of many (or perhaps even most) of the inputs into the search engine’s... [...]

Syed Irfan Ajmal says, “Yes, Bing! You really need to take Bing SEO more seriously this year. Here are 5 biggest reasons why I think you need Bing in Your SEO strategy:1. Bing Is Getting BiggerThe Big Bing Theory has come to fruition! With Mozilla making Yahoo its default search engine on Firefox browser, and Yahoo already being powered by Bing Search, the combined US Search Share for the Bing-Yahoo Alliance amounted to 22.9% in December 2014. Moreover, Google ‘s US search share has dropped from 77.3% to 75.2% in the same month making it the biggest drop in its share ever since Statcounter... [...]