MarketingProfs Daily: Web Sites

What Gardening Can Teach You About Keyword Plans

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

What can gardening techniques teach you about growing a keyword plan? Quite a lot, it turns out. "When you plant seedlings, you need to plant them in groups according to how much sun they need and how aerated the soil should be," writes Jenny Halasz at Search Engine Land. "You ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

How to Be a Pinterest Superstar: Advice From a Mom-Blogging Virtuoso

Fri, 11 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

We've shared how-to's about Pinterest from a brand perspective, but its biggest users are women (especially mums!) who have a super-useful perspective on how to maximize this powerful visual network. Here's an abridged version of MomAdvice's tips on becoming a Pinterest superstar. (We highly recommend reading the full article because it includes ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Newbie Blogger Blunders to Avoid

Wed, 9 May 2012 15:00:00 GMT

You're a new blogger, bursting with energy and excitement. You're sure your new blog will inspire myriad comments and countless social shares. But even though you've published a few posts, your blog isn't getting any comments or shares at all. What are you doing wrong? Perhaps you're making some of the ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Three Backlinking Mistakes to Avoid

Mon, 7 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

A strong SEO program relies on backlinks&mdash;links to your website from external sources. "Those backlinks signal to search engines how influential and relevant your business is online," writes Chris Sheehy in an article at MarketingProfs. They "trigger local citations of your business and aid in deepening your local market penetration," ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Social Media Top Channel for Sharing Curated Content

Mon, 7 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Content curation is everywhere: 95% of surveyed marketers say they have curated content in the past six months (i.e., shared content from blogs, industry publications, or other online channels with customers or prospects), according to a survey from Curata. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

A Video Creator's Checklist From YouTube

Fri, 4 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

At MIPTV in March, YouTube's Joe McDermottroe introduced the company's latest Creator's Playbook&mdash;a bible of video production gold&mdash;by giving away tips on how to make the best of your own YouTube video content. While of course it's up to you to produce unique content that captivates users in the first few seconds, ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Small Businesses Gearing Up for Mobile Marketing, Slowly

Thu, 3 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Small businesses that were early adopters of mobile marketing have begun to earn tangible returns on their mobile investments, according to a study by Web.com. Even so, most small businesses haven't embraced mobile marketing yet. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

LinkedIn Beats Twitter and Facebook in B2B Conversions

Wed, 2 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Among three leading social networking platforms--LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook--LinkedIn is the most effective source of leads for B2B companies, according to data from HubSpot. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

How Marketing-IT Cooperation Can Improve Website Performance

Tue, 1 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Every so often, a major retailer makes headlines when its website goes haywire. But online glitches endanger small businesses, too. "Lost revenues and tarnished corporate and personal images don't discriminate by industry sector or company size," writes James Sivis at MarketingProfs. "Online disasters can happen to anyone. And the last ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Five Tips for Masterful Pinmanship on Pinterest

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:00:00 GMT

We've mentioned why Pinterest is a great resource for reaching users, and the social space is now brimming with case studies. Cases in point: GSD&M used it to create an SXSW survival guide for the conference's attendees. The British airline bmi started a Pinterest lotto campaign to enable eager Repinners to ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

B2B Companies Ramping Up Data-Driven Marketing

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

B2B marketers recognize the need for a data-driven approach to marketing and fully eight in ten (80%) say they are spending more time and resources on critical marketing metrics in 2012, according to a survey from Pardot. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Should You Host Your Blog On-Site or Off-Site?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:00:00 GMT

"Blogs increase your credibility, boost your traffic, and put a personality behind your brand," writes Lindsay Atkinson at the Renegade Search blog. "But how should [a blog] be executed? Should it be hosted on your website or on a completely different domain?" The short answer is: It depends. To help you ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Four Ways to Create a Worthless B2B Website

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:30:00 GMT

Over time, it has become clear that B2B websites need to incorporate a few fundamental elements to effectively and efficiently serve visitors. But many companies still don't get those elements right, Paul Hatcher argues in a recent Base One whitepaper. According to Hatcher, there are five big mistakes B2B companies consistently ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Content Marketing Lessons From The Daily Show

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT

The Daily Show had been on TV for three years before audiences took notice. Back in 1999, when the show first aired, its inconsistent format and lack of focus all but drove away audiences. So what changed to make the show beloved by the masses? High-quality content, consistently delivered. In ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Three Key Changes to Facebook's Brand Timeline Pages

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:00:00 GMT

In February, Facebook launched its updated Brand Timeline pages, which include better opportunities for customizing a brand page, among other features. Wildfire Interactive CEO Victoria Ransom has detailed six things marketers must know about the new Pages. Here are three changes to note: Improved look and feel. Now, as with ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Three Keyword Pitfalls Sure to Kill Your SEO Efforts

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:00:00 GMT

"Doing keyword research is like being a detective: you're always searching for those tiny but valuable clues that decide the fate and future of a case you are handling," writes Lior Levin in an article at MarketingProfs. If you're serious about words like sales, profits, and conversions, Levin argues, your research ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

'Generation C' Is the New Gen Y: Connected and Social

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Americans age 18-34, or "Generation C" as they've been recently dubbed, make up 23% of the US population but they comprise an outsized proportion of consumers who watch online video (27%), visit social networking sites and blogs (27%), own a tablet (33%), and use a smartphone (39%), according to a ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

LinkedIn Use by Professionals in Industrial Sector Surges

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The use of social networks, particularly LinkedIn, among engineering, technical, manufacturing and industrial professionals continues to rise: 55% of surveyed tech professionals now use LinkedIn, up 18 percentage points, or 48.6%, from the 37% who did so a year earlier, according to a report by GlobalSpec. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

What B2B Marketers Can Learn From Breaking News

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Search engines such as Bing and Google tend to change the way they render SERPs (search engine results pages) in reaction to breaking news, favoring placed results (e.g., news, videos, and images) above the fold rather than organic search results, according to a new study by Optify. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Four Things Your Blog Must Do [Slide Show]

Thu, 8 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT

As a writer for MarketingProfs since 2007, I've spent years researching hundreds of blogs on a weekly basis. Some I read with dedication; some I dismiss right away. So what separates the good from the bad? Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Americans Avoid Businesses With Bad Privacy Practices

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Most online Americans (90%) say they worry about digital privacy at least sometimes, and 88% say they avoid doing business with companies that do not protect their digital privacy, according to a survey from the TRUSTe Privacy Index Series. Moreover, 95% of online adults say companies have a responsibility to ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Mobile, Digital Media Influence Online and In-Store Buying

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Consumers use various digital devices--smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers--at many points along the purchase path, from researching product information and pricing to finding retail outlets or completing transactions electronically, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos for Google, which explores consumers' shopping behaviors during the 2011 holiday season. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

How to Create Your Own Podcast

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Many marketers resist using podcasts as a marketing tool, even though they can be an effective way to engage an audience. That's likely because creating a podcast seems much too complicated and difficult. But it needn't be, says Mack Collier in his MarketingProfs article "Ten Steps to Creating Your Own ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Key Steps in the Quest for Quality Links

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:00:00 GMT

"What search engines are forcing us to do&mdash;especially post-Google Panda&mdash;is to win quality links," writes Ken McGaffin in an article at MarketingProfs. "And quality links are hard to get." Hard&mdash;but not impossible. McGaffin suggests you begin your quest for stellar links by assembling a list of potential link partners and setting a ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Social Media Users Prefer Social Login Over Traditional

Thu, 9 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

More than three-quarters (77%) of social media users say websites should offer social login--i.e., using a social media identity to log in at a website--as an alternative to traditional account creation or logging in as a guest, up from the 66% who said so a year earlier, according to a ... Read the full article at MarketingProfs