Peter Kafka says, “The last time we checked in on Upworthy, the viral Web-sharing startup, we found that itstraffic was sagging. Not a big deal, said CEO Eli Pariser: The company was training more people to find stuff to share, so it hadn’t spent as much time sharing stuff. Three months later, Upworthy’s traffic is still headed down. After peaking... [Read more]

Derek S. says, “Email is one of the most used methods of communication between businesses and their consumers. To maintain consumer trust, it is critical that companies, both small and large, fortify their security on the channel in order to prevent hackers from getting into or spoofing their accounts (email’s sent from a forged sender address)... [Read more]

Max Taylor says, “Once you’ve established your reputation as a marketer who delivers quality leads to Sales, you’ll be every salesperson’s best friend. But not every new lead is destined to make a beeline to the bottom of your marketing funnel and request follow-up with a helpful, appreciative salesperson. And not every industry... [Read more]

Joel Comm has been a leading online marketer for close to 10 years. He is best-known as the author of the best-selling book, The AdSense Code: What Google Never Told You About Making Money with AdSense . In addition, he has come up with many other creative ideas for software, training and pre-built websites in online marketing. Now, he has just released... [Read more]

Allison Howen says, “Instagram is finally getting down to business, as the social network has announced that it is beginning to roll out a suite of business tools for advertisers. According to the company, the business tools will enable advertisers to better understand the performance of both their paid and organic content. It is important to... [Read more]

Chow says, “California is full of Click-fil-A restaurants. I love the place, not just because of their food, but because their conservative values are pretty close to mine. One thing that sets Click-fil-A apart from other fast-food restaurants is they’re not open seven days a week. CLOSED ON SUNDAYS Now you might think to yourself if this policy... [Read more]

Eric Enge says, “Content marketing strategies often fail and for many different reasons. My colleague Mark Traphagen and I recently invited well-respected thought leader and Moz founder Rand Fishkin to join us on a live video broadcast of The Digital Marketing Excellence Show to discuss the reasons why. What follows in today’s column is... [Read more]

Mike McKay looked at the coffee niche and saw a quite profitable sub-niche, upscale coffee equipment. People who buy this equipment are passionate about their coffee. And passionate people make a good target audience. So McKay created Coffee Machine Heaven, an Amazon Associates store for Amazon’s top coffee equipment. This store is automated and... [Read more]

Lee W. Frederiksen says, “We’ve seen so many transformations in the world of SEO over the last few years that those three letters seem like an unsatisfactory way to describe what really goes on in thoughtful, effective optimization work. (This feeling has naturally led to some well-intentioned but not quite practical alternative acronym... [Read more]

Julie Knight says, “Every email marketing campaign needs social media – and integrating it into your customer database makes it even more effective. So why should you be on social media? There’s one simple reason – and another more complex one. Let’s start simple: Because your customers are. LinkedIn has over 200m active users… …Facebook... [Read more]

Mike Klevorn says, “Only a few years ago, social media was a task reserved for the intern– but who in their right mind would do that today? That’s because social media now plays a much more important role for business growth. For one, it offers a lifeline to generating and nurturing leads on their way to making a purchase. Some of the... [Read more]

If you are one of the many who are finding the tee-shirt business online a good money maker, you will be interested in this new product. (If you haven’t looked into the T-shirt (or “tee-shirt”) business, you can get more information here: Covert Tee-shirt Store.) The problem all merchants have is to keep people coming back for... [Read more]

Selena Larson says, “Twitter has a problem: New users just don’t know how to use it. To help newbies sign up and start tweeting, the company has made a number of recent changes. Redesigned profiles, a giant World Cup marketing push, and rejiggering the Home timeline are just part of Twitter’s many attempts to make it friendlier for... [Read more]

Stan Schroeder says, “For years, Facebook has maintained a bug bounty program to reward those who find problems with its platform. Now, it’s expanding that program to Oculus Rift, which it acquired as part of Oculus VR for $2 billion in March. The company is offering money for identifying issues in any major part of Oculus Rift’s code,... [Read more]

David Moth says, “A sense of urgency and fear of loss are powerful sales drivers in ecommerce. Undecided shoppers can be encouraged to make an impulse purchase if they think they’re in direct competition with other people for a product that has limited availability. I recently rounded up 11 examples from ecommerce sites that use stock levels to... [Read more]

A mascot is often used to make a business or organization look more friendly or approachable. That’s why marketing giants like Proctor&Gamble, IBM, the Olympic Games and others have used mascots to represent their product. You (and, if you are a consultant, your clients) can see some of that same benefit by using a mascot in promotions. You... [Read more]

Henneke says, “Are your blog posts helping you win clients? Blogging helps boost your authority, drive relevant traffic, and generate leads. But are your blog posts working for your business? Although business blogging is a longterm strategy, you can employ a few smart tactics to one single post in order to generate meaningful leads. Not just... [Read more]

Kerry Bodine says, “At every stage in the marketing funnel, it’s crucially important to empathize with your customers’ interactions with your business, feeling great about the high points and frustrated by the lows. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, MozCon 2014 speaker Kerry Bodine shows us all about customer journey mapping—a tool... [Read more]

Linda Richardson says, “Inside selling was once the step child of a sales organization. It was associated with telemarketing and selling from scripts. In more complex B2B situations, inside salespeople aspired to be promoted to the elysian field of the outside sales force. Today the role of the inside salesperson has radically changed, and so... [Read more]

Suzanne Bucciarelli (known as The Domaining Diva) has just released a new software package for people who want to tap into the income potential of an e-commerce store. If you want to sell any product online, whether products you build, products you procure through drop-shippers or even niche affiliate products, you need an online store where you present... [Read more]

Chris Tomeo says, “It’s no small feat, but a truly successful rebrand must be bold, flexible and radiate the soul of the company — the essence and resolve that drives everything from the way a product is developed to the way a customer service call is answered. Nail this and you have a chance at making real connections with your audience. So,... [Read more]

Jonathan Long says, “Small business marketing needs to include a plan to gain exposure in the search results in order to be successful. The term ‘SEO’ is tossed around often, and many small business owners cringe when they hear that word because they aren’t entirely sure what it means. SEO doesn’t have to be a scary word, and when you understand... [Read more]

Danny Bluestone says, “For a website or digital product to be truly ‘user-centric’, we need to determine who the ‘user’ is. Each person will approach a website, system or app through their own, unique mental model, applying how they think it will be organised to each new one they encounter. Although each individual’s mental model is unique,... [Read more]

James Bradley and Paul Walker have been working on new software that they say requires no expertise, knowledge or experience to use, and has the potential to build your business without requiring you to spend anything on advertising. Their new software, Project Fast Income is a WordPress plugin that can help you pull quality content from around the... [Read more]