Allison Enright says, “Investors and buyers put more than $32 billion into the industry last year, a 145% jump year over year. E-commerce companies saw a lot of green last year. High-dollar investment rounds and billion-dollar-plus acquisitions led to the sector nabbing $32.45 billion from investors and acquirers, a leap of more than 145% compared... [Read more]

Jonha Richman says, “Google’s latest change in the way it looks for URLs on the Web may give small business owners one more reason to switch to HTTPS. In an effort to secure users from man-in-the-middle attacks or data modification while browsing the Web, Google has recently announced its adjusting its indexing system to look for more HTTPs... [Read more]

Matt Walker says, “Google’s prime goal of delivering the most relevant answers to a search query won’t change in 2016. However, a few changes in technology and Internet user behavior will prompt some fine-tuning to search engine optimization strategy. Understanding these will help you make the right decisions for your business or team. Read... [Read more]

Carey Baird is just releasing the 7th generation of Fresh Store Builder. He has honed and improved this professional tool and has made it the best ever software for building Amazon affiliate stores. Baird reports that, with this new version, you can have your store up and running in 30 minutes. Besides all the other improvements, version 7 adds the... [Read more]

Berry Levine says, “Slightly over a year since its first ad, Snapchat is actively developing an application programming interface (API) to support advertising. That’s according to a story in today’s Digiday, which cited “multiple sources.” The messaging platform is reportedly now in discussions with various ad agencies and tech firms... [Read more]

Pratik Dholakiya says, “We all love bite-sized lists of top things, whether it’s for personal or professional reading. Whether you are a founder or CEO thinking of starting your own blog or improving your company’s content strategy, this A-to-Z list of insights is a must-read. So without further ado, let’s start with the rundown on the... [Read more]

Kristopher Arcand says, “With the winter shopping holidays now behind us, Forrester is wrapping up its annual qualitative exploration of US consumers’ perceptions of the holiday season, both for their own behavior as well as what they observed across retailers. The retail industry has seen an increase in consumer spending compared to last year... [Read more]

3-year old, profitable, authority online brand in the raw foods niche. Caters to millennials. Here are the vital stats: • 22 Million page views since launch. • 560,000+ combined audience. • 23,876+ customers. • $1.2Million combined revenues since launch 3 years ago. • $189k net earnings (2015) • In peak month, business earned $101,000+. •... [Read more]

Mike Renahan says, “After you’ve been a writer for a while, you start to catch your bad tendencies and learn how to correct them. For example, I used double negatives and weak verbs frequently when I was just starting out. But after spending some time reviewing my work, I noticed the tendencies and was able to adjust. Now as soon as I type... [Read more]

Courtney Eckerle says, “No proper New Year’s can be complete without first reflecting on the past year. Where have we been? What have we accomplished? By asking these questions, we can move forward with a clearer vision of the year to come, and what we hope to accomplish. MarketingSherpa is here to help with that reflection with our best content... [Read more]

Ken Bowen says, “Throughout 2015, MarketingExperiments.com has published extensive new research taken from discoveries made by our parent company, MECLABS Institute. We have discussed branding, personalized messaging, subject line sequencing and copy, just to touch on a few topics covered in the last 12 months. On the blog, we covered a wide... [Read more]

Marlon Sanders has been a marketer online for a long time. He was one of the first to see the power of the Internet to connect with people and sell them what they were needing... [Read more]

Pamela Wilson says, “Mickey Spillane did not suffer from delusions of grandeur. He didn’t expect his novels — featuring private eye Mike Hammer — to be regarded as great works of literature. What he wanted was for them to sell. I have no fans. You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends. – Mickey Spillane His books... [Read more]

Rand Fishkin says, “It’s that magical time where, once again, I examine my predictions for the year that’s just ended, and make new ones for the one ahead. As is my personal tradition, I’m going to first look at the accuracy of what I’ve suggested would happen in 2015. Based on how I’ve done, you can get a sense... [Read more]

Ralph Montgomery says, “The decision could come four months after a successful launch, or four decades following a steady career — but all entrepreneurs at some point will face the question: Is it time to sell my company? With historically low interest rates, a relatively good economy and lots of capital still waiting to be deployed,... [Read more]

If you are a marketing consultant for local businesses, your greatest need is prospects, but not just any prospects; you need hot prospects, ones that both want more business (who doesn't?) and don't know how to get it, but may have a vague notion that the Internet may be their answer... [Read more]

Greg Finn says, “Feel like you just can’t express yourself enough in 140 characters? Traditionally you would have to use a third-party service or string together a series of tweets to get that message across. HoweverRe/code has reported that Twitter is considering to increase the character limit to 10,000 characters as soon as Q1. The impact... [Read more]

JP Gownder says, “If I hear one more story about “the next big thing” only to find it’s a niche product like a skateboard or a toy like a consumer drone or a convenience tool like a smartwatch or a fancy way to open a door or detect smoke, I think I’ll puke. The last big product innovation was smartphones. And it was a... [Read more]

Andrew Bartels says, “Forrester has just published our global tech market report for 2016 and 2017 (see “The Global Tech Market Outlook For 2016 To 2017- The Five Themes That Will Define Tech Spending In The Next Two Years”). For the first time, our January 2016 global forecast includes telecommunication services (voice and data, wireline... [Read more]

You've got to hand it to Mark Dickenson. He has persisted in online marketing for almost 10 years, despite years of absolute failure and discouragement. Those were the years when he relied exclusively on affiliate marketing to earn his living... [Read more]

Emma Snider says, “The crucial call is 10 minutes away. You’re fired up to talk about your proposed business strategy and how your company’s product fits in. Your presentation deck is pristine, and clearly connects the buyer’s specific problems with your solution. You’re all set to launch into your tailored and personalized... [Read more]

Calvin Wayman says, “How well do you really know your audience? Do you understand how your company may actually annoy them, what they love and what solutions they would pay extra for? As an entrepreneur, understanding your customer is everything. Your business will either live or die by it. To make matters even more pressing, if you can’t... [Read more]

Ginny Marvin says, “Twitter’s new Conversational Ads mix polls with custom hashtags and rich media with the aim of getting users to share their responses with their own followers. With Conversational Ads, brands can pose a question with two answers to choose from, each incorporating custom hashtags that show up in the ad copy and in the... [Read more]

Zak Stambor says, “Twitter’s conversational ads, released today, make it easier for consumers to share a retailer’s message. Retailers looking to get consumers talking about their brand on Twitter have a new tool at their disposal. The social network today launched conversational ads, an ad format that includes call-to-action buttons with... [Read more]

Melissa Thompson says, “According to a 2015 Federal Reserve Report (PDF), 87 percent of adults in the U.S. have mobile phones and are using them to shop, make payments, and do their banking. Mobile payments are the next new frontier for small businesses, because the new technology means there is going to be a scramble between those who take... [Read more]

Megan Conley says, “Time for another brainstorm session … After scratching out a list of possibilities, you turn to your computer for inspiration. Consider your go-to sources: Do you immediately navigate to your competitor’s blog? Are your bookmarks filled with favorite content from companies in your industry? Constructive thinking... [Read more]

Nick Iyengar says, “In our recent white paper, “State of Digital Marketing Analytics in the Top 500 Online Retailers” (registration required), my colleague Amardeep Singh and I found that a full 42 percent of Internet Retailer’s top 500 retailers have yet to adopt a tag management system (TMS). While this may not have been surprising if... [Read more]