If the only thing consistent about your radio spots is that they always sound different, you may have a problem. If you're aiming for a brand sound, you'll never hit your mark if you constantly change elements. more

"Have you noticed spelling errors on the websites of major, legitimate retailers and/or service providers?" asks Julia Rubiner in the Editorial Emergency newsletter. "The answer is almost certainly 'no.'" Large corporations set a high bar for the rest of us: A single error looks sloppy and unprofessional to visitors, who ... more

You're driving. Through Iowa. Endless fields of corn. Row after row of stalks the same size, the same height, the same color. That, actually, is much like a drive through radio advertising. How can you hope to stand out? more

"People have limited attention to spare," writes Mark Brownlow at Email Marketing Reports. "They focus on those messages perceived as deserving that attention: messages that are clearly important, personal or something they want and expect." There are, however, a number of barriers that stand between your email campaigns and your subscribers' ... more

"As you get started in SEO, you'll read a lot about things you should be doing to optimize your website for organic search," writes Marty Diamond at the Diamond Website Conversion blog. "What you may not hear as much about, however, is what you should avoid doing." To help you identify ... more

What can marketers learn from journalists? Good storytelling. Here are seven ways marketers can wield journalism skills to produce content that grabs attention and encourages conversation. more

As marketers gear up for the fourth quarter, the busiest time on their marketing calendars, nearly two-thirds (63.4%) say they are planning to increase focus on social media over the next 12 months, while nearly one-half plan to increase focus on email (45.5%) and content marketing (45.3%), according to a ... more

Stories are what language is built around. They make people lean forward and listen. And if you want your marketing and advertising to be much more engaging, use storytelling. more

In a post at Junta42, Joe Pulizzi discusses communication techniques he developed during frequent public-speaking engagements—300 in five years—and how they influence his online content. "The best idea I can share regarding public speaking is to keep it simple," he says. "To execute that concept, I stole a page from ... more

We all know it: Content rules in today's digital marketplace. Prospects expect to find information about any product or service that strikes their fancy—in a matter of seconds. As a result, the function of the salesperson in this "content-driven environment" has "changed dramatically," John Jatsch writes in an article at ... more

Quick! Recite the first five billboards you saw on your drive to work this morning. You don't remember, right? OK, how about the first three headlines you saw on your favorite news source? Nope? OK. One last chance: Name one commercial you saw on TV last night. more

If you're not an SEO expert, you might wonder what to ask when hiring SEO staff or consultants. How do you tell the difference between someone who knows exactly what he or she is doing and someone who just knows a lot of lingo? To help out, Rand Fishkin created an ... more

What makes Foursquare so addictive? Game mechanics—those charming sets of rules built into games to make them fun to play. Implemented strategically at a website, game mechanics can help you engage both passive visitors and enthusiastic users. How might you add game mechanics to your marketing site? Craig Ferrara, Gigya's gaming/UI expert, offers ... more

There's the legal definition of spam—as outlined in CAN-SPAM—and then there's the real-world definition used by many of your subscribers: any piece of email I'd rather not receive. Even recipients who went to your website, signed up for your newsletter and confirmed their subscription might hit the spam button over ... more

In April, Altimeter released its latest maturity road map for companies seeking to integrate more social media into their websites. In short, being new-media-savvy these days isn't just about having a Facebook and a Twitter page; it's about understanding how people are expecting to interact with you—and treating them well wherever they engage ... more

This article and video are the first in a series that lays out some best-practices not only for radio in a digital age but also for marketing and advertising generally. Many of the principles that the author discusses can just as appropriately be applied to email or social media marketing—or, ... more

"It's easy to bore your customers to death with email," writes Karen Talavera in an article at MarketingProfs. "Just send them the same type of message repeatedly, and you'll succeed." Many companies, for instance, fall into the easy rhythm of sending e-newsletter after e-newsletter, never adding anything else to the mix. ... more

Fully two-thirds (67%) of North American information technology (IT) professionals say they find vendor-produced content such as whitepapers "extremely useful" or "useful," according a new study from IDG Connect. IT professionals say thought-leadership content is the most useful, followed by analysis and survey statistics. more

"How can SEO hurt your business?" asks Olga Taylor in an article at MarketingProfs. "Consider a site that is not user-friendly, is repulsive to visitors (or attractive to the wrong kind), isn't competitive, or is lacking a clear value proposition and the support required to respond to inquiries or follow ... more

A staggering amount of horrible stock photography is available online. We've all seen the pics. Heck, most of us have been guilty of using them at one point or another. Here are 12 of the top offenders. more

"Why does content matter?" writes Erika Potter at the OrangeSoda blog. "It's simple: credibility. Without credibility, your chance of converting viewers into customers goes downhill fast. It's vital that visitors to your site see your online business as a trusted resource."  To help you ensure that your online content is credible, Potter ... more

You've heard of website community managers, but what about content officers? Those are the folks responsible for your site's content—what it looks like, what it reads or sounds like, where it goes in terms of subject matter or throughout the social universe. MarketingProfs Chief Content Officer Ann Handley has written a ... more

Think content marketing is something new? Not even close. It's been a staple in the marketer's toolbox for ages. Here is a brief retrospective of some successful uses of content marketing from the past 175 years that may inspire you. more

A strong search strategy needs content that people want to share with their friends, family and colleagues. But every business faces a serious hurdle: "Branded content is tricky because it's often viewed as 'advertising,'" writes Jon Thomas at the Post Advertising blog. "As we know, audiences trust friends and strangers ... more

SEO experts have spent the last decade preaching a gospel of optimized page-level elements and inbound links. "Those things are still important today," Jonathan Lawoyin writes in an article at MarketingProfs, "but getting real SEO results these days requires not only a technically optimized website and relevant inbound links but ... more