The news is out: consumers are changing their buying—and search—habits. SearchIgnite reports that users are taking longer to make purchase decisions online: the average time between when they click on an ad and convert on a marketer's website increased by 32.4% in Q1 2009 compared with Q1 2008. Ouch. In addition, ... more

When we highlighted Aaron Brazell's SXSW Cheat Sheet a few weeks ago, we made the error of assuming all of our readers would know what those four letters meant. As a result, we neglected to identify the Austin, Texas, festival-cum-conference by its full name—South by Southwest—or to explain that the ... more

Just because an email strategy works for one company—even one very like yours—that doesn't mean it will automatically work for you. "This is due to different cultures and expectations," says Debra Ellis in an article at MarketingProfs. "The only way you will know the best strategy for your organization is ... more

The iPhone and iPod touch positively swept the Engadget Awards, winning Gadget of the Year, Smartphone of the Year, Handheld of the Year, Portable Media Device of the Year, and, finally, a spot in Editors' Choice. So, what's this mean for you? It means you need to be ... more

Empty aisles. Echoing footsteps. Silence where there used to be chatter. Real-world retail is clearly suffering. And now new research suggests that if bricks-and-mortar merchants want to survive, they should go virtual big-time. Flatland is calling. According to the recent report, U.S. consumers are steadily moving ... more

Let's face it. The Web analytics process can quickly turn complex and frustrating. But a recent post at Marketing Jive suggests it doesn't have to be that way—at least for organic search. "There are a number of simple ways to filter through the numbers each month when you are measuring ... more

You've undoubtedly developed a great elevator pitch for your company, product or service—that informative-yet-concise summation designed for delivery in the time it takes to travel from the lobby to the 17th floor. But what about visitors to your Web site—do you have a punchy way of telling them, in two ... more

According to an iProspect and JupiterResearch study released last year, search users prefer "blended" search results—in which results are potpourried with videos and other media—over standard (slightly boring) text-only search results. Blended results (Google's term is "universal search") work like this: If you've got a restaurant, a search on your restaurant's ... more

"Oh, no! I thought that sale ran through today!" Your customer planned on grabbing a bargain, only to realize she got to your store a day after the sale ended. Is there any way you can still convince her to buy? Well, read on. One researcher recently worked with a ... more

While most of the email you send contains stand-alone content, it's worth considering an ongoing campaign that engages your customers with multiple messages. "A series of emails is a great opportunity to build top-of-mind awareness and recall for your brand," says Keri Palasz in a post at the Listrak email ... more

When you plan an event, you pull out all the stops. So, too, should it be with your event promotions. Apogee Search's Brian Combs suggests in a recent MarketingProfs article to add paid-search marketing to your event promo mix. "With almost half of all Internet users now using search engines ... more

"I think one mistake many marketers make is to think of their lead management requirements too narrowly," says Jon Miller in a recent post at Marketo. He suggests it's time to move on up—beyond just nurturing and scoring leads—to a higher level of overall lead management. To help show the ... more

Uh-oh. Just when you thought e-commerce might survive these dreary days, a new report comes along that says online merchants didn't do nearly as well last year as they could have done. Why, you ask? Because online shopping is just too scary for some people. According to research results released ... more

"I'm finding that all too often marketers are deciding to spend either more or less money based solely on the conversion rate of how a certain search phrase, ad creative, or banner ad performs," says Todd Miechiels in an article at MarketingProfs. "[I]n other words, the percentage of people who ... more

We may be in a recession, but that isn't stopping marketers from spending on search. According to the new 2008 annual survey and forecast from the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO), spending on search engine marketing in North America is expected to hit $26 billion by 2013, up from $13.5 ... more

"This will be my third year [at SXSW]," says Aaron Brazell in a post at Technosailor, "but I'm a bit surprised, in a down economy, how many people are going for the first time." Because of that, he decided to offer some advice for the newbies, and kicks off with ... more

As marketers continue to see good ROI from finely tuned mobile strategies, the humble text message has acquired newfound cachet. And in a recent video posted at the CenterNetworks blog, Allen Stern interviews Tatango CEO Derek Johnson, whose one-to-many SMS service enables instant mobile communication with an entire list of ... more

Your e-newsletter is an excellent tool for maintaining customer relationships. But it can also generate income if you offer cool ad space in it.  In a recent article at MarketingProfs, Drew Adams explains how to make it more appealing to select advertisers: Make it relevant. Adams offers an example: "For a newsletter ... more

On Friday 2/27, Skittles surrendered itself to the Zeitgeist. Visits to Skittles.com led users directly to Wikipedia (later changed to a Twitter search for "skittles," then to the official Facebook fan page), and attempts to explore the site navigation—little more than a pop-up—guided users elsewhere still: flickr, YouTube, Summize. The ... more

Are your sales pipelines feeling a bit clogged lately? Well, welcome to the recession, says Scott Gillum in a recent MarketBridge blog post. "With customers delaying and/or postponing decisions altogether, the ol' pipeline ain't what it used to be," he notes. But, lucky for us, he then offers 7 Pipeline ... more

Dylan Boyd, who blogs at The Email Wars, tells the story of an email with the subject line: "Limited time only: save up to 25%! Plus get free shipping." Within, he discovered more action verbs than you could shake a stick at. At the top of the email there's a ... more

Not long ago, Ardath Albee of the Marketing Interactions blog registered with a company's Web site so she could download a whitepaper that looked interesting. The next day she received an email from a "Sales Development Specialist" asking Albee to place herself in one of three "buckets" so he could ... more

"If you want to create something very good," says Tom Peters, "it takes time, energy, and sometimes money." That, he argues, is exactly why you should give away your finest know-how for free. Before you beg to differ, consider his ten-point business case, which includes reasons like these: It increases ... more

According to Kara Trivunovic and Andrew Osterday, most mom-and-pop businesses can't do much with email marketing advice that concentrates on sophisticated topics like multivariate testing, dynamic content development and data integration. For those who need entry-level advice, they created a 10-point Do-It-Yourself Primer that includes handy tips in plain English. ... more

There's a school of thought that asserts going "viral" is a random occurrence. There is no formula, algorithm or logic that dictates what does and doesn't become a mainstream hit on the Internet. Those people are correct. But there are ways to hedge the bets in your favor—without selling 3/4 ... more