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Last year, Google and MediaVest reported on a brainwave-tracking study about banner ads. According to the ad giants, banner ads rated a 6.3 in effectiveness—which was said to be a "very encouraging score." But combined with overlays, the effectiveness of banner ads increases to 6.6. This is because users find ... more
You can always find someone willing to sell you a solution for boosting your keyword effectiveness. But in a recent blog post, search marketer PotPieGirl offered her favorite free keyword research tools: Your brain. We were all consumers before we were marketers, she reminds us. So ask yourself, "If I ... more
If you've made some recent improvements—whether to your product, service or customer experience—now is the time to trumpet those changes! A new year, with consumers anxious for a new start, is a great time to tell your subscribers what they can expect on their next visit to your site. In a post at the ... more
"It can be done, I've seen it," says the Email Karma blog of Goodmail's email certification platform, which now enables users to include video in email messages. "However," the blog says, "if you don't have the marketing budget for certification, you can always try … converting video to an animated ... more
On the weekend it launched, Apple sold one million iPhone 3Gs—and not just to early adopters and hipsters: stats from ChangeWave suggest iPhone's moving in on the smartphone (read: ENTERPRISE!) market, currently dominated by BlackBerry. Already, iPhone's a fertile ad medium. From MySpace to Stella McCartney to the Associated Press, ... more
The advent of DVR technology struck fear in the hearts of advertisers worldwide. Suddenly, viewers were able to fast-forward through TV commercials! A sad truth quickly emerged: when given the option, consumers love to hit that FF button. Now, let's (ahem) fast-forward to today. Are we witnessing the demise of ... more
"The news regarding investment in marketing is not good, with many firms cutting their marketing budgets left and right," reports Neil Anuskiewicz in an article at MarketingProfs. Before taking such drastic steps, you might want to consider his better option: "Instead of taking an axe to your marketing budget … ... more
What's of greater value: the idea itself, the selling of the idea, or the production of the idea? While there seems to be a shift afoot, why does our industry continue to struggle to ascribe value to (and get paid for!) the core concepts that fuel everything else? more
Cost-effective, and just plain effective, email communications are quite possibly the one sure thing to cling to in the current downturn. So, are you treating them—and your subscribers—right? In a post at ClickZ, Stefan Pollard says there's no time like the present to improve your email marketing programs. He offers ... more
It’s no secret that when the economy goes south, the first cuts companies often make are from marketing. That could mean "bye-bye search budget" if you don’t take steps now to protect it. William Leake of Apogee Search explains in a recent MarketingProfs article how to keep the axe from ... more
"In the holiday email season of 2008, retailers turned up the gas on their email campaigns, hoping to salvage what was predicted to be a flat or down consumer spending season," says Loren McDonald in an article at MarketingProfs. If handled haphazardly, that's a risky strategy that increases the likelihood ... more
As the calendar page flips to a new year, now is the perfect time to re-evaluate and refine your search campaigns' lead gen capabilities. In a new MarketingProfs article, William Leake of Apogee Search offers the following tips for boosting your pay-per-click performance: Add new compelling lead bait. Many viable ... more
"A great way to capitalize on the democratic medium of email is to put your burning questions, late-night hunches, and out-of-the-box ideas to the test with an A/B split test," says Megan Walsh in a post at the Email Experience Council blog. Here's some of her advice for using split ... more
The secret to success in the new year may lie in divining the right keywords. As Christine Churchill says at Search Engine Land, the words you buy in pay-per-click, the terms you target for organic, the phrases you focus on in your images and videos, all depend on making good keyword choices ... more
Office supply chain OfficeMax also sells digital cameras and other products popular as holiday gifts—but its customers didn't think of it as a holiday-shopping destination. What's more, it was often confused with its chief rival. A wildly popularly web-based viral marketing campaign helped OfficeMax distinguish itself and encourage shoppers. more
"To date," writes Rob Hof in a post at BusinessWeek's Tech Beat blog, "mobile advertising hasn't taken off partly because it's a hassle for advertisers to create special campaigns for mobile devices, most of which so far use stripped-down browsers that don't display standard Web pages very well." This will ... more
Is your website invisible? If it's not designed to be found by search engine spiders, it might as well be. The key to visibility? Keeping content clear and simple. An untold number of expensive Web sites out there are beautiful to behold, but rarely seen by searchers. To help clarify ... more
"In 2007, 9 million digital picture frames were sold, about 1 million of them Wi Fi-enabled," writes Katy Bachman in an article for Brandweek. "By 2010, that's expected to jump to more than 42 million, with the vast majority of them Wi-Fi equipped, according to data from IDC." Can advertisers ... more
In a genre of disaster movies, there's a dramatic moment when an asteroid is plummeting toward Earth. Amidst a flurry of intense heroics, the asteroid is redirected... and tragedy is averted. But shouldn't the scientists be working sooner to change the asteroid's path? Which brings us to the relationship between ... more
Just when you've mastered the whole key word concept, along comes—key pictures? Online retailer Amazon.com has released a free downloadable mobile application for the iPhone and iPod touch that enables shoppers to search for products to purchase online by simply snapping photos of them. If you like your co-worker's shoes, ... more
You learned in school that there's no such thing as a free lunch. But as cable TV's popularity wanes against the force of the almighty Internet, it looks like "free lunch" has become stat quo: nobody wants to pay for TV shows, movies or SNL video clips anymore. They want ... more
Mobile advertising is deemed complex for the same reason online used to be: Standards are murky at best. Online advertising evolved because online dashboards allowed agencies to monitor and optimize their digital campaigns in real time. Why doesn't mobile do this? more
Before any talk of bailouts, Chrysler called on 15 Web sites to help improve consumers' perception of the Dodge brand and launch its first crossover vehicle, the Journey. NHL.com cut through the clutter and delivered the brand message. Here's how. more
A Web site has to accomplish two crucial things in its quest for success: to attract customers, and to hold their attention. To achieve both, optimum site design is critical. As David Salinas says in a recent MarketingProfs article, if you design a great-looking, user-friendly site with well-written marketing copy that ... more
You want to explore uncharted territory, but you're also worried about sowing cash on unproven social media ground. Well, here's a way to play it safe: ease, ever so slowly, into Facebook. The facts: It's the largest social networking site in the world. In August '08, users spent an average ... more
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