Although most online campaigns seek to drive conversion-based goals, many still use the click or CTR as the primary metric—mainly because it has been traditionally used to measure success and because it's easy to measure. But that's no excuse for making a mistake that's costing marketers $1 billion a year. more

Still wondering how Google Instant—the new enhancement that shows results as you type—changes search marketing? Well, Google promises to shave 2.5 seconds off each user's search, with the end result of 10-percent faster searches. In a recent post at the Daily Fix blog, David Felfoldi cites the benefits of this change, ... more

Interactive media platforms are a global phenomenon, occurring in all markets regardless of their level of economic, social, and cultural development. Therefore, when translating content into other languages, it's critical to define terms clearly. But what is the best approach? more

Emulate these best-practices for launching a well-trafficked corporate blog, and you'll be well on your way to establishing yourself as a trusted authority in your marketplace. more

You might think that your small business—say, one with an annual Google AdWords budget of $50,000—has no chance when bidding against larger companies with much deeper pockets. Happily, that just isn't true. "Bidding for keywords on Google is not a straight auction," explains Minda Zetlin at Inc. "Instead, Google multiplies the top ... more

As small businesses continue to navigate the economic recession, their adoption of innovative marketing technologies such as social media has leveled off, while expectations among those who use social media have changed, according to a study by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business. Still, among ... more

"You have a great website. It has beautiful images, a compelling theme and intuitive navigation, all designed to take eager visitors to complete descriptions of your proprietary products and services," writes Tami Wessley at Whole Brain Marketing. "The only problem is your website shows up somewhere after page 10 on ... more

MrketingProfs blogger Helena Bouchez shares tips by LinkedIn black belt Mark Amtower about how to get found on LinkedIn. more

When searching for products and services online, appearance matters: 48% of search engine users say they are more likely to click on a search result if it includes an image and 53% are more likely to click if a company name or brand appears multiple times on the search engine ... more

Lost user confidence is but one cost of sloppy code. Attempts to fix it can rack up thousands of dollars in consultant fees. And poorly coded Web assets can hinder marketing-campaign performance. All the beauty and elegance in the world will never compensate for the ugly repercussions of improper rendering. more

Worried that your website's inbound deep links—links to site pages other than your homepage or other top-level pages—are distracting visitors from your main advertising or branding page? Or that visitors following these links don't always realize they are on your site (as opposed to the site that linked to you)? Not ... more

In a recent post at the Content Marketing Institute, Elise Redlin-Cook asks the timeless question, "How do you find the best keywords for your audience?" Then she offers some timely advice. She recommends several online tools for novice and expert search marketers alike that can help simplify the process of researching keyword ... more

As B2B marketers shift resources and marketing budgets to social media, many have begun to align their social-media efforts with search-engine marketing, using the social channel to drive search referrals and conversion rates among Web visitors, according to a study by BtoB Online and Business.com more

It's well known in SEO circles that most links created through social media are "nofollow"—and therefore don't help sites rank higher with search engines. Some SEO professionals believe there's no SEO benefit to developing social-media profiles at all. Not so, counters Derek Edmond in a recent post at the Komarketing Blog. To ... more

Google Sites led the US explicit core search* market in August 2010, accounting for 65.4% of total searches conducted during the month, down 0.4 percentage points from July, according to data from comScore qSearch. more

US marketers are expected to more than double their investments in online-derived data sources by 2012, allocating a projected $840 million to information about digital audiences, transactions, and clickstream behaviors, according to a study by the Winterberry Group. more

Keyword discovery is a huge component of pay-per-click advertising. You need to find relevant keywords so you can create topical ad groups, text ads, and landing pages. But for truly cost-effective, high-ROI PPC campaigns, it's equally important to find negative keywords—those that aren't relevant to your offerings or customers—so you ... more

When it comes to social media, the one thing that small and midsize businesses want to know is this: Is it worth it? Yes, it is. Here are five quick reasons why. more

"E-commerce sites can be particularly challenging for search-engine optimization (SEO) because they tend to lack unique, relevant content," writes Adam J. Thompson in an article at MarketingProfs. "Most e-commerce websites contain mostly navigational pages (with little content) and product pages (with mostly duplicate content)." So how can you improve results for ... more

Google recently unveiled Google Instant, which displays search results to a user as they type. The benefits of these changes, according to Google, are (a) Predictive Typing: as you type, a prediction is made of what you are seeking; and (b) Instant Results: as you type, the results appear. Every ... more

Does the phrase "open source" scare you? You're not alone. Many marketers hear the phrase and cringe. However, open source not only offers the collective creativity of a large, vibrant community but also promises a new level of customer engagement, brand equity, and a competitive edge for today's marketers. more

Driven by a faster than expected rebound in the US advertising market and continued robust growth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, worldwide ad expenditure is forecast to grow 3.9% in 2010, an upward revision of 1.0 percentage point from the 2.9% forecast issued in March 2010, according to Carat. more

According to Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger, using the right words in the right way in your website copy will consistently help convert visitors to buyers while also determining "how well you rank in search engines and how much traffic you get." In a popular post at the blog, Clark offers ... more

Google Sites comprised the top-ranked online property in July with 178.4 million unique visitors, followed by Yahoo Sites with 174.2 million, while BrightRoll Video Network led in comScore's July Ad Focus ranking with a potential reach of 96% of Americans online, followed by SpotXchange Video Ad Network with 93%. more

Interest in the annual World Series of Poker Tournament drove US Web traffic to online gambling sites in July 2010, while more than 170 million consumers visited an online retail site during the month, shopping for toys, tickets, and other consumer goods, according to data from the comScore Media Metrix ... more