As Google continues to personalize search results, the data you see in ranking reports might not mean what you think. Why? They only tell you what rankings would look like in a non-personalized search. Most of your customers, meanwhile, see rankings driven by their behavior—so your Web page might rank ... more

Every email marketer knows that great calls to action don't just happen on their own. "Clearly identifying what you offer and how you want to convey that offer requires thoughtful consideration and good timing," says Leigh Dow in an article at MarketingProfs. So how do you craft calls to action that ... more

How do you read a casual email from a friend? In all likelihood, you scan it to get the general idea, write a quick reply and click back to your inbox. But what if—below her sign-off—she adds a P.S.? "Suddenly, she's got your attention," writes Sid Smith in an article at ... more

If your email marketing campaign doesn't generate the kind of ROI you expect, take a look at your typical call to action (CTA). Does it tell a customer how to take the next step? Does it create a sense of urgency? "When your audience is left with no direction and no ... more

Even experienced email marketers agonize over subject lines—polishing, editing, tweaking, and perfecting 50-character phrases until they're just right. After all, a single word can make the difference between a subscriber's indifference and interest. So how do you get recipients to open your messages? In this post at Mass Transmit, Anthony Schneider outlines ... more

Despite the naysayers who like to predict the imminent demise of email marketing, one fact remains true: It's highly profitable. "Email averages a return on investment (ROI) of $40 for every $1 spent, far outstripping banner ads ($2) and keyword ads ($17)," writes Eric Didier in an article at MarketingProfs. So ... more

Let's say your small business doesn't have the resources to hire a professional copywriter for email campaigns. That means you—or someone on your overtaxed team—is trying to create effective messages without a solid knowledge of what works and what doesn't. So, what must you know? In a post at his blog, pro ... more

"Not long ago in the world of online content, the top search engines were a lot like the most popular casinos in Las Vegas," writes Brendan Cournoyer at the Business 2 Community blog. "Millions came to test their luck at the tables, but the few who knew the tricks—assuming they ... more

In a guest post at Remarkablogger, Amy Harrison notes the strange tonal shift that happens on the way to a website's sales page: "Whilst your blog content might have the relaxed, wholesome air of sharing ideas in a warm and cosy coffee shop, your sales page can seem like an ... 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

In a post at Marketing Interactions, Ardath Albee recalls a B2B client who thought her proposed lead-nurturing messages might be too brief. Albee begged to differ. "[I]nundating prospects with more links and choices rather than improving the personalization, value and contagiousness of your email message is not the right answer," she ... more

In a post at The Top Line blog, Barbara Bix recounts the story of a friend who disapproved of the expensive marketing collateral sent by universities to her college-bound son. "She described the quality of the paper, the outsized packaging, and the heft of the packages they've been receiving—all of ... more

When used improperly, email personalization can go horribly wrong, writes Dutch Hollis at Chief Marketer. "You could, for instance, thank the wrong person for a purchase or misspell a customer's name," he explains. "Mistakes like these leave the customer with a bad impression of your brand—quite the opposite of the ... more

In a recent guest post at It's All About Revenue, Brian Posnanski shares tips on finding just the right keywords to boost standings in search results. "Keywords are the ingredient that make content searchable and discoverable," Posnanski notes. That's why TrafficPRM—Posnanski's interactive agency—created the Seven Keys to Keyword Research guide to ... more

"When you perform a search at Google or Bing, the results are significantly influenced by your physical location, even on queries where you don't specify a location," writes Ray Comstock at Search Engine Watch. "So if you're in New York and you search for [pizza], or [hot tubs] or [DMV], ... more

"Just a few years ago, I could count on receiving a mailbox-full of direct mail nearly every day, including the crown jewel of direct marketing, the BIG direct mail piece," writes Dean Rieck at Direct Creative. "Thick #10's, fat 6×9's, and beefy 9×12's once stood atop the mountain of attention-grabbing ... more

For years, writes Stephanie Miller at the Deliverability blog, marketers have enjoyed the linear nature of the email inbox—your newsletters and offers sitting cheek-by-jowl with personal correspondence from a subscriber's friends. But you shouldn't get too comfortable with this privileged arrangement. "The world is changing," Miller says. "A new set of ... 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

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

In a post at Email Marketing Reports, Mark Brownlow presents a screenshot that looks like a page from a 19th-century novel: lengthy paragraphs filled with sentences of uniform length. That, he notes emphatically, is not how your email messages should look. "In fact, you wouldn't read the words if that was ... more

According to Lee Odden, the SEO concept of "fresh content" has been distorted by a convoluted game of telephone—one person giving information to the next, each with his or her own interpretation, until the final person receives a definition quite unlike the original. "I'm sure the genesis was something like: Someone ... more

During the hot summer months, email marketers often despair of subscribers whose minds are somewhere else. "So how can you make your email marketing messages matter to office workers counting the minutes before happy hour on sidewalk patios?" asks Ajay Goel at the Webbiquity blog. "Or busy moms and dads ... more

American businesses spent $5 billion reaching the Hispanic market in 2008, and for good reason. By 2013, Latinos will control 10 percent—or a staggering $1.4 trillion—of the country's buying power. So reports Chanin Ballance in an article at MarketingProfs. "That puts Hispanics ahead of all other minority groups, including African ... more

Want to increase traffic to your site? A recent article at the SEO Traffic Spider recommends using social-media optimization (SMO) as a highly effective method for search-engine optimization of any website. As the name implies, you optimize your site by advertising it through social-media sites and online communities. According to the ... more

It's been a long time coming, writes Dylan Boyd at Email Wars, but with "new systems of marketing automation we are finally gaining ground to creating trigger-based campaigns on actions, behavior and timing." Boyd provides a thorough rundown on various trigger-based campaigns you might employ. Here are a few highlights to ... more